La Choralis Fourmies Féminine takes place on Sunday 13 September 2026, with the Women’s ProSeries race starting at 13:30 BST and live coverage beginning at approximately 15:20 BST.
The 126.4km race starts and finishes in Fourmies, with Lorena Wiebes returning as defending champion against a field containing Charlotte Kool, Lara Gillespie, Nienke Veenhoven, Silvia Zanardi and Pfeiffer Georgi.
The organisers expect the race to finish at around 16:40 BST, giving viewers roughly 80 minutes of live pictures from the rolling roads of the Avesnois through to the final sprint or late attack in Fourmies.
UK viewers can follow the race through HBO Max, while France Télévisions is also providing digital coverage through France 3 Hauts-de-France, france.tv, YouTube and Facebook.
La Choralis Fourmies Féminine 2026 start time and viewing details
- Date: Sunday 13 September 2026
- Start: Fourmies
- Finish: Fourmies
- Distance: 126.4km
- UCI classification: 1.Pro
- Race start: 14:30 CEST / 13:30 BST
- Live coverage: approximately 16:20 CEST / 15:20 BST
- Expected finish: approximately 17:40 CEST / 16:40 BST
- Defending champion: Lorena Wiebes
The race is the seventh edition of La Choralis Fourmies Féminine and the final round of the 2026 Coupe de France Femmes Professionnelles.
Our beginner’s guide to La Choralis Fourmies Féminine 2026 covers the race’s development into one of the stronger late-season sprint opportunities on the Women’s ProSeries calendar.
How to watch La Choralis Fourmies Féminine 2026 in the UK
HBO Max is carrying La Choralis Fourmies Féminine as part of its live cycling coverage, with the international pictures expected from approximately 15:20 BST.
That is almost two hours after the riders leave Fourmies, so the opening phase and much of the longer loop through the Avesnois will already have been completed when the broadcast begins.
The important part should still be live.
The additional 2026 section between Avesnes-sur-Helpe and Sains-du-Nord is designed to make the middle of the race more demanding before the peloton turns back towards Fourmies. By the time the television coverage starts, viewers should have a good indication of whether the extra terrain has weakened the sprint teams or whether Wiebes and Kool still have enough support to control the return towards the finish.
Free live coverage is also available through France Télévisions
France Télévisions is providing free digital coverage from 15:20 BST.
The race is scheduled to be shown through the France 3 Hauts-de-France digital service, france.tv, Facebook and the broadcaster’s YouTube channel, with Céline Rousseaux and former professional Audrey Cordon-Ragot on commentary.
That gives viewers another option alongside HBO Max.
Regional or territorial restrictions can affect access to individual France Télévisions streams outside France, so HBO Max remains the more straightforward UK option. The YouTube and Facebook feeds are also worth checking once coverage begins.
The live programme is expected to run through to the finish at approximately 16:40 BST.
What time should you start watching?
For all of the available live pictures, start watching at 15:20 BST.
That should leave around 80 minutes of racing.
If you only want the final phase, 16:00 BST is the more useful target. By then, the race should be moving back towards Fourmies and the sprint teams will need to decide whether the remaining breakaway or attacks can still be controlled.
Do not leave it much later than 16:20 BST.
A race expected to finish around 16:40 does not leave much margin if the peloton has been faster than anticipated, and Fourmies has previously been won by a late attack rather than a conventional sprint.
The useful viewing window is therefore:
- 13:30 BST: race starts
- 15:20 BST: live coverage begins
- 16:00 BST: ideal time to join for the decisive final phase
- 16:20 BST: latest sensible time to tune in
- Around 16:40 BST: expected finish
The race may already have changed before the live pictures begin
The main addition to the 2026 course comes well before the finish.
An extra loop between Avesnes-sur-Helpe and Sains-du-Nord keeps the peloton on the rolling roads of the Avesnois for longer than in previous editions.
Our La Choralis Fourmies Féminine 2026 route guide explains why that matters.
