Key events<\/p>\n
118km to go: The gap has flown out to 2min 30sec.<\/p>\n
In the context of an utterly draining nine days of racing to come, most of the peloton will be very happy to have a relatively relaxed day today. The last thing you want on stage one is a never-ending fight to form a breakaway and a constant need to shut down dangerous escape groups for the domestiques.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.08 EDT<\/p>\n 121km to go: Alison Jackson and Kiara Lylyk are obviously not regarded as unacceptable escapees by the peloton. Jackson still has 40sec to try and make up on the front four \u2026 Lylyk is 55sec back. That is going to take a lot of hard yakka to try and make the break.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.05 EDT<\/p>\n 122km to go: Oc\u00e9ane Mah\u00e9 (Ma Petite Entreprise), Maud Rijnbeek (Volkerwessels), Idoia Eraso Lasa (Laboral-Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi) and Nikola Noskova (Cofidis) are the four hard-working riders in the break right now. They have 1min 35sec on the peloton.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 123km to go: Kiara Lylyk (Mayenne Monbana My Pie) is now also trying to bridge to the break.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.03 EDT<\/p>\n 126km to go: The four at the front are gunning it. And the gap is out to 40sec. Perhaps this is the break of the day, after all \u2026<\/p>\n The escape group are negotiating a lot of roundabouts and road furniture.<\/p>\n Now, Alison Jackson (St. Michel\u2013Preference Home\u2013Auber93) has clipped off the front and is trying to get across.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.00 EDT<\/p>\n 128km to go: It\u2019s not settled down yet and the gap is reduced to 19sec. Now up to four riders in the break: Oc\u00e9ane Mah\u00e9 (Ma Petite Entreprise) has joined forces with the front three.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 130km to go: Nikola Noskova (Cofidis) has bridged to the breakaway. A three-rider group is more potent \u2026 The gap has 25sec and the peloton behind looks happy with it. Three riders is manageable: but now more attacks start off the front of the bunch.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.52 EDT<\/p>\n 132km to go: Two riders out front: Maud Rijnbeek (Volkerwessels) and Idoia Eraso Lasa (Laboral-Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi).<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.49 EDT<\/p>\n Lars Boom, FDJ-Suez DS, speaks with Matt Stephens on TNT Sports: \u201cThe last climb is hard enough, it\u2019s not going to be a full-on sprint \u2026 we will see what happens in the final.\u201d<\/p>\n You may remember Boom from such races the mens\u2019 Tour de France in 2014:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.46 EDT<\/p>\n 135km to go: There was a brief ceasefire among the peloton but now the attacks have started again. A rider from Volkerwessels is out front.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.44 EDT<\/p>\n Racing on Tour de France Femmes stage one!<\/p>\n Off they go. Attacks from the start.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.41 EDT<\/p>\n We\u2019ve got 500m to the end of the neutralised sector. There will be a large amount of nervous energy in that peloton.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Lotte Kopecky, of SD Worx-ProTime, is asked on TNT Sports: What\u2019s the vibe like in the team?<\/p>\n \u201cThe vibe? The vibe is good \u2026 it\u2019s a hard finish today. Not easy. We have a \u2018Plan A\u2019. We\u2019ll see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n Will there be stage opportunities for her? \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say beforehand. So much can happen. I hope during the race I find my good legs, and there are some opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n Here we go! Photograph: Denis Balibouse\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.37 EDT<\/p>\n Kim Le Court of AG Insurance\u2013Soudal has a chat: \u201cWe\u2019re excited. Really good to be here.<\/p>\n \u201cMy legs still need to wake up a bit. Today is going to be a good test \u2026 we have big goals for today, but we\u2019ll take it day by day, still nine days to go \u2026 we are here to do something great.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Still 4km to go in the neutralised section. The commentators were speculating if the pure sprinters like Lorena Wiebes will still be in touch after the closing category-four climb \u2026 We\u2019ll find out in due course. Whoever fancies a tilt at the KOM jersey will be trying to get in the break.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The riders are on the road, the neutralised start has begun. They\u2019ve got 7km to ride before the flag waves and hostilities officially commence.<\/p>\n \u201cI am super-excited to race Mont Ventoux,\u201d adds Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot. \u201cI did a lot of recon. I did my homework, and I\u2019m ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt was a child\u2019s dream,\u201d Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot says of winning the Tour last year.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was young, I wanted to be a boy, to do the Tour de France. It was something I was dreaming of \u2026 but I never expected to be able to do it.<\/p>\n \u201cI would put the Olympics<\/a> and the Tour de France win at the same level. If I would have stopped my career without trying to do the Tour, it may have been a strange feeling later, so I am happy that I took the decision to continue my career on a road bike.\u201d<\/p>\n Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot: \u2018Life is a joke.\u2019 Photograph: Denis Balibouse\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Next Friday is definitely a date for the diary. Stage seven finishes atop Mont Ventoux<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a 146.8km trip from La Voulte-sur-Rh\u00f4ne to the summit of the Giant of Provence. A lot of riders will lose the race there, as well as the time trial on Monday.<\/p>\n Mont Ventoux. Photograph: Tim Ireland\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely brutal,\u201d is the assessment of Dani Rowe, a pundit for TNT Sports, of this year\u2019s parcours.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is 19,000m of elevation. Not one easy day. These riders will have to stay focused every day.<\/p>\n \u201cEven today\u2019s stage is a punchy finish. GC riders will be nervous about losing time.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.06 EDT<\/p>\n Jeremy Whittle<\/p>\n French pulses were set racing by Pauline-Ferrand Pr\u00e9vot\u2019s win in the 2025 Tour de France<\/a> Femmes, but the pragmatic choice of favourite for this year\u2019s race, which begins in Lausanne on Saturday, is Demi Vollering.<\/p>\n The 29-year old Dutch rider, leader of the FDJ United-Suez team and the first \u20ac1m athlete in women\u2019s racing, combines outstanding results \u2013 this year she completed a grand slam of all three of Europe\u2019s Grand Tours \u2013 with an outspoken personality.<\/p>\n Demi Vollering smiles after winning Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge Femmes in April. Photograph: Olivier Matthys\/EPAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.03 EDT<\/p>\n Preamble<\/p>\n The Tour de France Femmes, since relaunching and rebranding in 2022, has had four different winners: Anniemiek van Vleuten, Demi Vollering, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and, most recently, the home favourite Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot. Hence it is a more exciting business than the men\u2019s event, where the general classification has been sewn up by the relentless Tadej Pogacar in recent years.<\/p>\n But like so much women\u2019s sport, the TdF Femmes increasingly stands alone, growing in popularity and stature every year and attracting more fans to the beautiful sport of cycling. Vollering, whose Giro win earlier in the season sealed the set of all three grand tours, is the favourite<\/a> to win the nine-stage race \u2013 but French fans would dearly love to see Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot finish in yellow again.<\/p>\n There is one individual time trial, two mountain stages, three classified as flat and three hilly. Whoever tops the GC in Nice next Sunday will have undergone a thorough examination of their all-round ability. Today\u2019s stage one, a 138km loop in and out of Lausanne, includes four categorised climbs \u2013 plenty of incentive for breakaway hopefuls but also one the sprinters\u2019 teams will be aiming to control.<\/p>\n Neutralised start: 14.15 CET\/13.15 BST.<\/p>\n