Tour de France Femmes: a French winner and the future of women’s road cycling

By Daisy Rought-Oram

The fourth iteration of the Tour de France Femmes saw its first French winner in Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, the first French winner of any edition of the Tour de France since Bernard Hinault in 1985. The race marked Ferrand-Prevot’s return to road cycling after a near-seven-year hiatus. Having won her first elite national cyclo-cross title in 2014, a year later Ferrand-Prevot became World Champion in cyclo-cross and cross country cycling, while also gaining experience on the road. Competing in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, she came just 26th in the road race, and in 2018 she left road racing completely. Between 2018 and 2025, she amassed titles in cyclo-cross, gravel, and mountain biking, including an Olympic title in 2024 for cross-country mountain biking. In 2025, she returned to the road, signing a three-year deal with Visma Lease-a-Bike. This year, she won the women’s Paris-Roubaix and came second at the Tour of Flanders. Her Tour de France Femmes victory is a display of determination and resilience in the face of injury and personal difficulty.

Stage One saw Visma Lease-a-Bike’s Marianne Vos win in Plumelec after teammate Ferrand-Prevot seemed to run out of steam on the final stretch. Familiar names topped the General Classification going into Stage 2, with Kim Le Court-Pienaar in second, just ahead of Ferrand-Prevot, last year’s champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney in fourth and Demi Vollering in fifth. With stage wins for the likes of Maeva Squiban who won back-to-back on Stages 6 and 7, and Lorena Wiebes, possibly the best sprinter in women’s cycling, on Stage 4, the Tour de France Femmes was an exciting and fast-paced nine days of cycling. Wiebes took the Maillot Vert on Stage 3 and wore it all the way to the finish in Chatel. Ferrand-Prevot took the Maillot Jaune on Stage 8, the ‘queen stage’, after a masterclass in climbing on the Col de la Madeleine won her the stage as well as the yellow jersey. She sealed her victory on Stage 9 with a three minute and 24 second lead over Demi Vollering, who finished second place in the General Classification. The final podium was one of champions; Pauline Ferrand-Prevot in first, Demi Vollering, champion in 2023, in second, and last year’s champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney in third.

The inaugural 2022 edition of the Tour de France Femmes began on the Champs Elysees a day before the riders in the men’s race were set to roll into Paris. It saw eight days of racing, ending with victory for Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten. Since then, the race has continued annually, and the UCI World Tour Stage race has now consolidated itself in the women’s road racing calendar, with talk of the race receiving ‘Grand Tour’ status. 

At present, neither the Tour de France Femmes; the women’s Giro d’Italia, a staple road race for elite female athletes since 1998; nor La Vuelta Feminina, which began in 2015 and has gradually grown in duration, meet the UCI requirements to qualify as ‘Grand Tours’. According to UCI racing regulations, Grand Tours are characterised by being the only stage races to last longer than 14 days, and for which more points for the UCI World Tour are distributed than in other races. 

However, recent developments in UCI regulations for women’s cycling have put points allocations on par with the men’s equivalents. A July 2025 UCI announcement made the points structure for women’s team rankings the same as the men’s. Previously, UCI points allocations in women’s racing were divided into World Tour, ProSeries, Class 1 and Class 2, meaning there was no points differentiation between races on one level. Women’s racing now features different designations for different races, as is the case in men’s cycling. There are now five tiers of Women’s UCI World Tour events. On the top tier is the Tour de France Femmes, with the Giro d’Italia Women and Vuelta Feminina occupying the second tier. As of this summer, therefore, the three major women’s cycling events have more points on offer than any other event in the women’s racing calendar, making them fit half of the UCI’s requirements for Grand Tour status. 

It is now only the length of the women’s Tour, Vuelta, and Giro that stand in the way of the races receiving Grand Tour status. This year’s edition of the Tour de France Femmes lasted for nine days, its longest yet, and recent discussion has suggested extending the racing period further.

Moreover, a growing crowd of supporters for women’s road racing is amassing, in part due to the increasing media attention and sponsorship it is receiving. France Télévisions reported record viewing figures for the Tour de France Femmes, with an average of 2.7 million viewers per stage, and French roadsides were packed with fans throughout the nine-day racing schedule. Growing support will attract more sponsorship and investment, meaning the Tour de France Femmes, a relatively new addition in the women’s racing calendar, should keep growing.

Image: Rémih/Wikimedia Commons