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Key events
100km to go: By the way, there’s an intermediate sprint at Villeneuve (Surpierre) with 65km remaining, then the Côte de Villars-le-Comte (category-three, 54.6km to go), and the Cote de Vulliens (category-three, 40.9km to go) … and last but definitely not least, the category-four finish in Lausanne.
101km to go: The break is on an uncategorised climb. They will have a fast descent after this, then the road kicks up again before the Côte de Châbles.
102km to go: Dani Christmas, on commentary for TNT Sports, says that at the end of a stage race, you get sick of pesto pasta (and that’s where having a dedicated chef comes in very handy.)
The gap is 4min 11sec. The two chasers, Jackson and Lylyk, are still trying to get across. They are 50sec down but they are not giving up.
104km to go: How many of these nine stages has Danny Stam, the SD Worx directeur sportif, done reconnaissance on?
“All of them,” he says. “That’s my job.”
105km to go: So the breakaway riders now have about 15km to the top of the climb, and about 13km to the foot of it. Clear?
107km to go: The first climb of the day is the Côte de Chables. The summit comes with 88.9km to race. Three, two and one KOM points on offer.
111km to go: “It could be a GC day. But it might not be,’ says Zoe Backstedt of Canyon/SRAM, who won the British time trial and road race this season.
“The final climb looks exciting, I like the look of it. But we are here for GC and hopefully get some stage wins along the way.
“I know the form is here. Hopefully the legs are only getting better. I’d love to go for a stage. But like I said: GC first, results second.”
3min 49sec is the gap. Lots and lots of vocal fans at the roadside.
113km to go: The gap between break and peloton is 3min 30sec.
Jackson and Lylyk are together, trying to make it across to the four riders in the break, but they are still 1min 20sec down. If I was a betting man I’d say they will give up the chase at some point.
118km to go: The gap has flown out to 2min 30sec.
In the context of an utterly draining nine days of racing to come, most of the peloton will be very happy to have a relatively relaxed day today. The last thing you want on stage one is a never-ending fight to form a breakaway and a constant need to shut down dangerous escape groups for the domestiques.
121km to go: Alison Jackson and Kiara Lylyk are obviously not regarded as unacceptable escapees by the peloton. Jackson still has 40sec to try and make up on the front four … Lylyk is 55sec back. That is going to take a lot of hard yakka to try and make the break.
122km to go: Océane Mahé (Ma Petite Entreprise), Maud Rijnbeek (Volkerwessels), Idoia Eraso Lasa (Laboral-Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi) and Nikola Noskova (Cofidis) are the four hard-working riders in the break right now. They have 1min 35sec on the peloton.
123km to go: Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne Monbana My Pie) is now also trying to bridge to the break.
126km to go: The four at the front are gunning it. And the gap is out to 40sec. Perhaps this is the break of the day, after all …
The escape group are negotiating a lot of roundabouts and road furniture.
Now, Alison Jackson (St. Michel–Preference Home–Auber93) has clipped off the front and is trying to get across.
128km to go: It’s not settled down yet and the gap is reduced to 19sec. Now up to four riders in the break: Océane Mahé (Ma Petite Entreprise) has joined forces with the front three.
130km to go: Nikola Noskova (Cofidis) has bridged to the breakaway. A three-rider group is more potent … The gap has 25sec and the peloton behind looks happy with it. Three riders is manageable: but now more attacks start off the front of the bunch.
132km to go: Two riders out front: Maud Rijnbeek (Volkerwessels) and Idoia Eraso Lasa (Laboral-Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi).
Lars Boom, FDJ-Suez DS, speaks with Matt Stephens on TNT Sports: “The last climb is hard enough, it’s not going to be a full-on sprint … we will see what happens in the final.”
You may remember Boom from such races the mens’ Tour de France in 2014:
135km to go: There was a brief ceasefire among the peloton but now the attacks have started again. A rider from Volkerwessels is out front.
Racing on Tour de France Femmes stage one!
Off they go. Attacks from the start.
We’ve got 500m to the end of the neutralised sector. There will be a large amount of nervous energy in that peloton.
Lotte Kopecky, of SD Worx-ProTime, is asked on TNT Sports: What’s the vibe like in the team?
“The vibe? The vibe is good … it’s a hard finish today. Not easy. We have a ‘Plan A’. We’ll see how it goes.”
Will there be stage opportunities for her? “It’s hard to say beforehand. So much can happen. I hope during the race I find my good legs, and there are some opportunities.”
Kim Le Court of AG Insurance–Soudal has a chat: “We’re excited. Really good to be here.
“My legs still need to wake up a bit. Today is going to be a good test … we have big goals for today, but we’ll take it day by day, still nine days to go … we are here to do something great.”
Still 4km to go in the neutralised section. The commentators were speculating if the pure sprinters like Lorena Wiebes will still be in touch after the closing category-four climb … We’ll find out in due course. Whoever fancies a tilt at the KOM jersey will be trying to get in the break.
The riders are on the road, the neutralised start has begun. They’ve got 7km to ride before the flag waves and hostilities officially commence.
“I am super-excited to race Mont Ventoux,” adds Ferrand-Prévot. “I did a lot of recon. I did my homework, and I’m ready to go.”
“It was a child’s dream,” Ferrand-Prévot says of winning the Tour last year.
“When I was young, I wanted to be a boy, to do the Tour de France. It was something I was dreaming of … but I never expected to be able to do it.
“I would put the Olympics and the Tour de France win at the same level. If I would have stopped my career without trying to do the Tour, it may have been a strange feeling later, so I am happy that I took the decision to continue my career on a road bike.”
Next Friday is definitely a date for the diary. Stage seven finishes atop Mont Ventoux.
It’s a 146.8km trip from La Voulte-sur-Rhône to the summit of the Giant of Provence. A lot of riders will lose the race there, as well as the time trial on Monday.
“Absolutely brutal,” is the assessment of Dani Rowe, a pundit for TNT Sports, of this year’s parcours.
“There is 19,000m of elevation. Not one easy day. These riders will have to stay focused every day.
“Even today’s stage is a punchy finish. GC riders will be nervous about losing time.”
Jeremy Whittle
French pulses were set racing by Pauline-Ferrand Prévot’s win in the 2025 Tour de France Femmes, but the pragmatic choice of favourite for this year’s race, which begins in Lausanne on Saturday, is Demi Vollering.
The 29-year old Dutch rider, leader of the FDJ United-Suez team and the first €1m athlete in women’s racing, combines outstanding results – this year she completed a grand slam of all three of Europe’s Grand Tours – with an outspoken personality.
Preamble
The Tour de France Femmes, since relaunching and rebranding in 2022, has had four different winners: Anniemiek van Vleuten, Demi Vollering, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and, most recently, the home favourite Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. Hence it is a more exciting business than the men’s event, where the general classification has been sewn up by the relentless Tadej Pogacar in recent years.
But like so much women’s sport, the TdF Femmes increasingly stands alone, growing in popularity and stature every year and attracting more fans to the beautiful sport of cycling. Vollering, whose Giro win earlier in the season sealed the set of all three grand tours, is the favourite to win the nine-stage race – but French fans would dearly love to see Ferrand-Prévot finish in yellow again.
There is one individual time trial, two mountain stages, three classified as flat and three hilly. Whoever tops the GC in Nice next Sunday will have undergone a thorough examination of their all-round ability. Today’s stage one, a 138km loop in and out of Lausanne, includes four categorised climbs – plenty of incentive for breakaway hopefuls but also one the sprinters’ teams will be aiming to control.
Neutralised start: 14.15 CET/13.15 BST.
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