Lieke Nooijen moved into the provisional lead of the Tour de France Femmes Stage 4 time trial with a powerful 27-minute, 34-second ride from Gevrey-Chambertin to Dijon.
The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider beat Zoe Bäckstedt by 16 seconds, having already set the fastest time at the 9.7km checkpoint before extending her advantage during the quicker second half of the course.
Mischa Bredewold sat third at 41 seconds, with Kristen Faulkner fourth at 50 seconds and Lotte Claes fifth at 51 seconds when Nooijen led the standings.
The principal favourites were still to finish. Marlen Reusser, Lotte Kopecky, Demi Vollering and the leading general classification riders all remained capable of beating Nooijen’s time, but the Dutch rider had established a benchmark strong enough to make them work for it.
Her performance should not be treated as a complete surprise. Nooijen is the Dutch road race champion, an established time trial specialist and a rider whose strongest results have often come from sustained power rather than a conventional sprint.
Photo Credit: Cor VosLieke Nooijen rider profile
Full name: Lieke Nooijen
Born: 20 July 2001
Age: 25
Place of birth: Helmond, Netherlands
Nationality: Dutch
Team: Team Visma | Lease a Bike
Rider type: Rouleur and time triallist
Stage 4 provisional time: 27:34
Nooijen began racing as a teenager and won bronze in the junior road race at the 2019 World Championships in Yorkshire.
She developed through Dutch domestic racing with Parkhotel Valkenburg before joining Team Visma | Lease a Bike in 2024. Her progress has not always been straightforward, including a fractured vertebra that interrupted her development, but the team extended her contract through 2027 while she worked her way back.
Her full results and career history can be found on the Lieke Nooijen rider page.
Nooijen catches Georgi and takes control in Dijon
Nooijen began as the 70th rider in the start order, leaving Gevrey-Chambertin at 16:00 local time.
She immediately established herself as the fastest rider on the course. Nooijen reached the Lacets de Marsannay checkpoint 15 seconds quicker than the previous benchmark before continuing to gain time towards Dijon.
Her ride became even more emphatic when she caught Pfeiffer Georgi, who had started one minute ahead.
Nooijen crossed the line in 27:34, moving 51 seconds ahead of Claes. Bäckstedt later reached the intermediate checkpoint almost level with the Dutch rider but lost time during the faster closing section and finished 16 seconds behind.
That pattern was important. Nooijen did not merely survive the climbing section before fading towards Dijon. She paced the full 21km well enough to increase the pressure during the part of the course expected to favour the most powerful specialists.
The route and the significance of the second half are explained in the Tour de France Femmes 2026 Stage 4 time trial guide.
Photo Credit: GettyWhy Nooijen is a serious time trial rider
Nooijen’s provisional lead is not simply the result of appearing before the favourites.
She won the 2025 Chrono Féminin de Gatineau over 22.2km, covering a distance almost identical to the Tour time trial and beating her nearest rival by 41 seconds.
That victory underlined her ability to maintain speed across a sustained individual effort rather than relying solely on short prologues. It also provided one of the clearest indications that she was developing into a genuine international specialist.
The full result is covered in our report on Lieke Nooijen’s commanding Chrono de Gatineau victory.
Nooijen had already demonstrated similar qualities at the 2024 Princess Anna Vasa Tour. She won the concluding 13km time trial and secured the overall classification, adding that result to two earlier stage victories.
Her Princess Anna Vasa Tour overall win showed the wider range that has increasingly defined her career. She can ride against the clock, attack from reduced groups and finish effectively when a race becomes selective.
A national champion with more than one route to victory
Nooijen’s 2026 season has expanded her profile beyond time trialling.
She won the Dutch road race championship after escaping with Femke Markus and beating her in the two-rider finish. The result placed the national champion’s jersey on a rider who had already been developing as one of Visma’s strongest younger rouleurs.
That victory suited her characteristics.
Nooijen is most effective when a race has been made difficult enough to remove the pure sprinters but has not become a contest between the lightest climbers. Repeated accelerations, exposed roads and long efforts all play towards her strengths.
She also came close to a major WorldTour victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen earlier in the season. Nooijen attacked inside the final kilometre and briefly threatened to steal the race before Reusser and Vollering brought her back.
That willingness to act rather than wait has made her increasingly valuable in one-day races. The same confidence was visible in Dijon, although the time trial required a controlled version of it rather than one late attack.
Visma gain more than an early stage lead
Nooijen entered the Tour primarily as part of the team supporting defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.
The time trial gave her an opportunity to ride entirely for herself. She began well outside the GC contest and therefore did not need to balance her effort against the mountain stages still to come.
Her performance nevertheless had wider value for Visma.
Nooijen provided detailed information about pacing, wind and equipment before Ferrand-Prévot’s later start. The team could compare her intermediate and finishing speeds with those of Bäckstedt, Bredewold and Faulkner to understand where the course was being won and lost.
The result also demonstrated the depth within a Tour squad containing Ferrand-Prévot, Marianne Vos and several younger riders capable of influencing stages independently.
Nooijen’s progression and place within that structure are covered in the Team Visma | Lease a Bike 2026 women’s team guide.
Can Nooijen win Stage 4?
Nooijen’s 27:34 was a serious time, but the decisive riders were still to come.
Reusser remained the clearest favourite. Her aerodynamic efficiency and sustained power were expected to be particularly valuable on the fast roads towards Dijon.
Kopecky, Vollering and Anna van der Breggen also possessed the ability to challenge Nooijen, although each entered the stage with a different question. Kopecky had to recover from her long pursuit of Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset on Stage 3, while Vollering’s primary objective was the general classification rather than the stage alone.
Bäckstedt’s inability to displace Nooijen strengthened the Dutch rider’s position. The British specialist had been expected to set one of the strongest earlier times but conceded 16 seconds after losing ground during the final section.
Nooijen may still be removed from the hot seat by one of the late favourites. Even if that happens, her ride has already gone beyond the category of an incidental early lead.
She has set a time that the best riders in the race must actively beat.
A breakthrough Tour performance
Nooijen’s ride fits the development of a rider becoming increasingly difficult to confine to one role.
She is the Dutch road champion, an international time trial winner and a WorldTour rider capable of attacking late in major one-day races. She can support a leader, provide course information or take her own opportunity when the route suits.
Stage 4 offered the clearest possible opportunity to demonstrate that range.
Nooijen caught the rider ahead, beat Bäckstedt and produced a balanced ride across both halves of the course. The biggest favourites may yet go faster, but they must now measure themselves against the time she established.
For the moment, the first serious standard in Dijon belongs to Lieke Nooijen.
