TOUR DE FRANCE FEMMES BEGINS WITH MONT VENTOUX STAGE

The Tour de France Femmes begins in Lausanne, Switzerland on Saturday, featuring nine stages across 1,175 kilometres. The race marks the first time the women's competition will include an ascent of Mont Ventoux, the iconic Provençal climb that has featured in the men's Tour for generations. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, the defending champion, will attempt to repeat her 2025 victory, whilst Demi Vollering of the Netherlands arrives as the pre-race favourite following a strong season.

Ferrand-Prévot, a French cyclist competing for Team Visma-Lease a Bike, became the first French winner of the race since Jeannie Longo in 1989 when she triumphed last year. The 34-year-old returned to road racing in 2025 after a decade focussing on mountain biking, cyclo-cross and gravel cycling, disciplines in which she won an Olympic gold medal in 2024. Her team includes triple stage winner Marianne Vos. Vollering has won the race once, in 2023, and finished second in 2022, 2024 and 2025. The stage-seven ascent of Mont Ventoux, which includes a telecommunications and meteorological tower at its peak, has decided many Tour outcomes historically and claimed the life of British cyclist Tom Simpson in 1967.

The addition of a team time trial this year presents a new variable in the competition, an event Ferrand-Prévot has not contested since 2021. Vollering has prepared specifically for the time-trial format during training. The race will conclude on Sunday and form part of a weekend that also includes the final day of the Commonwealth Games, where British cyclists compete for medals at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.