2026 Tour de France Femmes stage 9 preview | Plenty of intrigue in the hills around Nice

And just like that, we have reached Nice! Last Saturday, the Tour de France Femmes got underway in Lausanne, Switzerland, and what followed was a memorable week of racing. On Sunday, there is one final all-out effort to come in what looks like a spectacular stage, with the general classification set to be decided in the showdown we have all been waiting for. IDL Procycling takes a closer look at what lies ahead!

The stage both starts and finishes in Nice, where the Tour de France Femmes also arrived on Saturday. At just 99 kilometers, it is an exceptionally short day of racing, but those kilometers still feature no fewer than 2,500 meters of elevation gain.

Virtually all of that climbing comes courtesy of the Col d'Èze, a climb we know so well from Paris-Nice. During the opening 70 kilometers, the riders will tackle it three times from its easier side as part of the local circuit. They will then approach it from the opposite direction for one final ascent, this time taking on the steep side. From the summit, only a 15-kilometer descent remains before the finish on Nice's famous Promenade des Anglais.

The 'easier' side is 7.7 kilometers long at an average gradient of 5.9 percent, while the tougher approach measures 6 kilometers at 7.6 percent. The biggest differences could be made during the third kilometer of that final climb, which rises at a punishing 12.3 percent. The sections that follow are less steep, making them ideal terrain for anyone who has opened a gap to extend their advantage. Significant time differences could therefore emerge there, before those gaps have to be defended on the descent toward Nice.

Times
Start: 4:05 p.m. CEST
Finish: around 6:51 p.m. CEST

Sunday will once again be hot in southern Europe — hardly a surprise at this point. On the Côte d'Azur, temperatures are expected to reach around 31 degrees Celsius.

With everything still to play for, the most likely scenario in our view is that one of the general classification contenders takes the stage victory. Demi Vollering and FDJ-Suez will undoubtedly have identified this final stage as an opportunity a long time ago, and the events of the past few days will only have strengthened that belief. With an eight-second lead, Vollering cannot afford to simply sit back and wait. She has to respond to every important move and be prepared to go all-out.

On Mont Ventoux, Kasia Niewiadoma of Canyon//SRAM was the rider who took advantage of the stalemate between Vollering and that day's yellow jersey, Marlen Reusser of Movistar. Reusser has already indicated that she does not rate her chances of taking yellow particularly highly anymore, but Niewiadoma clearly demonstrated that she was at least on Vollering's level on the climb — and perhaps even stronger. Can she strike back once again after losing the yellow jersey in stage 8?

The gap between the Vollering/Reusser group and riders such as Elisa Longo Borghini of UAE and Cédrine Kerbaol of EF Education-EasyPost was not particularly large. Those riders could potentially pull a Niewiadoma of their own and go after the stage victory, especially given that both are accomplished descenders and have a good instinct for choosing the right moment to make their move.

Beyond those names, attention turns to riders who have been performing well throughout this Tour de France Femmes and are never afraid to attack. Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek), Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), Noemi Ruegg (EF Education-EasyPost), Paula Blasi, Dominika Wlodarczyk, Maeva Squiban (UAE), polka-dot jersey wearer Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech), Thalita de Jong (Human Powered Health) and Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step) all belong in that category.

For Isabelle Holmgren (Lidl-Trek), Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM) and, to a lesser extent, Nienke Vinke (SD Worx-Protime), the battle for the white jersey is also still in play.

Top Favorites: Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM)
Outsiders: Marlen Reusser (Movistar), Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE), Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step), and Cedrine Kerbaol (EF Education-EasyPost)
Long shots: Noemi Ruegg (EF Education-EasyPost), Isabella Holmgren, Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek), Paula Blasi, Dominika Wlodarczyk, Maeva Squiban (UAE), Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech), and Thalita de Jong (Human Powered Health)