2025 green jersey champion Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) may have won the opening stage of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes, but there's still a question mark over whether she will – or can – target a points jersey defence in this edition of the Tour.
The Dutch sprinter powered to an impressive victory in Lausanne on Saturday, mastering the final uphill in a group composed mainly of GC climbers before kicking away for the win, and therefore pulled on both the yellow and green jerseys.
Wiebes' team were full of praise for her ride, and for getting their Tour de France off to a winning start, not rushing to think about next goals.
"I think you cannot start better than with the win. We're really happy, I think we worked hard for it, and it's really cool that we can start this way. It was an extremely hard finish, but I think she proved that she's world-class," DS Danny Stam told Cyclingnews at the finish.
As well as the added motivation of being able to take the iconic yellow jersey – something Wiebes hasn't worn since the first edition of this race in 2022 – there is perhaps extra pressure on the few sprint-friendly stages on this year's route, with only limited chances for a rider like Wiebes to win.
Even this stage was not really sprint-friendly, with Wiebes the only real sprinter in the top 10, but that seemed to be a testament to how much the team wanted to go for it.
"It's an extremely hard Tour de France, and I think we really were committed today to try as hard as possible. That's extra nice when it works out how you expect it," Stam said. "Other people can have doubts [about Wiebes' ability on tougher finishes], but for us, we need to work with her, so it's better that we don't have doubts. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes not, but today it was a really good day."
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The extra-challenging parcours and lack of true sprint stages are the reason that a green jersey title defence doesn't seem quite as straightforward as it could be for Wiebes. Despite showing off her climbing prowess on stage 1 – something that would surely stand her in good stead to go for the green jersey as a versatile rider – Wiebes underlined that it's not a primary concern yet.
"It's not the biggest goal of the team to win the green jersey," she said in her winner's press conference. "It's always nice to bring home a jersey, but it's not that we aim for it now.
"I think after the weekend we will know more," she added, having pointed out that a lot of GC riders are in the green jersey rankings after Saturday's finish. "Day by day we'll see. The GC with Anna [van der Breggen] is also really important."
Stam reiterated Wiebes' point: "I think we said already before that our main goal is to try to win stages, and the second point is to try to see if we can do a good general classification with Anna," he said. "I think the green jersey is something that comes up. If she keeps going like this, then automatically you will stay good in the [points classification]."
The evidence that Wiebes and co. may not be fully committed to green arose early when she did not contest for the remaining points at the intermediate sprint, with SD Worx letting Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) sweep up the maximum points still available behind the breakaway.
"Beforehand, I said to the team that I didn't want to go for the intermediate sprint because I didn't want to go for that there and then lose in the final," Wiebes explained.
'Extra fire' after Giro d'Italia disqualification
Lorena Wiebes wins stage 1 by bike lengths ahead of rivals in uphill sprint in Lausanne (Image credit: Getty Images)
The other intriguing element of Wiebes' win in Lausanne is that it's her first Grand Tour stage win after being disqualified from June's Giro d'Italia Women for having an underweight bike.
That may seem like a long time ago in the fast-moving world of cycling, but it was clearly still on Wiebes' mind going into the Tour.
"This Giro situation gave me extra motivation to win more races, it put some extra fire there," she said. "It for sure gave me extra fire to show that I can finish off these kind of finishes, to show that after what happened.
The story is also still waging on outside of Wiebes' psyche, with SD Worx still in the process of challenging the decision, with no ruling yet.
“Our team’s lawyers are working on it. We’ve received feedback, but it’s going to be a long process," Danny Stam told De Telegraaf. "Still, justice needs to be served."
Winning a stage of the Tour doesn't constitute justice, but it does give Wiebes a happier start to this stage race, and she is hoping more can come in Geneva on Sunday.
"Hopefully tomorrow is a sprint stage. It will be hectic. I think it will be even harder, maybe, to win because with sprint stages, anything can happen. But the team worked really hard today, so I have full trust in everybody."
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Matilda is an NCTJ-qualified journalist based in the UK who joined Cyclingnews in March 2025. Prior to that, she worked as the Racing News Editor at GCN, and extensively as a freelancer contributing to Cyclingnews, Cycling Weekly, Velo, Rouleur, Escape Collective, Red Bull and more. She has reported on the ground at all of the biggest events on the calendar, including the men's and women's Tours de France, the Giro d'Italia, the Vuelta a Espana, the Spring Classics and the World Championships. She has particular experience and expertise in women's cycling, and women's sport in general. She is a graduate of modern languages and sports journalism.
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