In 2026, the Tour de France Femmes seemed to get everything right. After four years of experimentation, the route felt like ASO had pulled together everything they'd learnt into a beautifully balanced course, featuring a bit of everything: a foreign Grand Départ, an iconic mountain stage, a time trial, and a big-city finale.

The result was a truly thrilling race, delivering six different stage winners, five different riders in the yellow jersey, and a GC battle that went down to the wire on the very last day.