The 2026 Tour de France Femmes is in the rearview mirror and the 21 teams that made up this year’s race are all taking stock. But which ones will be basking in the glow of a successful Tour and which will be frustrated at what they managed to take from the race?

Here, we go through the peloton team by team, analysing their performances across the nine days of racing. We’ll take a look at the highlights, the areas for improvement, and we’ll be giving each team a one-word review.

We haven’t ranked the teams ourselves but we have structured this in order of the prize money list – more on that subject here. In the past we’ve used the teams classification as our order but the prize money feels like a better reflection of the impact each team had upon the race.

FDJ United-SUEZ

• One-word review: Awe-inspiring
• Achievements: Overall victory, three stage wins, six stage podium finishes
• Room to improve: Barring the tactical miscalculation on Mont Ventoux, not much

FDJ United-SUEZ have come a long, long way since the team first began as Vienne-Futuroscope, and even if they hadn’t achieved anything in the TdFF, victories in Strade Bianche, Flanders, Liège, Paris-Roubaix and the Giro this season already make it one of their best.

And now? As if becoming the first ever French team to win the Tour de France Femmes outright – and having the first double winner in Demi Vollering – wasn’t notable enough, they were the only team to take more than two stage wins, again thanks to Vollering’s hat-trick of victories.

It’s worth wondering what French champion Célia Géry might have achieved, had she been given her own options. But instead this was a one-card bet – and given Vollering’s track record, you can hardly blame them – that paid off enormously.

On Tuesday, their newly reinforced position at the top of the UCI team ranking will be confirmed, but regardless of what happens now in the rest of the season or what preceded it, August alone has made this year a runaway success. (AF)

Canyon-SRAM

• One-word review: Inspirational
• Achievements: Second overall, fourth overall, one stage win, white jersey, one day in yellow, four stage podium finishes
• Room to improve: Overall victory, but they barely put a foot wrong

What more could Canyon-SRAM have achieved in this year’s race, beyond winning? “You need brains and legs for the Ventoux,” rival Elisa Longo Borghini wisely pointed out, and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney’s all-out effort to claim yellow and the stage win fully reflected that.

Firstly, a brilliant strategic combination of attacking from distance to ensure her rivals would hesitate behind her on the tougher upper slopes; secondly, having the legs to pull it all off.

If Niewiadoma-Phinney was the highest-profile individual success, at 23, Antonia Niedermaier’s fourth place and best young rider win mark her out as the top future achiever of the race. Twice second overall and twice best young rider in the Giro, Niedermaier’s Tour success puts the German in a whole new league.

During the race, FDJ and UAE were the most active squads throughout the mountain stages. But top climbing performances by non-specialists like Zoe Bäckstedt right up to the last day – where the time-trialling star set a new best-ever 20-minute power number on the second climb of the day – were testament to Canyon’s collective strength and team spirit no matter the terrain. (AF)

UAE Team L’IMAD

• One-word review: Consistent
• Achievements: Third, fifth, and seventh overall, team classification, two stage podium finishes
• Room to improve: Not much to note here, aside from scoring a stage win or two

After much speculation in the media about their team leadership structure, in many ways, UAE Team L’IMAD’s victory in the team prize provides the ideal answer to whether they were operating as a cohesive unit. But arguably an even clearer response came on Mont Ventoux, where Elisa Longo Borghini and Paula Blasi worked perfectly together to limit the gap on early attackers on the climb, then reel in a flagging Marlen Reusser.

Longo Borghini reaching the Tour podium on the final day might have been helped in part by Reusser’s crash on stage 9, but by the point she fell, the Movistar rider was already reportedly struggling.

UAE’s one real gap was a stage win: Maëva Squiban’s nasty crash late on stage 8 arguably did away with their biggest opportunity, while Longo Borghini chasing down the late breaks on stage 6 possibly tired her out too much for the finale.

