France – Bioracer is proud partner of VolkerWessels Cycling Team, which lined up for the fifth edition of the Tour de France Femmes on the first of August. In preparation, the team headed to a pre-Tour training camp, where the riders already posed in their time trial suits.
📸 Images: VolkerWessels Cycling Team & Belga Images
Season form
A strong spring season
24-year-old Eline Jansen has been the standout performer of the season. She claimed two wins this spring: the Grand Prix du Morbihan Femmes on 9 May, and the final stage of the CIC-Tour Féminin des Pyrénées on 14 June. That form lifted her to 42nd place in the UCI World Ranking, the second-highest ranked rider outside the WorldTour teams.
Her teammates also made their mark. At the Bretagne Ladies Tour, Anneke Dijkstra finished 7th overall, with Laura Molenaar close behind in 9th and 5th in the mountains classification, where Quinty Schoens placed 6th. That same Schoens took 8th in the general classification of the Tour Féminin des Pyrénées, just ahead of teammate Malou Eisen, who crossed the line 10th. Maud Rijnbeek also picked up a 7th place on a stage of the Bretagne Ladies Tour.
Twelve years of developing talent
VolkerWessels was formed in 2024 as the continuation of the former Parkhotel Valkenburg cycling team and has been partnered with Bioracer since 2025. Backed by the Dutch construction and infrastructure company VolkerWessels, the team builds on more than a decade of experience in developing Dutch cycling talent. Riders including Demi Vollering and Lorena Wiebes took their first steps in the professional peloton within this team structure.
Tour de Femmes '26
9 stages
From Lausanne to Nice, the Tour de Femmes featured nine stages: a hilly opening stage around Lausanne, an individual time trial in Dijon, a summit finish on Mont Ventoux, and a closing weekend with four ascents of the Col d'Èze in Nice.
18.775 metres of elevation
Spread across nearly 19,000 metres of climbing, the peloton faced everything from short, explosive hills to the Mont Ventoux, where steep gradients and high altitude pushed the riders to their limits.
1.175 kilometres
Over a total distance of 1.175 kilometres, the Tour de France Femmes made its way from Lausanne to Nice, crossing flat roads, rolling terrain and high mountain passes, with the longest stage covering nearly 172 kilometres.
From Lausanne to Nice, the Tour de Femmes featured nine stages: a hilly opening stage around Lausanne, an individual time trial in Dijon, a summit finish on Mont Ventoux, and a closing weekend with four ascents of the Col d'Èze in Nice.
Spread across nearly 19,000 metres of climbing, the peloton faced everything from short, explosive hills to the Mont Ventoux, where steep gradients and high altitude pushed the riders to their limits.
Over a total distance of 1.175 kilometres, the Tour de France Femmes made its way from Lausanne to Nice, crossing flat roads, rolling terrain and high mountain passes, with the longest stage covering nearly 172 kilometres.
The Route: From Lausanne to Nice
The nine stages take the peloton from Switzerland to the Côte d'Azur, covering 1,175 kilometres and around 19,000 metres of climbing.
Switzerland
Three stages around Lausanne, Aigle and Geneva open the race, covering 442,4 kilometres before the peloton crosses into France.
Burgundy & Beaujolais
An individual time trial through the vineyards of Dijon leads into two stages through the Beaujolais and the Rhône valley, covering 314,4 kilometres.
Alps to the Riviera
The final stretch brings the first-ever summit finish on Mont Ventoux, the longest stage of the race via the Route Napoléon, and a closing weekend in Nice with four ascents of the Col d'Èze, 418 kilometres in total.
The route: from Lausanne to Nice
Full stage-by-stage schedule
1 Aug — Lausanne › Lausanne (138 km)
2 Aug — Aigle › Geneva (147.9 km)
3 Aug - Geneva › Poligny (156.5 km)
4 Aug — Gevrey-Chambertin › Dijon (21 km, time trial)
5 Aug — Mâcon › Belleville-en-Beaujolais (140 km)
6 Aug — Montbrison › Tournon-sur-Rhône (153.4 km)
7 Aug — La Voulte-sur-Rhône › Mont Ventoux (146.8 km)
8 Aug — Sisteron › Nice (171.9 km)
9 Aug — Nice › Nice (99.2 km)
The scenery changes every day: from the punchy hills around Lausanne, through an individual time trial in the Burgundy vineyards, to the first-ever summit finish on Mont Ventoux, and a closing weekend featuring the Col d'Èze in Nice.
Partnership
Support from Bioracer
As partner of VolkerWessels Cycling Team, Bioracer has supplied the speedwear the riders race in since 2025, tested down to the smallest detail for comfort and speed, all the way to the time trial suit. At Bioracer, we congratulate the whole team on a strong spring season, and we cheered them on during the Tour de Femmes.
— Bioracer
Classification
This year’s Tour de Femmes demanded everything from the riders, both physically and mentally. Nine stages in extreme heat, with no rest day at all. For VolkerWessels, there was plenty to be proud of. Not only through the performances of the current team, but also through the success of riders who previously wore the VolkerWessels colours.
The current VolkerWessels riders showed tremendous fighting spirit throughout the nine demanding stages. One of the standout performances came from Quinty Schoens on the iconic Mont Ventoux, where she finished 22nd. Eline Jansen also fought her way through the full Tour and finished 32nd in the points classification.
Previous riders, Lorena Wiebes and Demi Vollering are two of the standout riders. Lorena Wiebes took victory in stage 1 and stage 2, her two wins once again underlined how versatile and powerful she is. Later in the race, Demi Vollering won three consecutive stages, taking victories in stages 5, 6 and 7. Her performances earned her the overall victory in the general classification, as well as the QOM classification.
This edition of the Tour de Femmes, was an exceptionally demanding race. Simply reaching the finish required enormous commitment from every rider.