Ready to Write History
Key points:
In five days’ time, on Saturday 1 August, 147 riders (7 from each of the 21 teams) will set off from Lausanne, Switzerland, for the fifth edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
Defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will put her Yellow Jersey on the line against two former winners, Demi Vollering (2023) and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (2024). All three are aiming to become the first two-time winner since the race returned in 2022.
Their battle will be challenged by rivals of the calibre of Anna van der Breggen and Elisa Longo Borghini. A new generation is also making its mark, represented by riders such as Paula Blasi, Antonia Niedermaier and France’s Célia Gery, all eager to make their debut in the race.
Puck Pieterse, Lorena Wiebes, Marianne Vos, Charlotte Kool, Kim Le Court Pienaar and many more: the list of riders capable of hunting stage victories and playing a major role over the nine days of racing is stronger than ever.
VOLLERING AND FERRAND-PRÉVOT SET FOR THE REMATCH
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) had given herself three years to win the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift; instead, she succeeded at her very first attempt last year. What challenge could she possibly set herself next? Becoming the first rider to win the race twice since its return in 2022.
The same ambition drives Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez), winner in 2023 and runner-up in 2022, 2024 and 2025. The Dutchwoman arrives in outstanding form, having already built up an impressive list of victories in 2026, including the Tour of Flanders, La Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Giro.
Both Yellow Jersey contenders can count on strong support, with French rider Marion Bunel (Best Young Rider at La Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es 2026) alongside Ferrand-Prévot, and Juliette Berthet backing Vollering.
The third former winner on the start line, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon//SRAM), also has unfinished business. Crowned champion in 2024, she has since recorded back-to-back third-place finishes.
A WORLD-CLASS FIELD TO SHAKE UP THE RACE
Two-time Giro winner Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) is still chasing her first Tour de France title. The same goes for former Giro champion Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx-Protime), who came out of retirement last year with the Yellow Jersey as her target, having worn both the Giro’s pink jersey and the Vuelta Femenina by Carrefour.es’ red jersey this season before finishing runner-up overall.
Fresh from victory at the Tour de Suisse and runner-up finishes at the 2025 Vuelta and Giro, Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) will be inspired by a Grand Départ taking place on home roads.
Best Young Rider in 2023, sixth in 2024 and eighth last year, Frenchwoman Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) comes into the race in strong form after an impressive Vuelta.
Her successor as Best Young Rider in 2024, the versatile Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech), is coming off an excellent Classics campaign. Her teammate Yara Kastelijn also arrives after triumphing at the Tour de Burgos.
Also worth watching are newly crowned world champion Magdeleine Vallières (EF Education-Oatly), her teammate and Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner, 2024 Queen of the Mountains Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal Team), and her teammate Urška Žigart, who has just recorded two top-10 finishes at the Vuelta (6th) and the Giro (8th).
BLASI, GERY, BACKSTEDT: THE NEW GENERATION IS HERE
Many see her as the peloton’s new X-factor. After becoming U23 European Champion, Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) went on to win the 2026 Amstel Gold Race before claiming victory on home roads at the Vuelta.
Making her Tour debut, she will be supported by experienced teammates familiar with the race, including Dominika Włodarczyk, fourth overall at her first appearance in 2025, and French rider Maeva Squiban, winner in Ambert and Chambéry.
Blasi joins a growing list of rising stars capable of blowing the race apart.
At just 21 years old, Zoe Backstedt (Canyon//SRAM) will make her Tour debut after, among other successes, winning on the roads of the Tour de Suisse, where this year’s Grand Départ will take place.
Her teammate Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM) recently finished second overall at the Giro, just 30 seconds behind Vollering. She had previously won the Giro’s Best Young Rider classification in 2025, an honour earned this year by Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek), who is also preparing for her first Tour.
The race will also mark the debut of exciting French prospect Célia Gery (FDJ United-Suez). The 20-year-old won a stage at the Giro and claimed the French national title at the end of June.
HUNTERS OF GLORY
After winning four stages at the 2026 Giro, Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) has unfinished business with the Tour, where she has yet to raise her arms in victory after four appearances.
Marianne Vos (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), by contrast, knows exactly what winning feels like. Her victory in Plumelec in 2025 earned her the Yellow Jersey.
Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx-Protime) wore the Yellow Jersey in 2022 and begins this 2026 edition as the defending winner of the points classification.
Her teammate Lotte Kopecky, also on the start list, won the green jersey in 2023.
To win again, they will notably have to overcome Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech), who won the opening two stages in 2024 but was hampered by a crash last year.
Back from injury, Mauritian star Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal Team) joins the list of riders ready to animate this Tour after wearing the Yellow Jersey last summer.
Her teammate Shari Bossuyt, one of the peloton’s leading sprinters, arrives full of confidence following a stage victory at the Vuelta and the Belgian national title.
Swiss rider Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly), who also won a stage in Spain and wore the leader’s jersey there, dreams of writing a similar story on home roads.
21 teams: key riders entered in the 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift
Australia
Liv-AlUla-Jayco: Monica Trinca Colonel (Ita), Letizia Paternoster (Ita)
Belgium
AG Insurance Soudal Team: Kim Le Court Pienaar (Mri), Shari Bossuyt (Bel), Justine Ghekiere (Bel), Urška Žigart (Slo)
Fenix-Premier Tech: Puck Pieterse (Ned), Yara Kastelijn (Ned), Charlotte Kool (Ned)
Lotto Intermarché Ladies: Sandrine Tas (Bel)
France
Cofidis Women Team: Ema Comte (Fra), Amalie Dideriksen (Den)
FDJ United-Suez: Demi Vollering (Ned), Franziska Koch (Ger), Célia Gery (Fra), Juliette Berthet (Fra)
Ma Petite Entreprise: Clémence Latimier (Fra), Célia Le Mouël (Fra)
Mayenne Monbana MyPie: Karolina Perekitko (Pol)
St Michel Preference Home Auber93: Alicia González (Esp), Alison Jackson (Can)
Germany
Canyon//SRAM: Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol), Zoe Backstedt (Gbr), Antonia Niedermaier (Ger)
Lidl-Trek: Elisa Balsamo (Ita), Niamh Fisher-Black (Nzl), Isabella Holmgren (Can)
Netherlands
Team SD Worx Protime: Lotte Kopecky (Bel), Anna van der Breggen (Ned), Mischa Bredewold (Ned), Lorena Wiebes (Ned)
Team Picnic PostNL: Eleonora Ciabocco (Ita), Pfeiffer Georgi (Gbr)
Team Visma | Lease a Bike: Marianne Vos (Ned), Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Fra), Marion Bunel (Fra)
VolkerWessels Cycling Team: Quinty Schoens (Ned), Eline Jansen (Ned)
Norway
Uno-X Mobility: Katrine Aalerud (Nor), Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Nor)
Spain
Laboral Kutxa Fundación Euskadi: Usoa Ostolaza (Esp), Catalina Soto (Chi)
Movistar Team: Marlen Reusser (Sui), Liane Lippert (Ger)
United Arab Emirates
UAE Team ADQ: Paula Blasi (Esp), Dominika Włodarczyk (Pol), Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita), Maeva Squiban (Fra)
United States
EF Education Oatly: Magdeleine Vallières (Can), Kristen Faulkner (Usa), Cédrine Kerbaol (Fra), Noemi Rüegg (Sui)
Human Powered Health: Thalita de Jong (Ned), Barbara Malcotti (Ita)