Yet for the Italian national champion, claiming third overall after so much bad luck in the Tour constituted the best result possible, given Niewiadoma and Vollering’s superiority. And getting three riders in the top ten with Longo Borghini, Blasi, and Polish national champion Dominika Włodarczyk is another testament to their strength in depth. (AF)

SD Worx-Protime

• One-word review: Contrasting
• Achievements: Two stage wins, green jersey, three stage podium finishes, two days in yellow
• Room to improve: Lotte Kopecky was quiet aside from one day in the break, while Anna van der Breggen was unfortunate to fall ill

Lorena Wiebes delivered exactly as was expected of the number one sprinter in the world on not one but two occasions, with stunning victories on the opening two days also allowing her to wear yellow for 48 hours. As a result, it feels harsh to criticise SD Worx-Protime. After all, in a race where just six teams of the 21 actually won stages (and only three more than one), dominating the opening weekend was an impressive result.

That said, that incredibly positive-looking scenario came rather unstuck as soon as the GC stages and hilly days kicked in. Anna van der Breggen’s low-key performance due to not feeling well from the start, according to the squad, finally saw the Dutch veteran abandon. And if Lotte Kopecky had succeeded in bridging across to Haugset on stage 3, rather than falling short by 10 seconds, there’s no knowing what would have happened given her natural speed.

The presence of Wiebes on the final podium as points winner was another major triumph, particularly after such a difficult last stage for sprinters through the mountains of Nice. But whilst it’s hard not to fall into the dangerous habit of taking Wiebes’ sprint wins for granted, such is her strike rate, compared to that near-certainty, the more unpredictable elements of the race for SD Worx left more than a few question marks.

It was a Tour of marked contrasts, then, even if the final balance was positive. (AF)

Lidl-Trek

• One-word review: Potential
• Achievements: Eighth and 10th overall, one stage podium
• Room to improve: They were never far from the thick of the action, but didn’t quite convert that into a big win

Teams will often resort to the “it’s not just about the results” line when they fail to achieve much concrete, but in the case of Lidl-Trek, the bare numbers – two places in the lower half of the top ten on GC and one top-three podium finish – certainly don’t do justice to what they achieved.

Riding her first Tour de France and making it to eighth overall at the age of just 21, for Canadian Isabella Holmgren, for example, feels very much like the starting point of something much bigger, particularly after taking two top-ten finishes in the Giro d’Italia despite her comparatively young age. A 39-kilometre break for Riejanne Markus on stage 2, only caught almost within sight of the finish, and a 100-kilometre break for Loes Adegeest on stage 8, reeled in well inside the host city of Nice, were equally promising.

Niamh Fisher-Black’s fourth place in Nice was another good reminder of Lidl-Trek’s determined bids for success, as was Elisa Balsamo’s runner-up spot on stage 1. Three combativity awards for Lidl-Trek also spoke volumes about their collective commitment, of which getting three riders in the break of the day on stage 5 (one of them Holmgren) was another prime example. If the results didn’t come, it wasn’t for lack of effort – or for lack of signs that in the future, things could well work out differently. (AF)

EF Education-Oatly

• One-word review: Tenacious
• Achievements: One stage podium, sixth overall.
• Room to improve: All-round consistency. They needed a stage win to give their race that extra shine

As Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s GC bid withered and died, French interest inevitably moved to the next best-placed overall racer from the home country. And while EF’s GC leader Cédrine Kerbaol left no room for doubt that she was in fine form, capturing sixth overall in Nice, the absence of fireworks on a scale with Ferrand-Prévot’s lone Alpine raid perhaps made the Breton’s race seem a little underwhelming from the outside.

Yet at the same time, while Kerbaol did turn in a fine attack on Ventoux midway up at one point – and Noemi Rüegg’s work for Kerbaol on the same climb was testament to their strong cohesiveness as a squad – probably the most impressive ride by Kerbaol came in terms of her bounce-back before that.

After she lost time on the anarchic stage through the Beaujolais, Kerbaol then went on the rampage on stage 6 and came within a whisker of challenging Kim Le Court-Pienaar for the stage.

