Team Visma | Lease a Bike will head to the Tour de France Femmes 2026 with Pauline Ferrand-Prévot as the clear general classification leader, as the defending champion attempts to win the yellow jersey for a second consecutive year.
Ferrand-Prévot will be supported by Femke de Vries, Sarah van Dam, Marianne Vos, Lieke Nooijen, Daniek Hengeveld and Marion Bunel across the nine stages from Lausanne to Nice.
The Dutch team have made their priority explicit. Stage wins remain part of the plan, particularly with Vos in the squad, but the overall classification comes first.
“Our plan is fully focused on a good general classification with Pauline,” team manager Rutger Tijssen said. “She obviously can’t do that alone, so we need the other six riders very much.”
Ferrand-Prévot returns as defending champion
Ferrand-Prévot heads into the Tour carrying a very different level of expectation from twelve months ago.
In 2025, she won two stages and the overall classification after producing the strongest performance of the race once the Tour reached the decisive mountain terrain.
This time, she starts as the rider everyone knows they have to beat.
“Starting the Tour as defending champion is very special and something I’m extremely proud of,” Ferrand-Prévot said. “At the same time, last year’s victory says nothing about what will happen this time. Everyone starts from zero again.”
That is particularly true on a 2026 Tour de France Femmes route containing a 21km individual time trial, several punchy stages and the summit finish on Mont Ventoux.
Ferrand-Prévot’s ability to reproduce last year’s climbing level remains central to Visma’s chances, but the team have also spent significant time working on one of the areas where rivals such as Marlen Reusser could put her under pressure.
Time trial preparation has been a major focus
Since La Vuelta Femenina, Ferrand-Prévot’s programme has been built almost entirely around arriving at the Tour in peak condition.
She completed an altitude training camp in Tignes with her teammates and has worked specifically on improving her performance against the clock.
“I’ve done everything I can to be in the best possible shape at the start,” she said. “Together with the team, we prepared carefully and I received a lot of support from everyone around me.”
Tijssen said Visma have used several specialists during that preparation to work on the time trial, although he acknowledged that training performance cannot perfectly replicate race day.
That focus is significant because Stage 4 from Gevrey-Chambertin to Dijon could establish the tactical shape of the Tour. Ferrand-Prévot does not necessarily need to beat Reusser over 21km, but she does need to prevent the Swiss rider gaining enough time to turn the mountain stages into a defensive exercise for Movistar.
Ferrand-Prévot’s wider 2026 build-up has been centred on exactly this objective, as outlined in our Pauline Ferrand-Prévot 2026 season guide.
Visma expect Ventoux to create major gaps
The Tour contains 1,175km and 18,795 metres of climbing, making it the longest and hardest edition of the modern race so far.
Tijssen expects the heat to add another layer to an already demanding route.
“It will be a very hard Tour, especially in combination with the heat,” he said. “It is a course that has everything: a time trial, some punchy stages, a stage reminiscent of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and a finish on Mont Ventoux.”
He stopped short of describing Stage 7 as automatically decisive, but acknowledged that it is the most obvious point for major GC gaps.
That should suit Ferrand-Prévot.
The defending champion showed in 2025 that long mountain stages can become her biggest weapon when she reaches them in peak condition, and Ventoux provides a particularly clean test of climbing strength. The details of the ascent and its place in the race are covered in our Tour de France Femmes 2026 Mont Ventoux guide.
Visma’s task is getting her there with enough support and without losing unnecessary time beforehand.
Photo Credit: Cor VosDe Vries set for key mountain role
Femke de Vries has been identified as Ferrand-Prévot’s final mountain domestique.
That makes her one of the most important riders in the seven, even if her own results are unlikely to define the team’s Tour.
Her job will be to remain alongside Ferrand-Prévot for as long as possible once the GC group begins shrinking.
That role becomes particularly important on Ventoux.
If Visma can keep de Vries with Ferrand-Prévot after rival leaders have already become isolated, they gain control over both pace and tactical responses at a point where every remaining rider matters.
Tijssen described de Vries as the rider expected to stay closest to Ferrand-Prévot in the mountains, with Sarah van Dam positioned just ahead of her in the support chain.
Sarah van Dam gives Visma another climbing layer
Sarah van Dam adds another rider capable of contributing before the race reaches its final selection.
