Tour de France Femmes to make history on Ventoux
Mont Ventoux is one of the Tour's most iconic climbs
- Published
The Tour de France Femmes begins in Lausanne, Switzerland on Saturday - but it's the race's first ascent of the iconic Mont Ventoux that is really exciting fans.
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.
That includes the stage-seven slog up one of the most iconic climbs in the sport's history - to the telecommunications and meteorological tower on the top of Provence's Mont Ventoux.
Ventoux has been an iconic mountain stage for the men's Tour for generations, won by legendary figures such as Eddy Merckx, Marco Pantani and Chris Froome.
Alongside in-form rivals such as the Netherlands' Demi Vollering of FDJ-Suez United, last year's winner Pauline Ferrand-Prevot of Visma Lease a Bike will be hoping to steal a march.
"I've climbed Mont Ventoux quite a lot in the past," said the Frenchwoman. "But also since I've known it will be in the Tour de France, I went there quite a few times."
Such trips are useful for Ventoux - a stage that has put paid to many a Tour-winning dream in the past. In 1967, British cyclist Tom Simpson died there.
Who are the main Tour de France Femmes contenders?
Team Visma-Lease a Bike will wear a special-edition jersey featuring 15 drawings created by children, illustrating their cycling dreams
Ferrand-Prevot will look to repeat her success of last year wearing a jersey designed by children's competition winners.
The idea behind her campaign is to inspire the next generation of cyclists.
Ferrand-Prevot returned to road cycling in 2025 for the Tour and became the first Frenchwoman to win the race since Jeannie Longo in 1989.
Now 34, she initially left road cycling in 2015 to focus on other disciplines in the sport. She competed in mountain biking, cyclo-cross and gravel cycling - winning gold at the Paris Olympics in 2024. She was the first rider to hold all three major discipline world titles simultaneously in 2015.
Ferrand-Prevot excels in all terrain and is the best climber in the peloton, but with the addition of the team time trial this year her rivals will be watching her every move as she hasn't competed in one since 2021.
Who might beat her?
Vollering also has strong pedigree having won this race in 2023 and come second in 2022, 2024 and 2025.
The Dutch rider has practised her time-trial position in the lead-up to the tour and could pose a real threat to Ferrand-Prevot's chances of going back-to-back.
Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney(Canyon-SRAM) is another big rival, having won the Tour by four seconds in 2024 before finishing third in 2025.
The 31-year-old Pole will be banking on her vast experience to give her the edge, after taking to the podium in all four editions of the race.
Who are the British hopes on the Tour?
Elynor Backstedt (left) and Zoe Backstedt (right) are daughters of professional cyclists Magnus Backstedt and Megan Hughes
Riding under Niewiadoma-Phinney on the Canyon-SRAM team is Britain's Zoe Backstedt, who is making her Tour debut.
The 21-year-old Welsh rider has an impressive roster of achievements already, with seven wins to her name this season, and a rich family history routed in the Tour.
Her father Magnus won the 19th stage of the 1998 Tour de France.
Backstedt will be aiming for the Tour's stage-four time trial in Dijon, after winning British road race and time-trial titles this year, although her main priority will be supporting the general classification aspirations of her team-mate.
Her sister Elynor (UAE Team L'imad) will also be riding.
Five other Britons start the race.
Picnic-PostNL have three-time British national road race champion Pfeiffer Georgi on their roster giving her team options on the harder transitional stages.
Team-mate Josie Nelson is another British rider capable of turning a hard stage into a result with enough finishing speed to become dangerous when a smaller group reaches the line.
Alice Towers(EF Education-Oatly) was British road champion in 2022, and has strength in the climbs.
Millie Couzens (Fenix-Premier Tech) and Robyn Clay (Picnic-PostNL) complete the starting British riders, mainly on supportive duties.
One notable absentee is 20-year-old Cat Ferguson of Movistar, who misses out on her Tour debut after medical checks revealed two fractures in her ankle.
Who will contend for the other jerseys?
Justine Ghekiere is a contender for the best climber prize
Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance–Soudal) and Niewiadoma-Phinney are strong contenders for the polka dot jersey having both won it in previous years. Mavi Garcia (UAE Team L'imad) will be their strongest rival.
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) tops the competitors for the green sprinters' jersey. Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Charlotte Kool (Fenix–Premier Tech) will rival her, with more versatility across different terrains on the course.
Marion Bunel (Visma-Lease a Bike) finished third in the race for the white young riders' jersey in 2024. With the two riders ahead of her now too old to contest for the jersey, she stands a strong chance of winning it.
Julie Bego (Cofidis) and Nienke Vinke (Picnic-PostNL) are also in contention.
