Juliette Berthet won the 2026 Faun Tour Femmes after a four-day battle with Niamh Fisher-Black in which the pair were still level on time going into the final stage around Peyrus.
Berthet won stages two and three for FDJ United-SUEZ, beating Fisher-Black on both occasions, before protecting the race lead on the hardest day of the week. Teammate Lauren Dickson then completed an outstanding race for FDJ by winning stage four.
Solène Muller had opened the race with the first professional victory of her career in Boffres, meaning French riders won all four stages. The Faun Tour Femmes is the new identity of the former Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardèche, reduced to four days for 2026 but still built around the hilly roads of the Drôme and Ardèche.
The full Faun Tour Femmes start list had brought together several strong climbers, with Berthet, Fisher-Black, Usoa Ostolaza and Nienke Vinke among the most obvious GC options. The race also marked Sarah Gigante’s return after 403 days without racing.
Photo Credit: GettyStage 1: Solène Muller surprises the favourites in Boffres
The race opened with 115.7km from Guilherand-Granges to Boffres and immediately produced an unexpected winner.
More than 20 riders made the early break, with enough of the larger teams represented to complicate the chase. FDJ United-SUEZ eventually committed riders behind despite having Léa Curinier in the move, reducing an advantage of more than three minutes as the race approached its uphill finish.
The break still had enough time to contest the stage.
Muller attacked during the final 1.5km and helped create the small group that would fight for victory. She opened her sprint with around 175 metres remaining and held off Nienke Vinke, with Anna Henderson third.
Clémence Latimier was fourth and Fisher-Black fifth, while Berthet finished seventh on the same time. Dickson was seven seconds behind in 11th.
For Muller, it was the first professional victory of her career and St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93’s first win of the season.
The apparently minor difference between Fisher-Black in fifth and Berthet in seventh became relevant the following afternoon. When the pair finished stage two level on overall time, their placings in Boffres determined who wore the leader’s jersey.
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Solène Muller | St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93 | 3:08:27 |
| 2 | Nienke Vinke | Team SD Worx-Protime | s.t. |
| 3 | Anna Henderson | Lidl-Trek | s.t. |
| 4 | Clémence Latimier | Ma Petite Entreprise | s.t. |
| 5 | Niamh Fisher-Black | Lidl-Trek | s.t. |
Photo Credit: GettyStage 2: Berthet comes back to Fisher-Black and wins in Dieulefit
Stage two took place over 106.1km around Dieulefit, with three ascents of the Col du Pertuis and almost 1,500 metres of climbing.
Maite Urteaga Sorazu and Elisa Valtulini formed the early break before Valtulini was dropped on the second climb. Lidl-Trek increased the pace behind, with Henderson doing much of the work to reduce the advantage, and Urteaga was caught with around 29km remaining.
Ema Comte was the next rider to try her luck and carried an advantage towards the final ascent, but Fisher-Black and Berthet reached her as the GC race began in earnest.
Fisher-Black then accelerated hard enough to distance Berthet.
It looked briefly as though the New Zealander had found the separation she needed, but Berthet limited the gap and gradually worked her way back before the summit. The pair reached the final kilometres together, with Dickson leading the next group behind.
Berthet was comfortably quicker in the two-rider sprint and took her first victory for almost two years. Fisher-Black finished second, with Dickson third at 21 seconds.
The result left Fisher-Black and Berthet tied on overall time. Fisher-Black took yellow because she had finished fifth rather than seventh on stage one, while Dickson and Urška Žigart sat 28 seconds behind.
For Fisher-Black, the final climb had confirmed the strength that has made her an established Grand Tour contender. The problem was that Berthet had been able to survive her best acceleration and then beat her convincingly at the finish.
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juliette Berthet | FDJ United-SUEZ | 2:56:48 |
| 2 | Niamh Fisher-Black | Lidl-Trek | s.t. |
| 3 | Lauren Dickson | FDJ United-SUEZ | +0:21 |
| 4 | Sidney Swierenga | Liv AlUla Jayco | +0:21 |
| 5 | Urška Žigart | AG Insurance-Soudal Team | +0:21 |
Stage 3: Berthet wins again and takes yellow
Saturday’s 120km stage started and finished in Tournon-sur-Rhône and included two passages of the Côte de Colombier-le-Vieux before the Côte de Lemps late in the race.
Žigart’s GC challenge ended early when she crashed and abandoned, removing one of the three riders who had started the day within half a minute of Fisher-Black.
Noémie Abgrall and Émilie Morier spent much of the stage ahead before the race came back together around the final climbing.
Fisher-Black again tried to use the hills to separate Berthet, but this time FDJ had two riders involved in the decisive selection. Berthet and Dickson both stayed in the contest and the three strongest GC riders eventually emerged together.
That gave FDJ a tactical advantage, but they could not shake Fisher-Black before the finish.
The three arrived in Tournon-sur-Rhône together and Berthet again had the fastest sprint. Fisher-Black finished second for a second consecutive day, with Dickson third on the same time.
Berthet therefore moved into the yellow jersey despite remaining tied with Fisher-Black on time. Her two stage victories put her ahead on countback, while Dickson remained third at 28 seconds.
