Tour de France Femmes 2026: Ferrand-Prevot to defend title as race makes historic first ascent of Mont Ventoux

The Tour de France Femmes begins in Lausanne, Switzerland on Saturday, with defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot leading the field for a race that will make history with its first-ever ascent of Mont Ventoux.

Riders will cover 1,175km across nine stages, the most since the event returned to the World Tour calendar as a stage race in 2022. The highlight is the stage-seven climb to the telecommunications tower on the top of Provence's Mont Ventoux, one of the most iconic climbs in cycling history, where Eddy Merckx, Marco Pantani and Chris Froome all triumphed in the men's race.

Ferrand-Prevot of Visma-Lease a Bike became the first Frenchwoman to win the Tour since Jeannie Longo in 1989 when she took the title in 2025, having returned to road racing after a decade spent dominating mountain biking, cyclo-cross and gravel. She won Olympic gold at Paris 2024 and remains the peloton's most complete rider. "I've climbed Mont Ventoux quite a lot in the past," she said, "but also since I've known it will be in the Tour de France, I went there quite a few times."

Her rivals include Demi Vollering of FDJ-Suez United, winner in 2023 and runner-up in 2022, 2024 and 2025, who has been practising her time-trial position ahead of the new team time trial. Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney of Canyon-SRAM, who won the 2024 edition by four seconds and has reached the podium in all four editions of the race, is another major threat.

Britain's Zoe Backstedt, 21, makes her Tour debut for Canyon-SRAM, supporting Niewiadoma-Phinney's general classification bid. The Welsh rider has seven wins this season, including British road race and time-trial titles, and follows in the footsteps of her father Magnus, who won a stage of the 1998 Tour de France. Her sister Elynor also rides for UAE Team ADQ. Ferrand-Prevot will wear a special jersey designed by children for the race.

Sources

• BBC Sport — Tour de France Femmes to make history on Ventoux
• BBC Sport — Backstedt to make Tour de France Femmes debut