It was France’s best result for an individual day in the race. And even if it didn’t succeed, it certainly pushed her back into the top positions overall: indeed, with seven top-ten finishes throughout the week, that kind of resilience was what most characterised her performance in the Tour – and her team’s. (AF)

AG Insurance-Soudal

• One-word review: Singular
• Achievements: Ninth overall and a stage win
• Room to improve: The success was rather one-dimensional

With a stage win and a spot in the top 10 of the general classification, AG Insurance-Soudal got what they came to the Tour de France Femmes for. Kim Le Court-Pienaar was responsible for both and was very much the star of the show for the Belgian team. Shari Bossuyt was fourth on stage 2, but otherwise the rest of the squad, including Urška Žigart and Lore De Schepper, were quiet.

But Le Court was not, and in fairness to the others, much of the workload revolved around guiding the Mauritian into position on most days. After placing second on the opening day and fifth two days later, Le Court-Pienaar bagged her win in thrilling style on stage 6, making a late charge across to the breakaway, negotiating a tricky tactical finale, and sprinting it out in fierce fashion. It was a storming win on a thrilling day.

That wasn’t the end of it, though. The win put her into ninth overall, and that’s where she remained after a final three days of aggressive GC action that included a top 10 on Mont Ventoux. The rest of the team might have been quiet enough, but after her breakthrough 2025 – which featured a stage win and 16th overall at the Tour – Le Court-Pienaar is still very much a rider on the rise. (PF)

Movistar

• One-word review: Sad
• Achievements: A stage win plus three days in yellow
• Room to improve: Finishing the job

Movistar’s Tour de France ended on a downer, as team leader Marlen Reusser crashed on the final day, finished outside the top 100, and slipped from third to 14th overall. Reusser had already been dropped on the second ascent of the Col d’Eze, so her podium position was already in doubt, and that would still have counted as a disappointing end, but as she trailed home, she no longer had the chance to truly fight for it.

Reusser had enjoyed a great Tour, winning the time trial and spending three days in yellow, even if it came to an end in frustrating fashion amid a tactical duel with Demi Vollering on Mont Ventoux. But Vollering was so strong on the final two days that the podium was realistically the ceiling. For a rider who has podiumed the other two Grand Tours but still seems to face doubts over her GC credentials, a Tour podium would have been a fine achievement, but she can still take plenty of heart after what has been a disrupted season.

As for the rest of her team, Liane Lippert might have hoped to sprint a little better than sixth place from a break on stage 6, but otherwise the squad was mostly rallying around Reusser, with all the talk of a very positive spirit in the team, which only heightened the sense of sadness at the end. (PF)

Visma-Lease a Bike

• One-word review: Dire
• Achievements: Three stage podium finishes, 12th overall
• Room to improve: A proper GC bid

When you have the defending champion, who won with such staggering superiority 12 months ago, it’s hard to describe this as anything other than a shocker for Visma-Lease a Bike. Off the pace in the time trial and three minutes down on the following stage, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s yellow jersey defence was over even before Mont Ventoux, and her race was over the following morning.

The Frenchwoman made suggestions that her level was just as good as last year – and that of her rivals had simply risen – but it didn’t explain the gaping gulf, and there were further question marks after she pulled out with an unspecified illness. Elsewhere, there wasn’t quite enough to make a success of it all. Marianne Vos could only manage a couple of podium placings in the early stages, while Femke De Vries tried to step into the GC shoes but eventually placed 12th after struggling on Ventoux.

