Two summers ago, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot soared to a historic home victory at the Tour de France Femmes, dominating the closing Alpine stages to deliver a first French Tour win in decades and the biggest win of her career.
She beat Demi Vollering by almost four minutes in Châtel, but this year the tables turned as Ferrand-Prévot endured a disastrous title defence, losing minutes in the Dijon time trial before falling out of contention in the Ardèche hills and conceding defeat on Mont Ventoux.
Clearly, a rider of Ferrand-Prévot's calibre is better than her early-August performance, and the Visma-Lease a Bike star will aim to bounce back next year. But is the 2027 Tour de France Femmes route one where she can thrive and take back the yellow jersey from Vollering?
Well, race director Marion Rousse delivered both good and bad news for the 34-year-old and her team in the Palais des Congrès in Paris on Thursday afternoon.
For a start, there's no individual time trial on next year's route. That will be music to Ferrand-Prévot's ears after she lost two minutes to Vollering and Marlen Reusser over just 21km on the road to Dijon in August.
Ferrand-Prévot was always expected to shed time against the clock, even as her team protested how much she had trained on the TT bike, so for a start, she's already looking at several minutes saved. Coming in place of an individual time trial, however, is a team test in the form of a flat 18km tour of central London.
Team time trials are rare in women's cycling, with next year's stage a first in Tour de France Femmes history. The other Grand Tours have featured a TTT in recent history, though, with the Giro featuring one in 2021 and the Vuelta doing so between 2022 and 2025.
Do Visma have the personnel to succeed in such a test? Time will tell, and it's impossible to make any predictions this far out, but in former time trial specialist Jos van Emden, they have a directeur sportif well-placed to guide them in London.
"The team time trial is a notable feature. It’s an event we haven't seen before in the Tour de France Femmes," Van Emden said after the route unveiling.
"I'm a fan of team time trials. We haven't raced many of them as a team, so it's difficult to make any immediate predictions about our collective strength or the course in London. You have to master every discipline if you want to win the Tour. This will be another new challenge.
"That decision shows that women's cycling is continuing to evolve and grow in importance. A team time trial is part of what makes the Tour the Tour, as it’s the biggest stage in cycling."
Is there enough climbing for PFP?
The goal will likely be to limit losses and keep Ferrand-Prévot close to her main yellow jersey rivals as the race hits France, with the opening two stages in the north of England unlikely to have produced much in the way of GC gaps.
On the mainland, it will all be about surviving the pitfalls of the sprint stages and then overcoming the tricky, punchy hills on the road to Magnanville on stage 5.
The big time differences, however, should be made in the final three days as the race reaches the Massif Central, though there are no long Alpine climbs on the menu here like the Madeleine, where Ferrand-Prévot built her 2025 Tour victory with that dominant solo ride.
Will that be a problem for the lightweight climber?
"The first thing that stands out to me is how different this Tour is from the editions in recent years. The high mountains are missing. That was certainly different in previous editions," Van Emden said.
Stage 7 features a closing climb to La Loge des Gardes (6.7km at 7.1%), while the mid-mountain stage 8 to Clermont-Ferrand features the Côte de Charade (6km at 5.9%) before a descent to the finish. The showpiece final stage concludes atop the Puy de Dôme, which measures 11.3km at an average gradient of 7.8%.
Van Emden said that the Tour is no easier than the recent editions, even if the Puy de Dôme stage doesn't quite measure up to the recent queen stages of the Glandon-Alpe d'Huez in 2024, the Madeleine last year, or the Ventoux in August.
"The longest climb in this Tour is 11km. That was different in recent years. But that doesn’t mean this will be an easier Tour," he said.
"Quite the opposite: the race will be wide open, and the general classification contenders will be fighting for every second in every stage.
"That’s a very special way to finish. In cycling, this climb may not be as well known as Mont Ventoux or the Col de la Madeleine, which featured in recent editions, but that’s also because it’s a protected natural area. I’m really looking forward to finishing atop the volcano."
As is the case for the men's race, there's clearly one standout favourite for next year's Tour de France Femmes – the defending champion. This Tour route certainly isn't built with Ferrand-Prévot in mind, but success isn't out of reach, and if she's back on form, next August could well host the Ferrand-Prévot vs Vollering battle we've been waiting for.
Between now and then, there's plenty of time for training, planning, and recon rides. The planning will get underway soon, said Van Emden.
"We’ll draw up our plans this winter. With Pauline, we have the 2025 Tour winner on our team, although she would normally be better suited to the longer climbs.
"But we have several cards to play. I think this route suits us very well. It’s going to be an explosive Tour."
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