Tour de France Femmes
The Tour de France Femmes will return in 2026 for its fifth edition, building on the momentum of its high-profile revival in 2022. Organised by ASO, the race has quickly become a flagship event in the UCI Women’s WorldTour, showcasing the world’s top riders on one of cycling’s biggest stages. Expanded to nine stages and set to run from Lausanne to Nice, the Tour de France Femmes continues to grow in stature. At the heart of it all is the maillot jaune, now firmly established as a symbol of excellence in women’s cycling.
For decades, women’s cycling struggled to secure a stage race with the same status, visibility and commercial weight as the men’s Tour de France. There had been previous attempts, but none managed to establish a lasting place at the centre of the sport.
That changed in 2022 with the launch of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Organised by ASO, the company behind the men’s race, it brought the women’s peloton back under the Tour de France name and gave the event a level of attention that had long been missing.
Held over eight stages and supported by international broadcast coverage, the race quickly became more than a symbolic addition to the calendar. It gave teams, riders and sponsors a bigger stage, while offering fans a clearer view of the depth and quality already present in women’s cycling.
A brief history: from La Course to the real deal
The idea of a women’s Tour de France has a longer history than the current race suggests. In the 1980s, the Tour de France Féminin was held alongside the men’s event, with riders taking on shorter versions of similar stages. It gave women’s cycling a rare place on the sport’s biggest stage, but the race struggled with the financial and organisational demands required to sustain it.
In the decades that followed, several attempts were made to bring the concept back. None fully managed to give the women’s peloton a stable equivalent to the men’s Tour. La Course by Le Tour de France, held between 2014 and 2021, brought renewed visibility, but as a one-day event it remained limited in scope.
The real shift came in the early 2020s, when pressure for greater equality in cycling was matched by growing audiences, stronger teams and increased commercial interest. With Zwift coming in as title sponsor, ASO finally relaunched the race in a format that gave it more substance.
The first Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift took place in 2022, starting on the Champs-Élysées in Paris and finishing on La Planche des Belles Filles. It was an immediate statement. The racing was competitive, the crowds were visible, and the response made clear that women’s cycling did not need to prove its value. It needed the platform to show it.
A new era for women’s cycling
Unlike the men’s Tour, which is raced over three weeks, the Tour de France Femmes is still a more compact event, currently held across eight stages. That shorter format has not made it any less demanding. If anything, it has helped create a race defined by urgency, with little room for recovery and frequent shifts in momentum.
The route has already shown considerable variety, from sprint stages and punchy finales to high mountain days, gravel sectors and summit finishes. That mix has given the race a clear sporting identity, while riders such as Annemiek van Vleuten, Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky have helped shape its early history through performances that gave the event immediate weight.
The race has quickly become one of the key fixtures of the UCI Women’s WorldTour. It attracts the strongest teams in the peloton, receives live international coverage and reaches an audience far beyond the traditional cycling public.
Just as importantly, it has raised expectations around how women’s races are covered and presented. The Tour de France Femmes has shown that visibility, strong storytelling and serious sporting ambition are not extras. They are essential to the race’s place in the modern cycling calendar.
What makes the race unique?
Beyond the route and the racing, the Tour de France Femmes has become a marker of a wider shift in the sport. It is no longer viewed simply through comparison with the men’s race, but increasingly as an event with its own identity, storylines and place on the calendar.
Its impact is already visible. Audiences are growing, teams and riders are gaining greater recognition, and the race is giving women’s cycling a platform that has often been missing at the highest level. For younger riders watching on, it also offers something tangible: a clear image of what the top of the sport can look like.
As the Tour de France Femmes continues to develop, its significance now extends beyond the battle for yellow. It is helping to define the next chapter of women’s cycling.
