Defending champ Ferrand-Prévot is out of the Tour Femmes

The fifth edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift has lost its reigning champion before reaching its final weekend. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, racing for Visma-Lease a Bike, abandoned the nine-day stage race prior to the start of stage 8, closing the door on any hopes of a dramatic turnaround in the closing stages. Her team confirmed the departure via social media, stating that the French star was unwell and that medical staff advised against her taking the start line.

Her exit follows a difficult campaign that stood in stark contrast to her previous successes. Hopes had been high entering the August 1-9 race, which kicked off with a foreign Grand Départ in Lausanne, Switzerland, before traversing challenging terrain across France. Pre-race analysis had pointed toward an epic duel between Ferrand-Prévot and Demi Vollering, especially with the iconic ascent of Mont Ventoux looming large on the route. Instead, her defense unraveled progressively over the opening week, culminating on the queen stage when she slipped away from the yellow jersey group within the opening hundred meters of the Ventoux climb.

Team management acknowledged that they remain without clear answers regarding her underwhelming performance across the punishing stages. While riders like Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney seized control of the race by launching a solo attack with 9.2 kilometers remaining on Ventoux to claim the yellow jersey, and competitors like Lorena Wiebes, Sigrid Haugset, Marlen Reusser, and Kim Le Court-Pienaar traded stage wins and leadership honors across varied terrain, Ferrand-Prévot struggled to find her rhythm. The physical toll of the peloton's blistering pace, combined with the sudden onset of illness, ultimately brought an abrupt halt to a campaign that had promised much.

The broader narrative of the 2026 race now centers on a fierce general classification battle at the top of the leaderboard, even as questions linger behind the scenes for Visma-Lease a Bike. With the final stages approaching, the peloton moves forward through the high mountains without one of its biggest names. The inability of her support staff to diagnose the underlying causes of her sluggish form before illness forced her withdrawal leaves a lingering query for the team's ongoing preparation strategies as the sport's premier stage race reaches its climax.