The 2026 edition of the Tour of Britain Women was the third time Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) lined up at the British stage race, hoping to put her previous experiences from 2015 and 2025 behind her. After an impressive solo victory on The Great Orme uphill finish on stage 3, she raced the final two stages in the green jersey of the GC leader and kept the lead to the finish to celebrate her first-ever GC victory.
“I’m so grateful for the team I had around me this week, because without them, none of this would have been possible. We raced with full hearts for Gladys [Verhulst-Wild]. Losing her so early was hard, and today’s win is for her. This was a true team effort, and I couldn’t be more proud,” said Le Court-Pienaar after receiving the winner’s trophy on the podium in Royal Leamington Spa.
Verhulst-Wild had been the Mauritian champion’s roommate at the race but crashed out on stage 1, and this brought back memories of the 2025 race when Le Court-Pienaar won stage 2, moved into the leader’s jersey, but then crashed with Verhulst-Wild on stage 3. Both had to abandon the race.
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“I had a bad experience last year, and I just wanted to redeem myself after that. In 2015 I came here, and I was dead last, so I didn’t have a good experience of the Tour of Britain in the past. This is my third try, and I said if I did a good tour and finished on a high then I wouldn’t come back … but it is just a saying,” said Le Court-Pienaar.
Her first Tour of Britain had been in 2015. 19 years old at the time, Le Court entered what was then still named the Women’s Tour, her first UCI stage race, and while she did finish the race, she was the lanterne rouge in 83rd place, over an hour down on the winner.
Another troubled season on a European UCI team dissuaded Le Court from pursuing a top-level road career. Instead, she turned to mountain biking, and after the 2023 season, she was given a second chance by AG Insurance-Soudal.
Improving year-on-year ever since, Le Court-Pienaar made history as the first African winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, men or women, in 2025, then went on to win a stage of the Tour de France Femmes and wore the yellow jersey for four stages.
In 2026, her spring campaign was interrupted by crashes in Milano-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders that prevented her from defending her Liège-Bastogne-Liège title and kept the now-30-year-old out of racing for over two months, only returning at the Tour de Suisse Women.
After winning the Mauritian ITT and road titles for the third year in a row to keep her striking red-blue-yellow-green champion’s jersey, Le Court-Pienaar again won a stage of the Tour de France Femmes, and her first GC victory is another milestone.
The next big highlight will be the World Championships in Montréal, Canada. A downside will be the lack of team support as Mauritius has no other riders on the WorldTour level – but on Sunday, she was once again the strongest rider on Sun Rising Hill, matching and replying to others’ attacks. Through Burton Dassett Hills Country Park, she even led the peloton from the foot of the climb to the top at a hard pace to ensure there were no attacks.
In a shape like this, Le Court-Pienaar has to be reckoned among the favourites in Canada in September since she has developed the punch to stay with the best on hills like the Voie Camillien-Houde and a sprint that few other riders in that category can match.
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