The ride of Visma’s race came from Lieke Nooijen, who was second – and only four seconds off the win – in the time trial. Marion Bunel was 11th on Ventoux and still very much a climber for the future, but in the here and now, Visma’s Tour was always going to be judged against the defending champion, and she fell completely flat. (PF)

Fenix-Premier Tech

• One-word review: Single-minded
• Achievements: Polka dot jersey, one stage podium
• Room to improve: After a convincing mountain classification win, the team may well be thinking about upping the stakes across the board in future

After losing the overall in the mountains competition to Justine Ghekiere two years ago on the last day possible, it’s fair to say that Puck Pieterse had a mission to accomplish in the Tour this year. And even if there was no stage win like in 2024 to make her triumph even more special, wearing the polka-dot jersey from stage 3 right the way through to the finale on the Tour with the most elevation gain is no mean achievement.

She also took her team’s only stage podium finish, placing third on stage 6 behind Kim Le Court-Pienaar and Cédrine Kerbaol. Having made a point of getting in her first break on the very hilly stage 5, Pieterse confirmed afterwards that it was her main goal of the race, and indeed, her final total of 55 points was the highest for any Queen of the Mountains winner, and well clear even of the all-conquering Demi Vollering. (AF)

Uno-X Mobility

• One-word review: Exemplary
• Achievements: One stage win, one day in yellow, one stage podium finish
• Room to improve: Beyond moving into GC contention, nothing

When it comes to Grand Tour participation for anything other than a major GC team, how do you improve on an 89km solo breakaway that ends with a rider, Sigrid Haugset, both clinching the stage win and taking the yellow jersey? The answer is simple: you can’t.

The Norwegian national champion’s lone blast for glory wasn’t just the longest successful break in the Tour de France Femmes to date; it instantly converted Uno-X’s participation into a major collective triumph. In a year when smaller teams were finding it exceptionally difficult to break into the big time across all the Grand Tours, this was proof that it was still possible.

It was hard not to feel sorry for Lotte Kopecky, coming so close to Haugset before suffering so badly from cramps that she had to give up. But at the same time, Haugset’s persistence – a plan nine months in the making – was a triumph for the underdogs in an era where it’s increasingly hard for nonconformists to hit the jackpot. There were plenty of memorable wins in this year’s Tour de France Femmes, but this one was right up there at the top of the class. (AF)

Human Powered Health

• One-word review: Focussed
• Achievements: Thalita De Jong and Nina Buijsman racing to 13th and 16th overall
• Room to improve: De Jong admitted to going over her limit on the final stage, dropping two places on GC

The American squad headed to France with ambitions of stage results, but they pivoted to a GC focus after strong rides from Thalita De Jong and Nina Buijsman, who improved as the race went on.

De Jong had four top-13 places on stages, including ninth to Belleville-en-Beaujolais after time spent in the breakaway, and 12th on Mont Ventoux. Buijsman, meanwhile, was 13th on Ventoux and 12th on the finale in Nice.

“I came in as a helper, trying to go for some stage results, and quickly turned into a GC rider. I had some really good days and raced focused. Everything I did, I tried my best. I am proud of that,” said De Jong after the race. (DO)

Cofidis

• One-word review: Solid
• Achievements: Two top 10s for Malwina Mul, while Nikola Nosková won the combativity prize on stage 1
• Room to improve: Mul aside, the team were less visible when the race headed into the harder hills in the latter half of the race

French squad Cofidis weren’t a standout force throughout the race, but they did put together some solid results and days out in the breakaway early on.

Polish neo-pro Malwina Mul finished ninth on both stages 2 and 3 to Geneva and Poligny, plus an 18th place on the arduous finale over the Col d’Eze.

Nikola Nosková was their other top performer, the Czech rider getting out in the breakaway on the opening day and on the road to Tournon-sur-Rhône on stage 6. 21-year-old Ema Comte, another neo-pro, made the break on stage 2.

“We were a little frustrated that we didn’t take the polka-dot jersey on the very first day. We could have held onto it for several days, but oh well… We knew the rest of the race would be a bit more complicated. We were really competitive, and Malwina finished this Tour de France strong. I think we were on a positive roll all week long,” said directeur sportif Mélanie Briot.(DO)

St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93

• One-word review: Battling
• Achievements: Three top 20s and 19th overall by Emilie Morier, plus a day in the break for Alison Jackson
• Room to improve: A stage top 10 and more breakaway action

The upwardly mobile team were this year replete with a new Premier Tech sponsorship on their jerseys and former Paris-Roubaix winner Alison Jackson among their strengthened squad.

