Lorena Wiebes took the first yellow jersey of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes after climbing the Côte Saint-François and outsprinting the race favourites Kim Le Court and 2023 champion, Demi Vollering.
- Lorena Wiebes had a Giro opening stage win disqualified for an underweight bike; SD Worx Protime is pursuing legal action against the UCI.
- A four-rider breakaway built a near six-minute lead; Océane Mahé took the lead in the Queen of the Mountains classification.
- High temperatures and undulating roads split the field on the Côte de Villars-le-Comte, causing many riders to lose contact with the peloton.
- Marlen Reusser crashed 21km from the finish on a fast descent but rejoined the peloton with help from five Movistar teammates.
- Stage two starts in Aigle, features five climbs and heat, finishing flat on Geneva's Quai du Mont-Blanc, favoring sprinters.
Wiebes also won the opening stage of the 2026 women’s Giro d’Italia in May, but was disqualified due to her bike having an illegal weight, an outcome which left her team – SD Worx Protime – considering legal action against cycling’s governing body, the UCI.
The 138km opening stage was animated by a four-rider breakaway that built a near six-minute lead on the peloton in the rolling hills north of Lausanne.
The high temperatures and undulating roads split the field after 83km, on the third category Côte de Villars-le-Comte, where numerous riders lost contact with the peloton and one of the four breakaways, French rider Océane Mahé of the lowly Ma Petite Entreprise team, took the lead in the Queen of the Mountains classification.
But with 50km left to race the quartet’s advantage began to dwindle and they were swallowed up six kilometres from the finish.
Vollering, buoyed by the announcement that Red Bull has become her team’s latest sponsorship partner, was active in the finale of the stage and led into the last 600m, but Wiebes’ turn of speed was too much for her compatriot, who was surprisingly overtaken by Le Court in the closing metres, as she claimed a sixth career stage win in the Tour de France Femmes.
Of the main contenders, Marlen Reusser’s crash, 21km from the finish, was the most notable mishap. Her fall came on a right-hand bend on the fast descent to Lac Léman. For a few moments, the world time trial champion appeared in trouble, but supported by five of her Movistar teammates she recaptured the back of the peloton.
Wiebes came to the Tour Femmes looking for vindication after her opening stage win at the Giro women was wiped out as her bike was judged to be slightly under the regulation 6.8kg.
Wiebes also lost the pink race leader’s jersey and flew home, just as a bitter dispute arose between the team and the UCI over the methods used to measure the bike’s weight.
“I would have been perfectly fine with it if the scale had consistently shown the same weight,” Wiebes said. “But having the bike’s weight vary during the weighing process – that was the most frustrating part for me.”
Her SD Worx-Protime team manager Danny Stam says that a legal case against the UCI is now pending. “Our team’s lawyers are working on it,” he told De Telegraaf. “We’ve received feedback but it’s going to be a long process. Still, justice needs to be served.”
“I just find it unacceptable that a decision with such a huge impact on a rider is made when a bike is hanging from a tent that’s nearly blowing away,” Stam said. “Can’t we operate a bit more professionally in this day and age? Can’t we just weigh a bike inside an enclosed truck, away from the wind? Instead of: ‘now it weighs this, now it weighs that.’”
Tomorrow’s second stage begins in nearby Aigle, ironically the seat of the UCI, where Wiebes will take to the start line in the yellow jersey. Five more climbs and high temperatures may make it another tough stage, but the flat finish on Geneva’s Quai du Mont-Blanc, looks well-suited to the Dutch rider.