The race had now developed into a particularly awkward situation for Lidl-Trek. Fisher-Black needed only the smallest time gap to take the overall lead, but FDJ had Berthet on the same time and Dickson close enough behind to remain a genuine second threat.
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juliette Berthet | FDJ United-SUEZ | 3:12:39 |
| 2 | Niamh Fisher-Black | Lidl-Trek | s.t. |
| 3 | Lauren Dickson | FDJ United-SUEZ | s.t. |
| 4 | Usoa Ostolaza | Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi | +0:30 |
| 5 | Nienke Vinke | Team SD Worx-Protime | +0:30 |
Photo Credit: GettyStage 4: Dickson wins while Berthet secures the overall
The final 134.7km stage around Peyrus was the hardest of the four days.
The route included two ascents of the Col de Tourniol, 11.7km at around 6%, followed by the Col des Limouches. After three stages decided by relatively small differences, it gave Fisher-Black the terrain she needed to try to turn her climbing strength into the race lead.
She started level on time with Berthet.
FDJ’s advantage was Dickson. At only 28 seconds, the British rider was close enough to the overall lead that Fisher-Black could not simply allow her to escape while concentrating solely on Berthet.
The team’s two-rider position shaped the final stage. Fisher-Black needed to create a meaningful gap on Berthet while also remaining alert whenever Dickson moved clear.
Dickson ultimately converted that freedom into the stage victory, completing three consecutive wins for FDJ United-SUEZ after Berthet’s successes in Dieulefit and Tournon-sur-Rhône.
Berthet did what she needed to do against Fisher-Black and retained the yellow jersey, completing the overall victory after four days in which the pair had rarely been separated on the road.
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lauren Dickson | FDJ United-SUEZ | 4:01:25 |
| 2 | Juliette Berthet | FDJ United-SUEZ | +0:09 |
| 3 | Niamh Fisher-Black | Lidl-Trek | +0:12 |
| 4 | Usoa Ostolaza | Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi | +0:55 |
| 5 | Nienke Vinke | Team SD Worx-Protime | +0:56 |
Faun Tour Femmes 2026 final general classification
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juliette Berthet | FDJ United-SUEZ | 13:19:27 |
| 2 | Niamh Fisher-Black | Lidl-Trek | +0:03 |
| 3 | Lauren Dickson | FDJ United-SUEZ | +0:19 |
| 4 | Nienke Vinke | Team SD Worx-Protime | +2:14 |
| 5 | Usoa Ostolaza | Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi | +2:20 |
| 6 | Lore De Schepper | AG Insurance-Soudal Team | +2:42 |
| 7 | Julie Bego | France | +2:54 |
| 8 | Clémence Latimier | Ma Petite Entreprise | +2:55 |
| 9 | Célia Le Mouel | Ma Petite Entreprise | +3:16 |
| 10 | Gaia Realini | Lidl-Trek | +3:34 |
Berthet won the race by surviving Fisher-Black’s best climbing attacks
The defining contest of the Faun Tour was established on stage two and barely changed thereafter.
Fisher-Black repeatedly looked capable of being the strongest rider uphill. In Dieulefit she actually dropped Berthet before the French rider recovered, and she was again one of the main instigators when stage three became selective.
What she could not do was turn those moments into lasting time gaps.
Berthet was consistently close enough to recover and had a clear advantage whenever the race ended with a sprint. Two consecutive stage victories were the result, and those placings eventually put her into yellow while the pair remained level on time.
That was a significant improvement on the rider described in our pre-season look at Berthet’s 2026 programme. Her climbing was good enough to stay attached to one of the strongest stage racers in the field, while her finishing speed repeatedly supplied the result once the hardest work was over.
Dickson gives FDJ the tactical advantage on the final weekend
Dickson’s contribution went beyond winning the final stage.
Her third place on stage two moved her to within 28 seconds of the lead, and she stayed there after joining Berthet and Fisher-Black at the front on stage three.
That forced Lidl-Trek to race against two GC threats on Sunday rather than one.
Fisher-Black could concentrate on dropping Berthet, but any hesitation over Dickson risked allowing another FDJ rider to move into overall contention. For FDJ, one rider could attack while the other remained attached to Fisher-Black.
Dickson eventually took the stage while Berthet kept the overall title.
Three victories from the final three stages was therefore not simply a reflection of individual strength. FDJ reached the weekend with the two best-placed riders behind Fisher-Black and used that numerical advantage to make the final day much more difficult for Lidl-Trek to control.
Four stages and four French victories
The first Faun Tour Femmes under its new name produced an unusual clean sweep for French riders.
Muller opened the race with a breakthrough win from the stage-one break. Berthet then took consecutive stages and the overall lead before Dickson, racing for the French FDJ United-SUEZ team, completed the team’s domination of the final weekend.
Berthet’s overall victory was the clearest result of the four days, but Fisher-Black provided the central opposition throughout. The two entered the final stage level on time after repeatedly finishing together despite Fisher-Black’s attempts to make the difference uphill.
Berthet ultimately won because she could answer those attacks and then use a faster finish when the road flattened out. With Dickson alongside her on the final two stages, FDJ also had the tactical depth required to turn a close individual contest into control of the race.
