As it happened: The GC riders fight for the stage 1 win in Lausanne but nobody can stop the fastest sprinter in the world

Hello and welcome to stage 1 of the Tour de France Femmes.

We will have updates on all the action of today's first stage and every stage of the Tour de France Femmes.

We're counting down to the start of the opening stage, with the riders signing on at the start in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The sun is out and with the yellow jersey up for grabs at the fdinish, it should be a intense, highly-fought stage.

Cyclingnews in on the ground in Lausanne, with Matilda Price and Dani Ostanek speaking to riders and teams for all the latests news.

SD Worx are on stage at the sign-on and it will be interesting to see how they race the Tour and stage 1. It could be a great chance for Lorena Wiebes but if the racing explodes then Lotte Kopecky could have a chance.

There's a real party atmosphere at the start in Lausanne. Today is Swiss National Day, the national holiday of Switzerland. A bike race is as great way to celebrate.

This is our stage 2 preview.

The stage has been classified as a flat stage by ASO, but a true mass sprint is unlikely as many riders will not be able to follow the strongest on that final ramp.

Tour de France Femmes 2026: Lorena Wiebes to launch green jersey title defence in tricky uphill opener - Preview

Demi Vollering and her FDJ United-Suez are on stage.

Vollering admits she is emotional to be back at the Tour, indeed, she isa almost in tears due to the emotions.

Interestingly, Vollering and the FDJ riders are wearing Red Bull sponsored helmets. Is this the start of something new for the French team?

We are about to find out.

Vollering spoke on Friday afternoon and Cyclingnews was there.

"I think now what has changed mostly is that I come quite calm into this Tour de France," she said.

"I don't have the feeling that I need to save my season, for example, on this Tour because I've won already so many beautiful races, and I've really enjoyed this whole season with the whole team. We did such a great beginning of the season already."

This is our full story on Vollering's hopes and ambitions for the Tour.

'Pressure is a privilege' – Calm, mature Demi Vollering taking Tour de France Femmes favourite status in her stride as search to reclaim yellow continues

It's hot in Lausanne today, 25C and will be 27C during the stage, so riders are wearing ice vests to stay cool. They are also warming up for a fast, aggressive start to the stage.

This is the map of stage 1. The 138km loop heads north and then south back to Lausanne

The riders are lining up for the start as the minutes count down.

There are just five minutes to the start of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes.

The testing race route means this year's race is widen open. For example it will be fascinating to see what happens at UAE Team L'IMAD.

Who is the protected team leader and what will role will La Vuelta Feminina winner Paula Blasi have?

Is there Tour de France Femmes tension brewing at UAE Team L'IMAD?

We're close to the stage start. The Swiss and French national anthems have been played.

It's time to race!

C'est Parti! The race announcer shouts out across Lausanne and the riders roll out. The 2026 Tour de France Femmes is underway.

The riders face a 9.2km neutralised sector through the streets of Lausanne before the 138km stage officially begins.

This is the full race route map and stages of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes.

We'll have live coverage and the best updates, news, interviews and analysis every day.

The TDFF continues to grow and this year has a stacked GC battle on the tough course could take it to even higher heights.

Matilda Price wrote this personal prediction piece as she travelled to Lausanne. It provides perfect context on what we can expect from what is the fifth edition of the modern Tour de France Femmes.

Five years in, this Tour de France Femmes looks like it will be the best edition yet

This was the moment of the roll out. due ot the slow pace through Lausanne, the official stage start is still 5km away.

Cyclingnews can reveal some big breaking news about the involvement of Red Bull in women's cycling.

Demi Vollering and her FDJ United-Suez teammates are wearing new Red Bull helmets for the stage, marking the start of a new sponsorship.

Red Bull set to partner with FDJ United-SUEZ as riders wear branded helmets at Tour de France Femmes Grand Départ

It's always interesting to hear what Lidl-Trek sports director Ina-Yoko Teutenberg has to say about the stage.

OFFICIAL START

Here we go! It's time to race.

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The attacks begin, with a number of the smaller teams trying to place riders in the break of the day.

We expect the early moves to be chased down before the peloton eventually lets a small group go before SDWorx and other sprint teams control the gap.

130km to go

The early roads roll through the Swiss countryside, offering perfect terrain for early attacks.

Th Mayenne Monbana My Pie, Cofidis and VolkerWessels teams have all sent riders on the attakc but the peloton keeps pullnig them back.

We expect these attacks to continue until the big-name riders and team decide to let a move go clear.

Interestingly, the intermediate sprint comes after 73km of the stage and so the sprinter teams may try to go for the points if a break is not established and given a big gap.

