Tour de France Femmes to make history with first ascent of Mont Ventoux

Beginning in Lausanne, Switzerland on Saturday, the Tour de France Femmes will include its first ascent of Mont Ventoux. The climb’s appearance on the route marks a first for the event and will come later in the race itinerary.

The race starts in Lausanne and will proceed through stages that culminate with the scheduled Ventoux ascent. This will be the first time Mont Ventoux features on the Tour de France Femmes course. Organisers have arranged the route so that the Swiss opening precedes the Ventoux challenge.

Lausanne serves as the host city for the Grand Départ on Saturday, providing the starting point for the event. From that opening, the race will move through its planned stages before reaching Mont Ventoux for the inaugural ascent in the women’s Tour. The inclusion of the climb is a notable element of this year’s route.

Riders will therefore begin in Switzerland and later face the demands of Mont Ventoux as part of the race. The ascent itself will represent the first time the hill has been climbed during the Tour de France Femmes. Teams will have to prepare for both the opening stages in Lausanne and the later Ventoux segment.

The sequence ties a Swiss start to a later mountain test on Mont Ventoux, integrating different terrain within the same edition of the race. The Ventoux ascent is scheduled to occur after the opening in Lausanne and will stand as a first for the event. That arrangement shapes the overall character of this year’s route.

With the Tour de France Femmes beginning in Lausanne on Saturday and the first ascent of Mont Ventoux to come later in the race, the route combines a Swiss Grand Départ with a new mountain challenge. The Ventoux climb will be the first in the event’s history and is set to be a defining moment of the edition.