2026 TDF Femmes Stage 1: Blazing Wiebes Claims Yellow Jersey in Lausanne

TOUR DE FRANCE FEMMES 2026 · STAGE 1 · LAUSANNE–LAUSANNE, 138KM

She is widely considered the fastest rider in the world, and on the evidence of Lausanne, she may be the punchiest, too. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) was quickest up the closing rise to the Côte Saint-François, taking the opening stage of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift — and with it, the first Yellow Jersey. The Dutch sprinter kicked clear with 200 metres remaining to beat Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez). It is the second time Wiebes has won this race’s opener, having also done so in 2022.

Only ten riders finished on the winner’s time, with GC favourites Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) and Paula Blasi (UAE Team L’Imad) already shipping seconds on the opening day. Elsewhere, a lumpy and combative stage saw a four-rider breakaway deliver Océane Mahé (Ma Petite Entreprise) the first polka-dot jersey of this Grande Boucle. The race continues Sunday with Stage 2, a 147.9-kilometre run from Aigle to Geneva expected to end in a bunch sprint.

Four Women Up the Road

A field of 147 riders rolled out of Lausanne at 14:40 CEST for the fifth edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, tracing a 138-kilometre loop from the shores of Lake Geneva to Lake Neuchâtel and back before the Côte Saint-François (2.6km at 4.6%) settled both the stage and the first Yellow Jersey.

The break went clear inside the first five kilometres, when Maud Rijnbeek (Volkerwessels) and Idoia Eraso (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi) escaped the bunch. Nikola Nosková (Cofidis) and Océane Mahé (Ma Petite Entreprise) bridged across by kilometre 8.5, opening a 35-second gap. Three counter-attacks followed: Romina Hinojosa’s (Lotto Intermarché Ladies) was short-lived, while Alison Jackson (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93) and Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne-Mombana-MyPie) combined forces in a nearly 50-kilometre chase that ultimately came up empty.

Mahé Claims the Polka-Dot Jersey

Mahé led the group over the Côte de Châbles (Cat. 3, km 49.1), while Eraso took the intermediate sprint in Villeneuve (km 73.1) with the break’s advantage swollen to 5’25” — by which point three separate pile-ups in the peloton had forced Uno-X Mobility’s Laura Tomasi to abandon.

FDJ United-Suez lit the pace up the Côte de Villars-le-Comte (Cat. 3, km 83.5), with Lidl-Trek answering in kind and the peloton shrinking to roughly 50 riders as the gap fell to 1’40”. Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) countered out of the regrouped bunch, and when Nosková attacked over the Côte de Vulliens (Cat. 3, km 97.1), it was Mahé who crossed first to secure the mountains jersey.

Breakaway Caught with Six Kilometres to Go

Nosková rode clear alone as the remnants of the break splintered, earning the day’s Combativity award. A late chase group of Spratt, Rijnbeek and Eraso closed to within 30 seconds of the leaders with 25 kilometres left, joining Nosková 17 kilometres from home; the quartet still held 40 seconds with 10 to go as the peloton wound up the pace for the uphill finish.

The catch came with six kilometres remaining. On the Côte Saint-François, AG Insurance-Soudal moved to the front for Kim Le Court while Dominika Wlodarczyk (UAE Team L’Imad) was caught in a late crash that ended her chances. Demi Vollering launched with 600 metres to go, and EF Education-Oatly was leading out Noemi Rüegg when Lorena Wiebes found the gap she needed and struck for the line with 200 metres remaining, taking the stage and the first Yellow Jersey. Only ten riders — Le Court, Vollering, Pieterse, Rüegg, Longo Borghini, Niewiadoma-Phinney, Ferrand Prévot, Kerbaol and Reusser among them — finished on Wiebes’ time, with GC names including Fisher-Black, Blasi, van der Breggen, Holmgren, Berthet and Niedermaier all losing ground.

In Their Words

For Paula Blasi, the white jersey arrived almost by accident. “This white jersey wasn’t a goal at all today,” she said afterward. “The team strategy was to deliver Elisa [Longo Borghini] and Domi [Wlodarczyk] safely to the finish line, yet things got a bit hectic and there were some misunderstandings.” She hadn’t realized Wlodarczyk had crashed, and assumed at first the fall fell under the three-kilometre rule — “but the three-kilometre rule doesn’t apply today,” she noted. Blasi only discovered she had taken the classification when officials called her to the podium as she was already cooling down. “It’s always beautiful to stand on the podium and wear a distinctive jersey,” she said, though she tempered expectations: with the Yellow Jersey the team’s real target, “we will sacrifice the white if necessary. It’s not a priority for the team.”

Océane Mahé, riding her first Tour, could barely process her afternoon. “It’s absolutely incredible — I think it hasn’t sunk in yet,” said the Frenchwoman. “This is my first Tour and my first stage at the Tour. I’m happy to claim this jersey for my team — it’s our first season in the pro ranks, and we deserve it.” She credited the roadside support for carrying the early break along, saying “the Swiss crowds carried us from start to finish.” The polka dots carry personal weight, too: “When you grow up in the mountains, this is the jersey you aspire to the most — after the Yellow Jersey, of course,” she said, adding that her sports directors were already plotting how to defend it. “I trust them — they’ll find a solution.”

Wiebes, for her part, credited a full team effort for delivering her into position. “SD Worx-Protime worked super hard today — even Anna [van der Breggen] came to the front with one kilometre to go, and then Demi attacked,” she said. “I was like, ‘I need to follow.’ It was a long sprint, but I’m super happy with this.” She had braced for the day’s attacks well before the finale, saying that after Célia Gery’s early dig, “I still felt good.” In the closing kilometre, boxed in as EF Education-Oatly launched its lead-out, she found her window late. “I was a bit blocked because EF started on the right side, but then I found a way,” she said. “It was a bit early, but I thought: I need to go now.”

Stage 1 Results

Stage Ranking

General Classification