Polish climber Kasia Niewiadoma delivered the performance of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes on Friday, soloing to victory atop the iconic Mont Ventoux to claim the yellow jersey with just two stages remaining. Riding for Canyon-SRAM, the 31-year-old crossed the summit alone, finishing 1 minute and 16 seconds ahead of Dutch rival Demi Vollering, with Swiss rider Marlen Reusser — who had entered the stage in the lead — a further 30 seconds back in fourth.
Mont Ventoux, a forbidding 1,912-metre peak in Provence long considered one of cycling's most mythical climbs — its barren upper slopes have earned it the nickname "the Bald Mountain" — featured for the first time in the modern Tour de France Femmes, which was relaunched in 2022. The race's general classification contenders had all identified the ascent as the likely decisive moment of this edition. That proved correct. With just under 11 kilometres remaining on the 15-kilometre climb, Vollering launched an attack that shed the rest of the peloton, leaving only Reusser and Niewiadoma able to follow. Niewiadoma then struck unexpectedly, accelerating hard while Vollering and Reusser briefly hesitated, watching each other rather than responding immediately. By the time Vollering pushed again, the gap was already growing. Six kilometres from the summit, Niewiadoma had already built a 55-second lead and was never caught. Vollering shed Reusser in the final kilometre to take second on the stage, but the damage had been done.
It was Niewiadoma's first stage win at the Tour de France Femmes, though not her first overall title — she won the 2024 edition by a razor-thin four seconds over Vollering. She now leads the general classification by 15 seconds over Vollering, with Reusser a further 24 seconds back in third. Defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who won last year's edition, was among the first to crack on the Ventoux ascent and is no longer a factor for overall honours. Earlier in the stage, Dutch rider Puck Pieterse, wearing the polka-dot climbers' jersey, secured enough mountain points on the day's earlier ascents to virtually guarantee she will finish as the best climber in this edition.
The race concludes on Sunday in Nice, the French Riviera city on the Mediterranean coast, with a hilly final stage through the surrounding hills that could yet reshape the podium. A transitional stage on Saturday features two sharp climbs in the finale, offering Vollering and Reusser further opportunities to claw back time. For Niewiadoma, however, a rare back-to-back Tour de France Femmes title is now firmly within reach.