Fourmies does not contain one climb capable of eliminating all the sprinters. Its difficulty comes through accumulation. Repeated short climbs and changes in gradient gradually reduce the number of domestiques available before the final run back towards town.
That distinction is important for anyone joining when the television coverage starts.
Wiebes could still be sitting comfortably in the peloton without SD Worx-Protime having complete control of the race. If several teammates have already been dropped or forced to chase during the Avesnes loop, every subsequent attack becomes harder to manage.
The number of riders around the favourites may tell viewers more than the size of the peloton itself.
Lorena Wiebes is still the rider everyone has to beat
Wiebes won the 2025 edition ahead of Lara Gillespie and Gladys Verhulst-Wild and returns with another route that should give her an opportunity to use her sprint.
There is little incentive for her rivals to make the final kilometres easy.
If Wiebes reaches Fourmies with SD Worx-Protime still organised around her, beating her becomes extremely difficult. The better route is to force her team to work earlier, remove parts of the lead-out and turn the closing kilometres into something less controlled.
The revised middle section provides more opportunity to do that.
Wiebes does not necessarily need to be dropped for the attacking teams to succeed. Removing two or three of the riders who would normally chase moves and position her can be enough to change the final 20km.
Our La Choralis Fourmies Féminine 2026 contenders preview looks at the riders with the strongest chances of taking advantage.
Charlotte Kool gives Wiebes another reason to expect help with the chase
Charlotte Kool is the most obvious direct threat if a sizeable group reaches the finish together.
That changes the race for SD Worx-Protime.
Wiebes’ team should not have to take complete responsibility for controlling every dangerous break because Kool’s team also has a strong reason to bring attacks back.
Lara Gillespie finished second here last year and gives UAE Team L’IMAD another fast option. Nienke Veenhoven brings Visma | Lease a Bike into the sprint calculation, while former winners Silvia Zanardi and Pfeiffer Georgi add further depth to the field.
The full La Choralis Fourmies Féminine 2026 start list contains the latest rider and team line-ups.
Several teams therefore want a sprint.
The question is how many of them still have enough riders to organise one after the extra Avesnois loop.
Fourmies does not always reward the fastest rider
The race’s recent results show why the final hour is worth watching even with Wiebes starting as the obvious favourite.
Marta Lach beat the sprinters with a late move in 2023.
Silvia Zanardi restored the bunch sprint in 2024.
Wiebes then won from the group in 2025.
That gives Fourmies a useful balance. The route strongly favours fast finishers without making the sprint inevitable.
An attacking rider does not need to ride everyone off the wheel on a major climb. She needs a moment when the strongest sprint teams hesitate over who should chase.
The additional terrain in 2026 increases the likelihood that those teams reach the finale with fewer riders available to close gaps.
If the breakaway still has time in hand when coverage starts at 15:20 BST, the size and composition of that group will immediately matter.
A lone rider 30 seconds ahead is one problem.
Five strong riders representing several of the main teams is a very different one.
The expected finish is around 16:40 BST
The organisers list an expected finish at approximately 17:40 CEST, or 16:40 BST.
That estimate can move depending on the speed of the race, the strength of the wind and how quickly the day’s breakaway forms.
For viewers, it is safer to regard 16:40 as the centre of the finish window rather than an exact appointment.
Anyone turning the race on by 16:00 should comfortably catch the decisive section.
Anyone joining at 16:30 could find that the final attacks or sprint preparation are already underway.
A busy Sunday makes the Fourmies timings useful
Sunday contains several major races, including the men’s Grand Prix de Fourmies, the final stage of the Vuelta a España and GP Montréal.
The women’s Fourmies broadcast occupies a useful but busy part of that schedule.
The race begins at 13:30 BST but does not come live on screen until around 15:20. The finish is expected at roughly 16:40, meaning the complete televised section fits inside an 80-minute window.
For viewers choosing the most important part rather than watching every available minute, 16:00 BST onwards is the section to prioritise.
By then, the extra Avesnes-sur-Helpe loop should already have done its work.
What remains is finding out whether it did enough to stop Wiebes getting the finish she wants.
