Lorena Wiebes wins Tour opener in Lausanne

Lausanne – 01.08.2026: Lorena Wiebes has won the Swiss opener of the Tour de France Femmes. The 27-year-old Dutch rider from SD Worx-Protime won the 138-kilometre first stage, which started and finished in Lausanne, in a sprint. Kimberley Le Court of AG Insurance-Soudal and Demi Vollering of FDJ-Suez finished on the same time. Wiebes therefore becomes the first rider to wear the Yellow Jersey in this race.

The route to the finish demanded more than pure finishing speed. The 2.5-kilometre Côte Saint-François, with an average gradient of 4.6 percent, climbed into the centre of Lausanne. Vollering raised the pace around 700 metres from the finish and tried to shake off the remaining sprinters. Wiebes, however, held her wheel, waited for the flatter final metres and launched her decisive acceleration there.

The race had already been unsettled well before the final climb. Idoia Eraso, Nikola Noskova, Océane Mahé and Maud Rijnbeek formed the breakaway group. A mass crash around 75 kilometres before the finish slowed the peloton and temporarily allowed the escapees’ lead to grow to more than six minutes. The breakaway was only caught six kilometres from the finish. This cleared the way for the decisive move on the final climb.

Marlen Reusser also became caught up in the hectic finale. The Swiss Movistar leader crashed in the final kilometres but, with the support of her teammates, rejoined the main field and avoided losing time. It was an important moment of recovery for her overall classification ambitions. Paula Blasi, by contrast, lost eight seconds to the leading group on the explosive final section.

Wiebes completed the stage in 3:29:11 hours and celebrated her sixth career victory at the Tour de France Femmes. The time bonuses gave her a four-second lead over Le Court and a six-second advantage over Vollering in the general classification. The fact that she prevailed on this particular profile adds to the sporting value of the victory: the uphill finish was better suited to explosive Classics riders and overall classification contenders than to a traditional flatland sprinter.

At the same time, the opener already created the first gaps between the riders hoping for a strong overall result. Wiebes now holds the overall lead, but different qualities will be required on the tougher stages. Vollering and Reusser reached the finish without losing time, preserving their starting positions.

The second stage on 02.08.2026 covers 147.9 kilometres from Aigle to Geneva. The official route profile is flatter in character, offering another opportunity for the fast riders. Wiebes will start there in the Yellow Jersey with a four-second advantage.