Lorena Wiebes, 27, claimed victory in stage one of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes on August 1 with a sprint finish in Lausanne, securing the race's first yellow jersey [1, 2, 3]. The stage covered an 85.5-mile out-and-back course featuring rolling hills and category climbs [1, 2]. Wiebes edged out rivals Kim Le Court-Pienaar and Demi Vollering by about a bike length to take the win [1, 2, 3].
The Dutch sprinter continued her dominance by winning stage two on August 2, a 147.9 km hilly route from Aigle to Geneva with a flat finish favoring sprinters. She surged ahead with 250 meters remaining and took the stage by several bike lengths over Elisa Balsamo and Marianne Vos [4, 5, 6]. This back-to-back success extended Wiebes's overall lead in the general classification to 14 seconds [4, 5, 6].
Wiebes rides for Team SD Worx-Protime and is regarded as the fastest female sprinter in the peloton. She holds the record for most Tour de France Femmes stage wins since the event restarted in 2022, with seven victories to date [1, 4]. Team manager Erwin Janssen carefully oversaw the bike weighing process to avoid any issues after her disqualification for an underweight bike at the Giro d’Italia Femminile in May. Janssen said the weigh-ins were conducted under close scrutiny and “the whole setup was fairly enclosed” [2, 5].
Wiebes herself expressed frustration over the inconsistent weighing at the Giro but said she appreciated her team’s support in her wins. “The girls were chasing full gas to bring back Riejanne Markus, so it is even more beautiful to finish it off in the yellow jersey,” she said after stage two [1, 4].
The 2026 race features nine stages and 147 riders [1, 4, 5, 6]. French rider Océane Mahé leads the Queen of the Mountains classification after winning two category-three climbs on stage one [1, 2]. Main rivals chasing Wiebes in the overall standings include Kim Le Court-Pienaar of Mauritius and 2023 champion Demi Vollering of the Netherlands [1, 4, 3, 6].
Stage three on August 14 consists of an 11 km steep climb near Geneva followed by a 15 km flat finish at Poligny, which could favor non-sprinters [4, 6]. The race also includes the women's Tour's first-ever ascent of Mont Ventoux on stage seven later in the event [1, 4, 6].