125km to go

A group of four riders have a gap of 40 seconds but we can see Lidl-Trek and FDJ United leading the peloton at pace. The elastic hasn't snapped yet but the four could have a chance to get away.

The four attackers are: Maud Rijnbeek (Volkerwessels), Idoia Eraso (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) and Océane Mahe (Ma Petite Entreprise).

Alison Jackson (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93) is trying to go across to the quartet.

That's a clever move by the Canadian. She faces a big effort to join them but the peloton seems to have eased and so the break is formed.

120km to go

Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne-Mombana-MyPie) has also tried to go across to the break.

Behind her we can see EF, Lidl, Movistar and SD Worx riders across the front of the peloton in an apparent sense of control to let the break og away.

The interesting thing now is to see how much of s gap they let the attackers open and then who will do the work to chase the attack.

Red Bull have made a splash with their sponsorship of the FDJ United team. They quickly edited and published this video of Kate Courtney delivering the Red Bull helmets to Demi Vollering ands her teammates before the sign-on.

Maud Rijnbeek (Volkerwessels), Idoia Eraso (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) and Océane Mahe (Ma Petite Entreprise) are not waiting for anyone, even former Paris-Roubaix winner Alison Jackson.

The Canadian and Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne-Mombana-MyPie) are 1:20 behind the four.

110km to go

For now, the peloton is letting the attackers go away. Their gap is up to 4:00.

We can see all the big teams up front but nobody has placed a rider up front to lead the chase.

There seems to be a game of bluff. No team seems ready to commit a rider to the hard, early work. That is logical with seven-rider teams but allowing the break to go away, including a strong rider like Alison Jackson, could be a mistake.

The stage could be a fascinating tactical stand-off that is indicative of the whole race. If teams refuse to chase, there wil lbe more and more attacks.

The riders are close to Lake Neuchâtel.

The gap is growing second by second as the peloton stand-off continues. Surely soneone will blink and start to chase soon, right?

100km to go

The gap is up to 4:20 and still rising....

We need a stand-off meme to explain what is happening in the peloton.

We can imagine that team leaders and road captains are talking but there is no agreement on working togther to chase the attackers. Meanwhile, the kilometres tick down.

Meanwhile, Cédrine Kerbaol of EF is at her team car, trying to resolve a radio problem. The French rider seems ideal for this year's tough Femmes route.

Alison Jackson (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93) and Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne-Mombana-MyPie) are still chasing the attackers but are getting closer and are only 50 seconds behind. That is still a hard gap to close, especially as the roads begins to climb, with three categorised climbs in the next 50km.

Alison Jackson (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93) has dropped Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne-Mombana-MyPie) as she surges to try join the quartet of attackers.

She knows it is probably now and never. It'll be important to get into the team cars of the four, so she can close the gap.

This photo captures the sense of a stand-off in the peloton.

95km to go

The 1.6km long Côte de Châbles is about to start and so the peloton is moving faster.

The presence of the climbs highlights one of the reasons why the sprinter teams do not want to chase. They fear they will hurt their sprinters on the climbs. Indeed, they will have to ride at the pace of the sprinters on the clmibs and that can only help the attackers, if they have the legs to stay away.

The attacks will also have their own battle as the fight for the QOM points.

It's been a fast first hour of racing.

Allez Alison!

The gap to break is just 20 seconds, as the peloton eases to 4:30 down.

Crash!

Several went down together in the peloton.

Fortunately the touch of wheels happened near the back of the pack.

Two or three riders went down and others were forced to hit the brakes.

90km to go

The four attackers sprint for the QOM points at the top of the Côte de Châbles.

Océane Mahe (Ma Petite Entreprise) goes clear with Idoia Eraso (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) and then wins the surge to the summit. She scores 3 points, with more up fro grabs later in the stage.

Meanwhile, the peloton is spread across the road and is losing time to attack. They are 4:45 now.

It would be incredible if the attackers stay away and fight for victory and the first yellow jersey.

It looks like Alison Jackson will not get across to the quartet. She has slipped back to 1:20.

80km to go

Wow!

The gap is close to 5:00 now.

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Another crash in the peloton!

Again it was at the back of the peloton.

75km to go

This the feeling in the peloton at the moment.

You chase! No, you chase! No, you chase!

Meanwhile the time gap is up to 6:00.

It's almost time for the intermediate sprint.

Alison Jackson has eased-up and accepted she will not make it across to that attack.

She had crossed her fingers on television but failed to close the gap before the climb.

She has wisely eased-up to safe her legs for other stages and other attacks.

