Tour de France Femmes 2026: Wiebes cements lead with second sprint victory

fotobureau Cor VosWith around 40 kilometres to go, Riejanne Markus launches an attack from the peloton. She opens up a gap of more than a minute and pushes the bunch to its limits, but her heroic effort is eventually brought to an end inside the final 400 metres. Lorena Wiebes then powers to victory, strengthening her grip on the yellow jersey. (Slideshow route/profile)

Stage 2 Results – 2026 Tour de France Femmes

1. Lorena Wiebes (nld) 3:42:08
2. Elisa Balsamo (ita) s.t.
3. Marianne Vos (nld) s.t.
4. Shari Bossuyt (bel) s.t.
5. Letizia Paternoster (ita) s.t.
6. Josie Nelson (gbr) s.t.
7. Zoe Bäckstedt (gbr) s.t.
8. Noemi Rüegg (swi) s.t.
9. Malwina Mul (pol) s.t.
10. Linda Riedmann (ger) s.t.

GC after stage 2

1. Lorena Wiebes (nld)
2. Kim Le Court (mau) + 0:14
3. Demi Vollering (nld) + 0:16
4. Noemi Rüegg (swi) + 0:20
5. Elisa Longo Borghini (ita) s.t.
6. Cédrine Kerbaol (fra) s.t.
7. Kasia Niewiadoma (pol) s.t.
8. Puck Pieterse (nld) + 0:10
9. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (fra) s.t.
10. Marlen Reusser (swi) s.t.

13. Paula Blasi (spa) + 0:28
15. Isabella Holmgren (can) s.t.
17. Antonio Niedermaier (ger) s.t.
13. Anna van der Breggen (nld) s.t.
34. Dominika Włodarczyk (pol) + 0:57

Race report
On the first climb of the day, the Côte de Chexbres, the peloton is still together. In the sprint for the mountains points, Cédrine Kerbaol beats Puck Pieterse and Sara Casasola, before Queen of the Mountains leader Océane Mahé is dropped on the Côte de Savigny. Once over the top, Marion Bunel wins the mountain sprint ahead of Maeva Squiban.

Carlotta Cipressi, Yuliia Biriukova and Eline Jansen attack on the descent, with Anouska Koster and Ema Comte riding across to join them. Comte then claims the most mountains points on the Côte de Cossonay.

The breakaway stretches its advantage to 3 minutes at its peak, but only 1 minute remains on the Côte de Bougy-Villars, where Koster wins the mountains sprint. Once over the top, she forges ahead alongside Comte and Jansen.

Célia Gery and Nina Berton attack from the peloton on Côte de Mont-sur-Rolle, with Sarah Van Dam, Amanda Spratt and Sara Casasola giving chase. After Koster takes top honours in the mountains sprint at the summit, all the attackers join forces with 45 kilometres remaining.

With the peloton hot on their heels, the escapees are soon reeled in, although Comte makes one last-ditch attempt. That effort comes to nothing when Riejanne Markus blasts past her. The two-time Dutch national time trial champion opens up a lead of 1 minute.

With 10 kilometres to go, Markus still leads by 32 seconds. Her advantage shrinks to less than 20 seconds inside the final 3 kilometres and, with the finish line almost within reach, her heroic solo bid is finally extinguished with just 400 metres remaining.

All of Lorena Wiebes's teammates emptied the tank in the chase, but even without a lead-out train she proves to be in a league of her own. The yellow jersey storms to her second straight victory.

Another interesting read: route 2nd stage 2026 Tour de France Femmes.