Tour de France Femmes ~ 2026

Mont Ventoux queen stage and Sisteron departure

07 August 2026 to 08 August 2026
The Tour de France Femmes 2026 queen stage finishes at the summit of Mont Ventoux. I did the amateur stage just the day before (result: 1730/12000) and it was awesome to see the professionals doing it the next day!

Stage 7 - La Voulte sur Rhône > Mont Ventoux

This is a 146.8 km stage with 3500m of D+, the queen stage.

After a 1h30 hike, we reached the summit pretty early in the morning. It was quite the adventure to find how to reach the summit because the roads were closed but the closure information were very scarce and unreliable.
Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney quickly arrived, after an amazing climb ahead of her concurrents.
Demi Vollering followed after 1min16 after dropping Marlene Reusser in the last few kilometers, and much later the rest of the concurrents followed progressively.

Stage 8 - Sisteron > Nice

This is a 171.9 km stage with 1420m of D+, the queen stage.

Attending a stage departure is exciting, because we're able to access each team bus and the riders very closely. They are often relaxed and are very open to discuss.
After spending the Mont Ventoux stage with Magdalene Vallière (the World Champion!) relatives, we were able to meet her in person at Sisteron near the EF coach. The details on her bike are quite something!
It was great to see so many fans near at the finish and departure, and the Tour Femmes seems to be really picking up in terms of coverage and popularity. Looking forward for next year!