Last time out, they were among the minnows of the race, making headlines for their riders battling the time cut. This time they came with their ambitions set higher, as Jackson told Cyclingnews before the race.

Things didn’t work quite as they had hoped, with the French squad eventually limping to Nice with just three riders remaining. Unlike Lotto (see below), however, three of their withdrawals came on the final day rather than early on, meaning they had plenty of opportunities to leave their mark.

In the end, it was Emilie Morier who scored their top result with a 14th place on the final day, while she also finished 15th on Mont Ventoux and 19th overall. Jackson’s best outing came on stage 1, where she raced in the breakaway. (DO)

Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi

• One-word review: Attacking
• Achievements: Fourth on stage 3
• Room to improve: Ostolaza is a strong rider who is capable of a good GC result if she can avoid crashes and the resulting time loss in future

The Basque squad were hard to miss at the Tour as they raced around France in one of the more attractive kits in the peloton – a patchwork pink and green number. They were visible out in the breakaways, too, with Ukrainian champion Yuliia Biriukova, homegrown rider Idoia Eraso, and Paula Patino all getting in moves during the race.

Eraso wore green on the second day of the race, a nice bonus for the team, after picking up points in the break on stage 1, though she didn’t lead the classification.

Their best result of the nine days came in Poligny on stage 3. Out front, Haugset stole the day with a massive solo move. Laboral Kutxa had reason to celebrate too, as Usoa Ostolaza – another rider developed in-house – powered to fourth place from the peloton behind Marianne Vos. After finishing fourth at La Vuelta Femenina, she had harboured hopes of a GC top-10 here, but a crash and 24-minute time loss on stage 5 put paid to that.

Directeur sportif Ion Lazkano said that “achieving a result like that [fourth place] in the Tour doesn’t happen every day” but admitted that “Usoa’s crash on the fifth stage really disrupted our plans.” (DO)

Ma Petite Enterprise

• One-word review: Polkas
• Achievements: Two days in polka dots for Océane Mahé plus four top-20 results
• Room to improve: Try to aim for top 10s and get more riders involved in the breakaway performances

Ma Petite Enterprise were among the smallest teams in the race, supported by small businesses across France and fan donations, but they did have more luck than other similar squads in getting results this August, and the Tour was a job well done for the French squad on their Tour debut during their first year of operation.

24-year-old Océane Mahé did well on the opening day to make the break and lead the way over two of the day’s four climbs. That resulted in her wearing the polka dot jersey for two stages, resulting in time on TV, podium ceremonies, and more interviews – all wins for the team. Being the only non-Women’s WorldTour squad to wear a jersey deserves praise, too.

Elsewhere, Clémence Latimier, Laura Asencio, and Célia Le Mouël put in some solid performances to take four top-20 finishes across several stages. (DO)

Liv-AlUla-Jayco

• One-word review: Muted
• Achievements: Sixth on stage 2 with Letizia Paternoster
• Room to improve: More attacks and maybe a more targeted calendar for their GC leader

It’s fair to say that the Australian team were among the least visible Women’s WorldTour squads in the race. Liv-AlUla- Jayco struggled through the Tour and didn’t make a huge impact.

Results-wise, their best effort came courtesy of Letizia Paternoster, who sped to fifth place in Geneva. Ruby Roseman-Gannon was in the breakaway on Ventoux day, but apart from that the team were rather quiet.