This is the moment that Alison Jackson was caught by the peloton.

INTERMEDIATE SPRINT

Maud Rijnbeek (Volkerwessels), Idoia Eraso (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) and Océane Mahe (Ma Petite Entreprise) ride through together without a sprint but we're expecting a battle for the lesser points.

That is why SDWorx are on the front for Wiebes.

The peloton is moving at speed as they near the intermediate sprint.

Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) kicked clear to take the 13 points and indicate she is riding for the green jersey.

60km to go

The surge by the peloton has reduced to gap to 5:10 but it will be interesting to see if some teams drive the change on the climbs before the drop down to Lausanne and the climb to the line.

55km to go

We're back into the hills and this will be a vital moment for the breakaway.

It will show if they have the strength and unity to stay away.

It will also show the intentions of the GC teams and sprint teams. Indeed FDJ are friding hard and so the gap is falling fast. It is now 3:20 with more climbing to come.

The Côte de Villars-le-Comte is 4km long and hurting a lot of riders as FDJ up the tempo.

Several riders are dropped.

There's another fight for the QOM points. Everyone in the break would like to pull on the polka-dot jersey at the finish.

Océane Mahe (Ma Petite Entreprise) was again the first to the top and so leads the virtual QOM classification with 6 points.

There is still the Cat 3 Côte de Vulliens soon and then the Cat 4 climb to the finish.

The Côte de Villars-le-Comte climb is 4km long and has changed the race. Lots of riders have been distanced and are fighting to get back.

Other riders have attacked over the top and so the gap to the break has fallen to 1:40.

It's race on.

50km to go

Attacks are coming on the descent and there has been a crash near the summit.

Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) seemed to go off the road and so is chasing. Meanwhile Amanda Spratt is on the attack.

This 40km section of the stage is in the hills as the race heads south back to Lausanne.

The chase is on now as the peloton chases Spratt and other lone attackers.

We will know more about how the stage will end - sprint, small group, attack and breakaway - after this 40km of rolling roads, with just 20km to go.

This is a clever move by Amanda Spratt (Lidl). She used the descent to attack and is now only 50 seconds down on the breakaway and 35 seconds ahead of the select peloton.

Her attack means that Lidl-Trek does not have to work in any chase, so they can save their strength to help Elisa Balsamo in the finish.

Next up is the Côte de Vulliens, a 3km climb.

It will be interesting to see who does the pace here.

Our journalists on the ground at the Tour de France Femmes were busy speaking to riders on Friday and today at the start.

There has been a lot of reporting and even speculation about who is the leader at UAE Team L'IMAD and what is the role of Paula Blasi, who is expected to leave the team.

Dani Ostanek spoke to Cyclingnews columnist, Brodie Chapman.

'We're all really united' – After much speculation, UAE Team L'IMAD confirm dual leadership strategy at Tour de France Femmes

Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) won the QOM sprint and Océane Mahe (Ma Petite Entreprise) was second, so is mathematically assured to pull on the first polka.dot jersey of the TDFF 2026.

Sadly Laura Tomasi (Uno-X Mobility) is the first rider to abandon the 2026 Tour de France Femmes. She crashed earlier on and so was unable to continue in the race.

35km to go

As expected, the climb and the rolling roads has split the attack, with Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) up front alone and the other three spread across the road.

Amanda Spratt is still chasing the select peloton is riding as a unit and so carefully pulling back the attacks.

It is now more and more likely we'll see the peloton and some sprinters fight for the stage victory.

There are 96 riders in the peloton at 1:00, with a chasing group of 45 riders at 3:30. Only the first group will fight for the win.

Matlida Price spoke to Urška Zigart.

She crashed and fracturing her jaw six weeks ago at the Tour de Suisse but fought back to recovery quickly and so make the start of the TDFF.

'The body is an amazing thing' – Urška Zigart back in action at the Tour de France Femmes, six weeks on from Tour de Suisse horror crash

30km to go

The peloton is at 2:00 from Nikola Nosková (Cofidis).

We can see the Movistar riders lined out on the left, with SDWorx on the other side of the road.

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20km to go

Crash for Marlen Reusser. Her Movistar teammate slid out at speed and the Swiss rider flipped over her but at a slow pace. She got up and started to chase.

The race returns to the shores of Lake Geneva and Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) remains out front.

She was in the early attack and still leads the reduced peloton by 50 seconds.

She may be caught but this a huge ride for Nosková. She will surely be awarded the most combatif prize of the day. She deserves it.

We can Visma-Lease a Bike on the front of the peloton.

They are riding to protect Pauline Ferrand-Prévot but perhaps also for Marianne Vos.