Her role is expected to come immediately before de Vries in the mountain structure, helping Visma maintain control as the group is reduced.
That could mean riding tempo, following attacks or simply keeping Ferrand-Prévot protected until the race reaches the point where only the strongest leaders remain.
Visma’s mountain strategy is therefore built around several stages of support rather than expecting Ferrand-Prévot to manage everything alone.
Marion Bunel adds another climbing option on top of that depth.
Marion Bunel will support deep into the mountains
Marion Bunel is expected to remain with Ferrand-Prévot as long as possible in the high mountains.
That role reflects both Bunel’s climbing ability and the team’s willingness to commit fully to the defending champion’s GC campaign.
She could also become tactically useful before the final climb.
Sending Bunel forward in a breakaway would give Ferrand-Prévot a possible satellite rider later in the stage while reducing Visma’s responsibility to chase.
The team have not indicated that Bunel will race for her own GC position. Her value is more likely to come from giving Ferrand-Prévot another climbing resource on the stages where the Tour is decided.
Marianne Vos will act as road captain
Marianne Vos brings a completely different type of value.
Tijssen described Vos as the team’s road captain, giving Ferrand-Prévot one of the most experienced riders in professional cycling to help manage the race around her.
That can be particularly important during the opening days.
Before the mountains decide the Tour, GC contenders have to survive positioning battles, technical finales and the constant risk of losing time through something unrelated to climbing form.
Vos gives Visma someone capable of reading those situations and organising the team on the road.
She also remains a genuine stage-winning threat herself. Her current role combines exactly those two qualities, leadership and the ability to deliver results, as explored in our Marianne Vos 2026 season guide.
Visma showed last year that those objectives can coexist, with Vos winning the opening stage while Ferrand-Prévot finished third.
Nooijen and Hengeveld tasked with positioning
Lieke Nooijen and Daniek Hengeveld are expected to focus heavily on positioning Ferrand-Prévot.
That role can appear less important than mountain support, but it may be just as valuable across the first half of the race.
A GC campaign can be damaged long before Ventoux through a badly timed split, crash or missed move.
Keeping Ferrand-Prévot near the front before climbs, through technical sections and into important finales reduces that risk.
Hengeveld also brings substantial power on the flatter terrain, giving Visma another rider capable of contributing when the race is fast and difficult to control.
Neither needs to chase personal results every day.
Their Tour is largely about ensuring Ferrand-Prévot reaches the places where she can win the race.
Stage wins remain part of the plan
Despite the heavy GC emphasis, Visma do not intend to race only around yellow.
“If you ride at the front, you are competing for victory,” Tijssen said.
Vos is the most obvious stage option away from the mountains, particularly on the harder sprint and punchy days where her finishing speed remains a major weapon.
There may also be opportunities for others if the race situation allows.
But the hierarchy is clear.
“Of course we are targeting stage wins this year, but the general classification is written in capital letters,” Tijssen said.
That is the defining feature of the squad.
Visma are not bringing several co-leaders and waiting to see who performs best.
They are bringing six riders to help Ferrand-Prévot win the Tour again.
Visma believe Ferrand-Prévot is ready to peak again
Tijssen is confident that the defending champion has completed the preparation required to challenge again.
“Pauline has had a long and good preparation,” he said.
Since the Vuelta, the focus has been on building race fitness, altitude work and improving the time trial ahead of Lausanne.
Ferrand-Prévot also highlighted the atmosphere within the group during the Tignes camp, describing a squad that trained hard while still enjoying the preparation.
That matters for a team built around one central objective.
If Ferrand-Prévot is going to defend yellow, the entire seven-rider unit has to remain committed to the same plan across nine demanding stages.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike Tour de France Femmes 2026 squad
- Pauline Ferrand-Prévot
- Femke de Vries
- Sarah van Dam
- Marianne Vos
- Lieke Nooijen
- Daniek Hengeveld
- Marion Bunel
Visma arrive in Lausanne with one of the clearest tactical structures in the race.
Ferrand-Prévot is the leader. De Vries, van Dam and Bunel provide the mountain support. Vos brings leadership and stage-winning ability, while Nooijen and Hengeveld are tasked with keeping the defending champion where she needs to be before the decisive moments.
The team have left little ambiguity about what would make the Tour a success.
Stage wins would add to it.
The yellow jersey remains the objective that matters most.
