How Do You Beat Lorena Wiebes?

Lorena Wiebes is the winning machine that her sprinting rivals seem powerless to stop.

For the last two seasons, the SD Worx-Protime rider is the most prolific victor, a bunch sprint master blaster – and she has improved her versatility and endurance over the years.

The GC favorites could not shake off Wiebes on the stiff final climb into Lausanne on stage one of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Bunch sprinters will likely have a far harder task getting the better of her after a flat finale of stage two into Geneva Sunday.

No prizes for guessing who is the overwhelming favourite for what looks set to be one of the only bunch sprints in the hill-packed 2026 race.

The Wiebes win rate is remarkable. She has lost one bunch sprint this year out of 16 in the 2026 season, and that was when she was boxed in at April’s Ronde De Brugge in bad weather and only finished ninth.

However, all is not lost for the peloton’s whizz kids.

It’s time for the women’s bunch to get creative. Here is what her closest challengers and experienced peers had to say about cracking the Wiebes code.

Trust your speed

Wiebes has been stunned before in sprint finishes in this very same race.

When the 2024 Tour de France Femmes started in Rotterdam, Fenix-Premier Tech flyer Charlotte Kool outshone her. She capitalized on a broken derailleur for a tearful Wiebes in the opener, sprinting to glory. The Dutchwoman did it again on day two, fair and square (above), for good measure.

How does she repeat that feat?

“I think I need first to be the best version of myself again,” Kool said. “And start the sprint from a good position, that went sometimes a bit wrong this season.

“We have to make sure that I’m in the best position and it’s just about who’s the fastest. I can’t change anything more in the moment, just really focus on myself.

Kool is quietly confident. “I actually feel quite good,” she said. “I hope I get the form I had this spring, it was really good. I also need it for this Tour de France, because it’s a tough one.”

Take risks and think outside the box

Being creative is the only way, says Alison Jackson (St Michel-PreferenceHome-Auber 93). “I think you can win by having a surprising and really good lead-out,” the Canadian said.

“But then it would have to be some sort of technical finish where you have so many riders ahead that she can’t overtake, or else I think it is setting things up early.”

Team SD Worx-ProTime are so well-drilled that they can marshall the bunch well and Wiebes herself can even freelance without a leadout needed, having improved in tougher finishes and bunch craft in recent years.

“So I think you have to be more creative or take more chances before it even comes to the sprint,” she said.

Make the most of the smallest mistake

Pulling on an ice vest Saturday before stage 1, Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) explained to Velo she has been putting in the hours to be better on the hills. The two-time Italian champion sometimes thrives in sprints on rolling days.

“Especially after the Giro, I worked a lot on climbs because we know this Tour is really hard every day. I just try to be a complete rider as much as possible, that’s my goal,” she told Velo.

Being a better-rounded rider might also mean she is in the mix when Wiebes is off the back or has her devastating turn of speed blunted.

One-time world champion Balsamo has beaten Wiebes into second or third place seven times in their careers. What’s the secret to it?

“Ah, she’s really strong and she also showed everyone [that]. But I also think I just need to be ready and try to take the opportunity maybe one day if she’s a bit tired or makes a mistake. I just need to be there.”

Hope for the UCI to kick her out again

You don’t have to outsprint Lorena Wiebes if she isn’t in the race anymore.

Balsamo won four Giro d’Italia stages after her rival was controversially disqualified on day one last month for having a bike deemed to be 0.02kg under the UCI’s minimum weight of 6.8kg.

However, SD Worx-ProTime and Wiebes will make sure to avoid that particular transgression again – and it only upped her motivation at the Tour de France Femmes.

“It [the disqualification] gave extra fire to show that I can finish off this kind of finishes, but also after what happened,” Wiebes said in her post-stage press conference in Lausanne.

Think fast, be positive

“This is a question that nobody now has an answer for,” Canyon//SRAM fast woman Chiara Consonni said.

At least she is honest. The statistics bear it up.

“She’s really strong but every day when you start the race, it’s always thinking, ‘I can do it.’ This always needs to be in your mind – why not? She can do something wrong and we can do something better or different.”

The last laugh often goes to Wiebes in a flattish bike race, so it only seems appropriate that she has the last word.

When I interviewed the dazzling Dutchwoman for a Rouleur feature in 2023, I asked her this very same title question. How do you beat her?

“Getting more watts on the pedals. I would say don’t do it,” she said, laughing. “Just surprise me.”