That may have something to do with the form of their GC leader, Monica Trinca Colonel, who didn’t finish the race. The Italian finished seventh at La Vuelta Femenina and then went on to race the Giro d’Italia later in May. She was second at her National Championships leading into the Tour, and finished 10th on stage 3, but racing all three Grand Tours in one season may have been a mistake with the toughest coming last. (DO)

Picnic-PostNL

• One word review: Embattled
• Achievements: Sixth on stage 2 with Josie Nelson
• Room to improve: Both men’s and women’s squads seem to have lost their way, so something surely has to change behind the scenes

It was a challenging Tour for the Dutch squad, who are enduring a tough year just as the men’s team are. Picnic-PostNL can look back on four Tour stage wins in their history via the now-departed Lorena Wiebes and Charlotte Kool, but those days are well behind them now. Still winless in 2026, that triumph never really looked like coming to fruition here.

Josie Nelson’s sixth place was their top result, the British rider up there in the Geneva sprint. Beyond that, there wasn’t much else to highlight as their GC hopeful, 22-year-old Eleonora Ciabocco, struggled. Pfeiffer Georgi’s best result was 19th place on the penultimate day. (DO)

Lotto-Intermarché Ladies

• One-word review: Depleted
• Achievements: 10th on stage 2, 16th on stage 4, and a battling performance
• Room to improve: Try and avoid such a devastating early spell of bad luck, not that you can really plan for that

Bad luck hit Lotto almost immediately at this year’s Tour de France Femmes, their first since 2024. Stage 2 saw Sterre Vervloet, Marieke Meert, and Elisabeth Ebras all leave the race via a combination of crashes and the heat.

On the same day, two more of their number, Romina Hinojosa and Dina Boels, barely made the time cut, crossing the line just 1:41 before their team would’ve been down to two women. The same stage also brought their best result, too, as Linda Riedmann claimed 10th place.

Sandrine Tas, the former speed skater making her Tour debut, had a nice result with 16th in the time trial, while another debutant, Hinojosa, flew the flag for Mexico as their first-ever Tour de France Femmes racer.

“We’ve tried to bounce back and keep showing up every day and trying our best. I think yesterday we showed that we’re not just here to finish, but we also want to show ourselves, and we’re happy we managed to,” Tas told Cyclingnews the day after Ventoux. (DO)

VolkerWessels

• One-word review: Replaceable
• Achievements: Eline Jansen’s 11th place in Geneva
• Room to improve: More breakaway rides from others on the team, especially early on where a jersey might be up for grabs

Like many teams at this end of the list, Dutch squad Volkerwessels struggled to make an impact at this Tour de France. With eight chances to make a breakaway, and even fewer to realistically contest for a stage win or a jersey, the least well-off teams in the race can go largely unnoticed by TV viewers.

Their standout performance came early in the race as Eline Jansen infiltrated the breakaway on day two in Geneva. She spent over 50km out front on the road from Geneva, eventually racing to 11th place as super sprinter Lorena Wiebes sped to victory. Compared to some other teams this low down the rankings, that’s not a bad achievement.

Apart from Jansen, the all-Dutch team struggled to make much headway. Quinty Schoens was quiet, with 22nd on Ventoux her standout result, while Laura Molenaar left the race on stage 2. (DO)

Mayenne Monbana My Pie

• One word review: Penniless
• Achievements: Fiona Mangan made the break on stage 7
• Room to improve: Just get the team sponsors out on TV in more breakaways

Well, one team has to come bottom of the prize money list, and this time it was one of the smallest squads in the race, May enne Monbana My Pie. It was a challenging Tour for the team formerly known as Winspace – they ended their nine days of racing with €0 in prize money.

The team’s best stage finish came on stages 2 and 5 as Natalie Quinn and Karolina Perekitko raced to 28th place. There wasn’t much else to shout about for the ProTeam, either, though Irish racer Fiona Mangan did make the breakaway on stage to Mont Ventoux.

In a race dominated by the strongest teams and riders in the peloton, it’s perhaps unsurprising that a team such as Mayenne didn’t leave a real mark, but for any team in the race to come away with no prize money at all is a surprise.

“If I had to pick one moment from this Tour, it would be the second I decided to follow the breakaway on the Ventoux stage. I think I gave absolutely everything I had,” Mangan said after the race. (DO)

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