15km to go

The riders are speeding along the lakeside road, between the water, the vines and the train line.

The climb to the finish begins 2.8km from the finish and winds up via the city centre streets.

If Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) manages to win, it will arguably be one of the best victories of her career.

Marlen Reusser has chased back to the peloton with several teammates but the crash was a real scare for the Swiss rider and a real threat to her GC ambitions.

Cyclingnews will try to find out more from Marlen Reusser on her crash and any injuries at the finish.

10km to go

EF have three riders leading the peloton, as the gap to the attackers falls to 40 seconds.

Ahead of them Maud Rijnbeek (Volkerwessels), Idoia Eraso (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) and Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) have come together but can they hold off the peloton?

It will be difficult, even if they reach the foot of the climb with a few seconds.

Movistar, Liv-AlUla-Jayco, Canyon-SRAM and EF Education-Oatly are fighting for position at the front of the peloton.

With such a twisting climb to the finish, positioning going into the climb, the right turn away from the lake, will be vital.

There could be splits on the climb and there arecalso time bonuses of 10-6-4 seconds up for grabs.

5km to go

Here we go!

The attack has been swept up. Gruppo compatto.

It's time to climb-sprint to the finish!

There's a fight for position, with lead out trains to the foot of the climb, all while dodging road furniture.

The climb starts now!

The climb is 2.6km 4.6% but includes two steeper sectors.

The GC contenders are well placed, staying safe.

The speed is high as the gradient eases. Only 30 or so riders are still on contention.

Crash due to a touch of wheel.

LAST KILOMETRE

The GC riders will fight for the stage win.

Demi Vollering kicks it off with 700m to go!

LORENA WIEBES WINS STAGE 1 OF THE 2026 TOUR DE FRANCE FEMMES

Wiebes slumps to the ground after making a huge effort to win the sprint.

She wisely followed the wheels on the climb, going deep but staying in contention.

When the road straightened, she accelerated using her power and then hit the front to celebrate with her arms open.

This is the top for for the stage:

1. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime)
2. Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal)
3. Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez)
4. Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech)
5. Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly)

SD Worx had played down their hopes and ambitions for stage 1 but Wiebes was superb after great work all day by her teammates.

It is Wiebes' 131 career victory. She has now won six Tour stages.

This is the first shot of Wiebes victory.

Demi Vollering was third on the stage and so took four bonus seconds. That will help in the GC battle.

We have more photos of the sprint.

Lorena Wiebes is on the podium celebrating her stage win.

She and SD Worx are the big winners today.

Lorena spoke briefly.

"I cannot believe it," she said, generously praising her teammates.

"The team worked super hard today and then Anna (van der Breggen) came also still to the front with one kilometre to go. Then Demi attacked and I realised I needed to follow. It was a long sprint but I'm super happy with this."

Wiebes judsged her sprint perfectly, using her experience.

"I expected some attacks and after the first attack I still felt good. Then there was one kilometre to go, I needed to hold on. I told myself 'I cannot drop.'" she said.

"Then I was a bit blocked, because EF started on the right side. Then I found my way and I started a bit early but I said: 'I need to go now.'

Wiebes was SD Worx protected rider but deflected any pressure due to help and support from the team.

"I'm really happy with the support from our team, and that gives me extra energy, also the support from the staff," she said.

"They fully believe in me, even when I had some doubts, I'm super grateful for this."

Thanks for joining us for live coverage of stage 1 of the Tour de France Femmes.

It was a fascinating first day of racing and indicated what we should see for the next eight days: high-speed, quality racing, sprinting for stages, a tense GC battle and for now, Lorena Wiebes in the yellow jersey.

Stage 2 is another rolling ride from Aigle, the home of the UCI, to Geneva. The stage is 147.9km long.

Our tip? Lorena wibes to win in the yellow jersey.

This is our stage 2 preview.

Tour de France Femmes 2026 stage 2 preview

This is our initial report on Marlen Reusser's crash. Fortunately she chased back and finished 10th, in the same time as the big GC contnders.

Scare for favourite Marlen Reusser after a crash during the opening stage of the Tour de France Femmes

This is our full stage 1 report, including photographs from the stage, results and reaction.

Tour de France Femmes: Lorena Wiebes claims stage 1 victory and first yellow jersey with commanding uphill sprint

Our journalists on the race Matilda Price and Dani Ostanek will soon have the best reaction, news and analysis.

Join us on Sunday for full live coverage of stage 2.

This is the photograph that Lorena Weibes and the SD Worx team will surely hang on the wall.

This is how Lorena Wiebes won in Lausanne.