Tour de Suisse Women

The Tour de Suisse Women no longer looks like a Demi Vollering checkpoint. Vollering is not on the 2026 startlist after choosing to rest following the Giro d’Italia Women, which turns this five-day race into a more open GC test for riders who need Tour de France Femmes form without waiting for August.

Stage 1 changed the race immediately

Stage 1 in Sondrio was not won by one of the pre-race marquee names. Femke de Vries took the first professional victory of her career, beating Lauren Dickson from a two-rider move, with Cédrine Kerbaol third after attacking from the chase. De Vries now carries the race lead, while the main GC group with Kim Le Court Pienaar, Sarah van Dam, Steffi Häberlin, Elisa Longo Borghini, Marlen Reusser and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney already sits nearly a minute down on GC once bonuses are included.

Favorites for the overall after Stage 1

De Vries has to be treated as the live race favorite now because she owns both the stage win and the yellow jersey, and she already came into the race with strong climbing evidence from the Giro d’Italia Women. Reusser remains dangerous because the Aarburg time trial gives her a clear route back into the GC fight. Longo Borghini and Niewiadoma-Phinney are still central contenders, but they are now chasing rather than controlling the race. Kerbaol also deserves a major bump after taking time with a late downhill move.

What comes next

The route still gives the race several ways to flip. Locarno and Bad Ragaz keep punchy terrain in play, Stage 4 is a fast 23.8km time trial in Aarburg, and the final day to Villars-sur-Ollon is the mountain stage where the strongest climbers can still pull the race apart. The updated favorites list reflects both the verified startlist and what Stage 1 actually showed.