‘There will be more stages’: UCI president hints at Tour de France Femmes expansion

David Lappartient has suggested that the Tour de France Femmes will expand beyond its current nine stage format in the coming years.

Speaking to WielerFlits during the opening days of the 2026 race in Switzerland, the UCI president described additional stages as a likely next step for an event he regards as the pinnacle of women’s cycling.

His more immediate priority is live television coverage of every kilometre. Not every stage of the Tour de France Femmes is currently broadcast from start to finish.

The limitations of that coverage were highlighted on stage 3, when Sigrid Haugset launched the move that would eventually carry her to victory before the live broadcast had begun.

“I think it is important for this race to continue consolidating its popularity, and perhaps also to have live TV from start to finish. That is not the case for all stages. But we really see that the organiser, ASO, tries to improve every year and does something extra every year. So there will be more stages,” Lappartient told WielerFlits.

Lappartient did not say how many stages could be added or when an expansion might take place. Any change to the race format would ultimately be a decision for organiser ASO.

For Lappartient, the rapid growth of the Tour de France Femmes is not a cause for concern. The bigger challenge is ensuring that the rest of the women’s calendar develops at a similar pace.

“I don’t think the growth is going too fast. The only thing we need to watch out for is that the other races grow along too. The Tour de France Femmes may be at the highest level, but we must try to bring all the other races up to that level as well. That gap needs to be narrowed.”

Fenix-Premier Tech manager Philip Roodhooft has raised a related concern, warning that investment by teams is increasing faster than the commercial value and visibility of much of the calendar.

Roodhooft believes women’s cycling currently offers too few racing days with the level of exposure needed to justify the money being committed by teams and sponsors.

“The investments have become too big to accept the calendar as it is,” he said to Het Nieuwsblad.

His comments add context to Lappartient’s call for other races to close the gap to the Tour. While the Tour de France Femmes continues to attract large crowds and strong television audiences, many events elsewhere on the calendar have yet to offer teams the same level of commercial return.

For Roodhooft, developing a wider and more visible calendar is therefore just as important as expanding the Tour itself.

Lappartient’s nine years as UCI president have coincided with a major transformation in the economics of women’s professional cycling.

According to the Frenchman, salaries have increased considerably since he was first elected in 2017. Teams have also invested more heavily in staffing, equipment, infrastructure and rider support.

“Salaries were very low. When I was first elected as UCI president in 2017, it was 8,000 euros a year. Now you can live on it. It has multiplied by a factor of 10 to 12. Female cyclists can earn a living from cycling, there are strong teams, they are doing well, they have all the infrastructure and all the support. And the TV viewing figures are also very high. So I really see that it is probably going even faster than expected, which is great.”

That growth has helped professionalise the sport, but it has also increased the pressure on organisers to provide races with sufficient television coverage, media attention and commercial value.

The Tour de France Femmes has become the clearest example of what is possible. The challenge now is ensuring that the rest of the calendar benefits from the same momentum.