Tour of Britain Women begins in Cumbria amid tributes to Finlay Tarling

The 2026 Tour of Britain Women starts in Cumbria on Wednesday under a cloud following the death of Welsh rider Finlay Tarling, who died during the Volta a Portugal last Friday after a collision with a non-race vehicle during the race’s eighth stage. Police investigations into the circumstances of the incident are ongoing and the professional cycling community has been left in shock.

Ten days after the Tour de France Femmes finished in Nice, the women’s peloton returns to racing with tributes planned for the 19-year-old Tarling, who was described in reports as one of the brightest young stars on the British scene. The race comes less than a year before the Tour de France Femmes stages its 2027 Grand Départ in the UK, and organisers expect large roadside crowds. Britain’s only World Tour race has been extended from four days to five for 2026, increasing its prominence within the European calendar.

The start list, while missing Kasia Niewiadoma, runner-up to Demi Vollering in the Tour de France Femmes, and the Dutch double Tour winner, nevertheless includes several riders who featured in the French race: stage winners Kim Le Court and Lorena Wiebes, and former world road race champion Lotte Kopecky. Those names contribute depth to a field described in coverage as stronger than in previous years.

Le Court comes into the race after winning stage six of the Tour de France Femmes and finishing ninth overall in Nice, and she returns to Britain after crashing out of last year’s Tour of Britain following an opening-stage victory. “I’m looking forward to racing the Tour of Britain Women again,” she said. “Last year was a mix of emotions for me personally, so I’m looking forward to coming back and making this edition a good one from start to finish.”

Defending champion Ally Wollaston, who held off Yorkshire’s Cat Ferguson to win last year’s race and claimed a silver medal in the team pursuit at the Commonwealth Games, will be on the start line in Cockermouth. The five-day route takes the peloton through Cumbria, the north-west, Wales and the Borders before concluding with a final stage next Sunday in Royal Leamington Spa.

Wednesday’s opening stage is a long loop out from and back to Cockermouth featuring narrow lanes that offer scope for attacking racing; the second day is expected to produce a sprint finish in Blackpool. The third stage runs from Mold to Llandudno and ends with a tough finish on the Great Orme, while the fourth stage is a hilly test with its finish in Hay-on-Wye.

Lorena Wiebes, who won two stages and the points classification in the nine-day Tour de France Femmes, is the favourite for Blackpool and is considered capable of competing on the hillier Welsh terrain. Lotte Kopecky, the 2024 Tour of Britain winner and a past stage winner in Llandudno, could again target the Welsh seaside finish; her long solo effort to chase Sigrid Haugset in stage three of the Tour de France Femmes was cited as one of that race’s highlights.

Cat Ferguson remains in recovery from an ankle fracture, while Zoe Backstedt of Pontyclun, who supported Niewiadoma in the Tour de France Femmes, is expected to be active on the Welsh stages. Backstedt is the British national road and time trial champion, has won a World Tour stage this year by taking the third stage of the Tour of Switzerland, and finished 50th overall and 10th in the youth classification in her first Tour de France Femmes.

After the hilly fourth stage in Hay-on-Wye the race moves to its finale based around Royal Leamington Spa next Sunday, and broadcasters will provide free-to-air highlights on ITV with live coverage available on YouTube.