- The Grand Départ of the fifth edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will be held in Switzerland, beginning with the opening stage, a loop around Lausanne on Saturday, 1 August. Stage 2 will take the field from Aigle to Geneva.
- It will be the second Grand Départ of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift beyond French borders, following the start of the 2024 edition in Rotterdam. The event will take place between August 1 and 9, 2026, with 9 stages on the schedule.
BREATHTAKING IN EVERY SENSE, Marion Rousse, Director of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift
Lausanne submitted a bid to host the women’s race as early as 2022, the last time that a stage of the Tour finished in the city. What better choice for the Olympic capital than to link up with Aigle, the world cycling capital, and Geneva, the diplomatic capital of Europe, to make Lake Geneva, whose deep waters shimmer with the reflections of mountains and vineyards, the jaw-dropping backdrop to the 2026 Grand Départ? It will be a delightful three days in the Swiss Riviera, whose picture-postcard landscapes will set the scene for a formidable sporting challenge. The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (1-9 August 2026) will get off to a cracking start, with the favourites clashing in the puncheuse- friendly opener, followed by a likely sprint finish in the glamorous harbour of Geneva.
LAUSANNE, Émilie Moeschler, Municipal Councillor and Deputy Mayor of the City of Lausanne
Lausanne is incredibly proud to host the Grand Départ of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift after providing the backdrop for a stage of the 2022 Tour de France. The Olympic capital thus reasserts its unwavering commitment to shining a light on the riders so that they can inspire and bring people together.
AIGLE, Grégory Devaud, Mayor of the City of Aigle and Member of the Grand Council
Aigle is deeply honoured to have been chosen for the Grand Départ of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift alongside Geneva and Lausanne. Nestled in the heart of Chablais, the world capital of cycling will pull out all the stops to host the riders and their teams.
GENÈVE, Marie Barbey-Chappuis, Administrative Councillor of the City of Geneva
The City of Geneva is thrilled to host the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. This event is in line with our policy in support of women's sports. Competitions of this calibre give cycling champions the visibility and recognition that they deserve.
STAGE 1 | Lausanne > Lausanne | 137km
The fifth edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will hit the road in Avenue de Rhodanie, on the banks of Lake Geneva. A wide loop will then take the peloton to Lake Neuchâtel, followed by a sequence of two climbs (3.5km at 6.1% and 3.7km at 4.5%) that are likely to whittle down the field in the inbound half of the course. The stage will hug the banks of Lake Geneva, at the foot of the Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The course has a sting in the tail, with the final hurdle (a 2.3km ascent at 5.4%) coming shortly after the Olympic Museum and leading to the finish line in Place Saint-François, at the end of a 400-metre straight.
STAGE 2 | Aigle > Genève | 150km
The riders will roll out of downtown Aigle and race in the vicinity of to the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) headquarters and the World Cycling Centre (WCC) before charting a course for Lake Geneva via Montreux and Vevey. Over 13 kilometres, the road will rise in three stages to visit Lac de Bret and skirt Lausanne. The return trip to Geneva will go through undulating terrain, but the three climbs on the menu, the last of which comes with 35 kilometres to go, should not prevent the sprinters from duking it out opposite the famous Jet d’Eau, at the end of the home straight on Quai du Mont-Blanc.
STAGE 3 | Genève > ? | ?km
The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will set out from Geneva, a multiple-time Tour de France stage city (most recently in 1990) and the scene of the climactic showdown of the most recent Tour de Romandie. Course designers are spoilt for choice with stage 3. A relaxing promenade down the Rhône Valley, all the way to the Ain Plain, perhaps? A journey north-west to the Jura mountain range, whose hilly terrain is bound to keep the riders on their toes? Or maybe an expedition over the daunting Alpine passes of Haute-Savoie, just a stone’s throw away? The answer will come in October.
Marlen Reusser, 33, is part of the time trial pantheon, claiming three European championships, silver medals at the 2020 Olympic Games and 2020 and 2021 World Championships, and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift time trial stage in Pau in 2023. The rider from Bern has also triumphed in mass-start races, such as the 2022 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift stage to Bar-sur-Aube, the 2023 Gent–Wevelgem and the 2025 Vuelta a Burgos.
Élise Chabbey, 32, a slalom canoer at the London 2012 Olympics, became a doctor in 2019. Her unusual, multifaceted life path has never stopped the Genevan rider from being a high achiever in cycling, where she has often been near the top of classics and Grand Tours.
Noemi Rüegg, 24, is having her breakthrough season this year. The rider from Zurich bagged the Tour Down Under in Australia back in January and followed it up with third place in Milan–San Remo in March.
