Tour of Britain Women 2026 stage 1 result | Wiebes takes victory number 134; Thursday 135?

Lorena Wiebes won the first stage of the Tour of Britain Women. The Dutch rider from SD Worx-Protime survived a tough day full of hills, during which the general classification contenders did everything they could to drop her. Her teammates managed to neutralize every attack, after which the sprinter finished the stage with ease.

The Tour of Britain has been a fixture on the calendar for years, but it has also grown into a top-tier race for women. In fact, the race has been held since 2014 and has been a WorldTour-level event since 2016. Marianne Vos was the first winner, but stars such as Lotte Kopecky, Nasia Niewiadoma, Demi Vollering, and Elisa Longo Borghini also feature on the list of winners.

Former winner Kopecky was back in action, but other riders such as Kim Le Court, Lorena Wiebes, Mischa Bredewold, Zoe Bäckstedt, and defending champion Ally Wollaston also made an appearance. The first stage was a fairly hilly route through northern England. There, Arabella Blackburn (Handsling Alba) and Audrey De Keersmaeker (Picnic PostNL) were part of the early breakaway group.

So while Belgium had a rider in the lead, the Netherlands then had to swallow a bitter pill. Dutch champion Lieke Nooijen (Visma | Lease a Bike) took a hard fall and had to withdraw. It was a major blow to the Dutch team. Up front, De Keersmaeker kept pushing hard at the front, but saw teams like UAE Team L'Imad and Movistar keep the gap small.

She was caught at around the 35-kilometer mark, after which Le Court broke away on the climb to Parsonby Brow. The Mauritian rider accelerated but couldn’t break away. She did, however, cause significant splits in the field. A small group of favorites had broken away, but eventually a second group caught up, leaving about fifty riders heading into the final stretch.

Le Court, however, wasn’t done yet. She kept attacking and made things incredibly difficult for Wiebes, one of the top favorites to win. As a result, Bäckstedt and Lara Gillespie (UAE Team L'Imad) had to drop back, and the peloton thinned out to about twenty riders. Breakaways continued to form, but SD Worx-Protime kept neutralizing them effectively—because Wiebes was still in the mix.

Attacks by riders including Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek) and Femke de Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike) were skillfully neutralized, after which the pace was ramped up in the final kilometers. The lead-out was fantastic, with Mischa Bredewold handling the final stretch for her compatriot, who then easily sealed the victory in the sprint.

1. Lorena Wiebes
2. Chiara Consonni
3. Josie Nelson