It was more than a coming-of-age performance, or a breakthrough victory: it was a record-making, Yellow-seizing solo ride. It was one for the books. Sigrid Haugset (Uno-X Mobility) rode alone at the head of the race for 88.5 kilometres to claim the win in the 3rd stage of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, keeping at bay a multiple world champion like Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) to raise one arm in victory and get herself in the lead of the overall standings. It’s the first time that a Norwegian cyclist takes the Yellow Jersey in the women’s Grande Boucle. Meanwhile, the favorites, busy with their particular GC fight, reached the finish line in Poligny 2’48” in arrears. Their time to properly show their current shape will come as soon as Tuesday, with the 21-kilometre individual time trial between Gévrey-Chambertin and Dijon.
139 riders took the start in the third stage of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift at 13:45 CEST. On the menu were 156.5 kilometres between Geneva and Poligny to draw to a close the Grand Départ from Switzerland by crossing the French border via the Jura range to encounter the first major mountain of this Grande Boucle, the Col de la Faucille (1ª, km 23.9), ahead of a hilly course all the way to the end of the stage.
Puck Pieterse seizes the polka dot jersey
An early crash brought down several riders, including Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) and Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly), ahead of the Col de la Faucille (Cat 1, km 23.9). Luckily, they all came out unharmed from the incident. The peloton got whittled down on the climb, rider by rider. Sprinters like the Yellow Jersey, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), or the green jersey wearer, Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), were amongst those dropped to never bridge back to the bunch. Meanwhile, Dina Boels (Lotto Intermarché Ladies) withdrew from the race.
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) was on a mission in this stage. Eager to take the polka dot jersey, she was first atop the Col de la Faucille (Cat 1, km 23.9) and also at the Côte de Lajoux (Cat 3, km 36). This helped the Dutch rider secure the lead of the Mountains classification ahead of Nikola Nosková (Cofidis), dethroning Océane Mahé (Ma Petite Entreprise), who was dropped early on.
Splendid solo effort by Sigrid Haugset
Right after the Côte de Lajoux (Cat 3, km 36), Lidl-Trek’s Lucinda Brand took off and built a small gap on the peloton. Shortly after she was joined by Femke de Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike), Célia Gery (FDJ United-Suez), Rosa Kloser (Canyon//SRAM), Lotte Kopecky, Nienke Vinke (SD Worx-Protime), Liane Lippert (Movistar Team), Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek), Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Premier Tech) to form a 10-rider lead group, that became 11-strong when Sigrid Haugset (Uno-X Mobility) jumped across from the peloton.
EF Education-Oatly chased the group down at the foot of the Col de la Savine (Cat 2, km 73.1), where Haugset took off solo to crest it with 35” over a bunch that was reduced to a mere 50 riders. Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) set off in pursuit with 76 kilometres to go. Haugset led the race across the Intermediate Sprint in Champagnole (IS, km 100.7). At that point, the Norwegian national champion held a 1’20” advantage on Kopecky and 5’10” on the peloton, where Adegeest and Lippert unsuccessfully tried to go clear. FDJ United-Suez and Visma | Lease a Bike then took the helm in the main group, trying to come closer to the two women up the road.
Kopecky fails to catch up with Haugset
Haugset crested the Côte de Chaux-Champagny (Cat 4, km 131.8) with 35” on Kopecky and 2’30” on the peloton, where a powerful acceleration by Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) could only be matched by eight riders: Pauline Ferrand Prévot, Femke de Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike), Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez), Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney, Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM), Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team L’Imad), Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) and the aforementioned Pieterse. Yet the favorites were too wary of each other, chose not to cooperate and were eventually rejoined by twenty other riders, including the rest of the GC contenders, and ended up crossing the finish line 2’48” behind Haugset.
As for the Norwegian national champion, she was 15” shy of being caught by Kopecky with 10 kilometres to go. Yet, pushing against the headwinds, she managed to keep the multiple world champion at bay and put 1’24” on her by the time they reached Poligny. Haugset spent 88.5 kilometres alone in the lead to seal the longest winning solo breakaway in the history of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, surpassing Annemiek van Vleuten’s previous record of 62 kilometres on her way to Le Markstein (St 7, 2022). She is the first Norwegian to take the Yellow Jersey. The Uno-X team already claimed this ever-prestigious garment with their men’s squad just one month ago in the Tour de France, thanks to Torstein Træen’s breakaway in the opening week.
Stage 3
1 Sigrid HAUGSET UNO-X MOBILITY 04h 05′ 59” – B : 16” –
2 Lotte KOPECKY TEAM SD WORX – PROTIME 04h 07′ 23” + 00h 01′ 24” B : 10” –
3 Marianne VOS TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE 04h 08′ 47” + 00h 02′ 48” B : 4” –
GC
1 Sigrid HAUGSET UNO-X MOBILITY 04h 05′ 59” – B : 16” –
2 Lotte KOPECKY TEAM SD WORX – PROTIME 04h 07′ 23” + 00h 01′ 24” B : 10” –
3 Marianne Vos TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE 04h 08′ 47” + 00h 02′ 48” B : 4” –
