The 2026 Tour de France Femmes route takes the peloton from Switzerland to Nice over nine days of racing between August 1 and August 9, with major mountain ascents of Mont Ventoux and the Col d'Eze along the way.
Race director Marion Rousse and men's race director Christian Prudhomme unveiled the route of the Tour de France Femmes' fifth edition at ASO's route presentation at the Palais des Congrès in Paris on Thursday, October 23.
The race covers 1,175km, heading through three regions of France (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) with a route focused on the east of the country. The women's peloton tackle a record 18,795 metres of elevation gain during the race, up on last year's 17,240 metres.
The nine days of racing open with the second foreign Grand Départ in the history of the latest incarnation of the women's Grand Boucle. The first two stages and the start of stage 3 will all be held in Switzerland, with an opening stage featuring a hilltop finish, followed by a sprinter-friendly day in Geneva and then another stage for the fast women as the race heads into Poligny, France.
Stage 4 sees the return of the individual time trial, a hilly 21km test held in Dijon, before the race heads south for two challenging hill-packed stages featuring a massive 14 classified climbs.
In keeping with the tradition of introducing a famed mountain-top finish every year – from La Planche des Belles Filles, the Col du Tourmalet, L'Alpe d'Huez, and the Col de la Madeleine in previous editions – in 2026 riders will be tackling Mont Ventoux on stage 7.
The 'Giant of Provence' is the queen stage of the 2026 race, hosting the summit finish on a 144km stage 7, which is set to be the biggest test next summer.
Stage 8 is the longest of the race at 175km. It takes the riders to Nice for a sprinter-friendly day featuring a sting in the tail in the form of two late hills, while the general classification battle is set to come down to the final day, also hosted in Nice, which features four ascents of the Col d'Eze.
2026 Tour de France Femmes - Dates, Locations and Distances
Stage 1 of the Tour de France Femmes begins and ends in Lausanne, Switzerland for the second foreign Grand Départ in the modern race's history after the Netherlands in 2024. The riders will take on 138km of racing on a northern loop towards Lake Neuchâtel, featuring the first two climbs of the race.
The Côte de Villars-le-Comte (4km at 5.8%) and Côte de Vuillens (3km at 5.3%) will decide the first queen of the mountains of the 2026 race, though the uphill finish in Lausanne at the Côte Saint-François (2.5km at 4.6%) will host the battle for the first maillot jaune.
Stage 2 is one for the sprinters, despite five hills lying along the 147.9km route. The stage sets off in Aigle, home of the UCI, as the Tour de France Femmes remains in Switzerland for a second successive day.
The stage will skirt Lake Geneva and head west past Lausanne, with climbs of the Côte de Chexbres (3.2km at 5.6%), Côte de Savigny (2.5km at 5%), Côte de Cossonay (2km at 6%), Côte de Bougy-Villars (0.9km at 10.4%), and Côte de Monts-sur-Rolles (2.3km at 6.5%) filling the route.
There are no classified climbs in the final 40km of the stage, however, clearing the way for the sprinters of the peloton to do battle for the stage victory in Geneva.
Stage 3 heads into France via the Jura Mountains in a front-loaded day which takes the race to its highest point yet. The second-longest stage of the race at 156.5km will take the peloton over the Col de la Faucille (11.4km at 6.3%) early on, with the Côte de Lajoux (3.6km at 5.6%) following shortly afterwards.
Further tests, including several unclassified hills and the Col de la Savine (5.6km at 5.1%), come in the mid-stage, before the riders head through rolling roads, the Côte de Chaux-Champagny (1.8km at 6.4%) and a descent towards a flat finish in Poligny.
Stage 4
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Stage 4: Gevrey-Chambertin - Dijon ITT, 21km
(Image credit: ASO)
Individual time trialling returns at the 2026 Tour de France Femmes in the shape of a hilly 21km test to Dijon. The town of Gevrey-Chambertin hosts the flat start of stage 4 before the riders head up Lacets de Marsannay (1.8km at 6.9%) in the mid-section of the time trial.
A 6km descent follows as the riders head into Dijon, before a flat run towards the finish concludes the stage.
Stage 5 sees a return to the hills as the peloton heads south out of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region to the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. The 140km stage, run between Mâcon and Belleville-en-Beaujolais, features eight classified climbs and barely a moment of rest for GC riders aiming to get a leg up on their rivals.
The climbing starts straight away with the Côte de Cenves (9.6km at 4.4%) and barely lets up for the rest of the day, with five more classified climbs packed into the opening 75km of the stage.
A mid-race lull follows, but there's yet more climbing to do on the road to the finish, with the Col de Durbize (3.6km at 5.8%) lying 31.5km from the line and Mont Brouilly (3km at 7.7%) coming 11.5km from the finish.
The sixth stage of the race is another one packed with hills as the race heads into the Ardèche. Another six classified climbs are on the menu on the 153.4km stage from Montbrison to Tournon-sur-Rhône, though only one of them measures in at over 4km in length.
Four of the hills come in the opening 70km of the day, while the toughest test is undoubtedly the Col de Lalouvesc (8.6km at 5%), after 105.5km of racing. A long descent thereafter leads the peloton to the late test of the Côte de Boucieu-le-Roi (3.8km at 5.7%), which lies just 16km from the line.
Stage 7
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Stage 7: La Voulte-sur-Rhône - Mont Ventoux, 146.8km
(Image credit: ASO)
It had long been rumoured – Mont Ventoux will host the queen stage of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes. The Giant of Provence caps off stage 7 of the race, a 146.8km run from La Voulte-sur-Rhône.
The stage features three smaller climbs along the way – the Col de la Grande Limite (6.6km at 5%), the Col du Colombier (3.2km at 6.4%), and the Col de Suzette (3.9km at 6.4%) – but there's no questioning the main attraction of the day.
Raced from its toughest approach at Bédoin, Mont Ventoux (15.7km at 8.8%) is the centrepiece of the race, with the summit finish set to play host to the big GC showdown of the nine-day race.
Stage 8 brings the race south towards Nice and a grand finale, though the penultimate stage of the race – its longest at 171.9km – will be a calmer day in the saddle after the previous stage's trials and tribulations.
Mid-stage ascents of the Col des Robins (2.6km at 4.6%) and the Col de Routes Aures (6.4km at 3.1%) give way to a long descent towards the Côte d'Azur and Nice. There are two late tests before the finish, however, with the Côte de Colomars (1.4km at 5.4%) and the Côte de la Ginestière (2.5km at 4.4%) falling inside the final 10km.
The final stage of the Tour de France Femmes hosts the race's final major test and possibly a final day battle for the yellow jersey as four ascents of the Col d'Eze (7.7km at 5.9%) in Nice pack the 99km route.
Stage 9 is set to play host to a thrilling end to the race, with non-stop climbing and descending filling out the route as the famous climb of Paris-Nice is crested four times on the last day of racing.
Once the hectic day of racing is over and done with, the Tour de France Femmes' fifth yellow jersey will be awarded.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor, later being hired full-time. Her favourite races include Strade Bianche, the Tour de France Femmes, Paris-Roubaix, and Tro-Bro Léon.
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