Saturday 1 August – Tour de France Femmes stage 1: Lausanne → Lausanne (138 km)

Route

The Tour de France Femmes 2026 begins in Lausanne, on the shore of Lake Geneva. Stage 1 is a 138-kilometre loop that starts and finishes in the Swiss Olympic capital. The stage features four categorised climbs and around 1,545 metres of elevation gain.

After the start on the Avenue de Rhodanie, the peloton heads inland, through the Gros-de-Vaud and Jura-Nord Vaudois regions towards Lake Neuchâtel. At km 49.1 comes the first climb, Côte de Châbles (1.6 km at 7.7%). Via Payerne and Moudon, the race turns back south. At km 83.5 lies Côte de Villars-le-Comte (4 km at 5.8%), followed by Côte de Vulliens (3 km at 5.3%) at km 97.1.

From Servion and Forel, the peloton reaches the shore of Lake Geneva, at the foot of the Lavaux vineyard terraces (UNESCO World Heritage Site). The route follows the lake via Chexbres, Saint-Saphorin, Cully and Lutry back to Lausanne. In the city awaits the final climb, Côte Saint-François (2.5 km at 4.6%), which crests at km 138.

Final kilometres

The Côte Saint-François begins around 2.5 kilometres from the finish, shortly after the Olympic Museum. After the summit of this category 4 climb, a flat 400-metre stretch leads to the finish on the Place Saint-François.

Recent editions

Lausanne is hosting the Tour de France Femmes for the first time this year. The most recent opening stages of the race: 2025 – Marianne Vos (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Vannes-Plumelec, 78.8 km, hilly. 2024 – Charlotte Kool (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Rotterdam-The Hague, 123 km, flat. 2023 – Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx), Clermont-Ferrand-Clermont-Ferrand, 123.8 km, flat. 2022 – Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM), Paris-Paris, flat.

Scenarios

The final climb to Côte Saint-François, with its summit 2.5 kilometres from the finish, makes this a day for riders who can handle a punchy hill. Puncheurs and classics specialists who can survive a short, sharp ascent have the best chance. If the peloton is still together at the foot of the last climb, a sprint after a brief all‑out effort could decide the stage. The big question is whether Lorena Wiebes can cope with these hills, or whether another card will have to be played as the stage unfolds.

Local

Lausanne is the Olympic capital: the International Olympic Committee has been headquartered there since 1915. The city last hosted a Tour stage finish in 2022. No rider taking part in the Tour de France Femmes 2026 was born in the Lausanne region. Elise Chabbey from Geneva, last year's winner of the mountains jersey, is absent this year due to pregnancy.