"I don't think it's too controversial to say that the women's Tour is much better view than the men's" - The Vollering-Niewiadoma-Reusser battle in review
CyclingMonday, 10 August 2026 at 16:15
The 2026 Tour de France Femmes has come to a conclusion, but has left a mark. On the CyclingUpToDate Podcast, Rúben Silva and Kieran Wood have discussed the female's peloton top race, which has provided several epic battles within just a week's racing.
The duo have discussed a wide range of topics, including defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who entered the race as one of the main favourites for the overall win, but faded in the overall classification before abandoning before the start of the eighth stage.
Asked if the 2025 Ferrand-Prévot would win the 2026 Tour, Silva responded: "Vollering maybe would have lost time to Ferrand-Pervot on Mont Ventoux but the display that she put on these final days of the race were incredible".
The Dutchwoman attacked the two final stages to Nice, putting her explosivity to use in order to dethrone Kasia Niewiadoma who took over the maillot jaune on Mont Ventoux. These two wins were obtained in a similar way to what happened in July over in France.
"Vollering has got that Pogacar specialty: When she goes she gets a little gap on the climb but once she goes downhill and on the flat it just multiplies and multiplies... And Vollering was the strongest in the race and I think that she would have won this race in whichever scenario".
Two two praised the openness and variability of the contenders at the Tour: "It's just more open it's just a race that first Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Vollering; then Vollering-Reusser; and then on stage seven it turned out to be that Vollering's biggest rival the whole time was yet another rider, and it was Niewiadoma.
"I don't think it's too controversial to say that the women's Tour is much better view than the men's Tour," Wood argued. "Because like you say it's just so much more exciting, so many more contenders to win".
The Gery-Niewiadoma incident
The race saw plenty women rival Demi Vollering, who only jumped into the yellow jersey on stage 8. Here, she attacked a steep wall before the first stage finale in Nice, on a stage that brought a lot of discussion.
Ahead of the FDJ - Suez rider's attack, her teammate Célia Gery moved into her wheel on a technical corner and then slowed down, hampering Niewiadoma - who led the race with a gap of 8 seconds at the time.
The jersey changed hands under those circumstances, with Vollering later distancing the Pole. After the finale of the stage, Niewiadoma had very sharp criticism of Géry and the French team's tactics.
"I don't know if if that is worthy of a penalizatio,n and I believe there wasn't one... Is it illegal? No. Is it a dirty move? Yes," Silva argues. "Because, in my opinion of course, she very clearly did move into the corner ahead of Niewiadoma, risking it to get the position to then slow down, and you can't do that".
"It is allowed but I do understand fully the the harsh words and the harsh emotions that Niewiadoma had at the end of the day because losing the yellow jersey at the Tour - or what it seemed like losing the yellow jersey at the Tour at the time - because of this very specific moment was strong, and it brought a very personal side a very personal battle into these final days".
Even at the start of the final stage, Niewiadoma reinforced her stance on the incident whilst yellow jersey Vollering was clearly distraught by the online criticism and threats that fell upon her teammate Géry.
She went as far as stating that she did not forget what happened at the 2024 Tour de France, saying Niewiadoma had no reasno to talk of fair play - in that year, Vollering lost the lead after a late crash cost her time on a sprint stage.
Kieran Wood believes the impact of the move, even at the time, was not crucial to the outcome of the stage. "I think it's obviously a race defining move in some regards, but like you said I don't think it's illegal I think. Just to clarify that I think they pushed it right up to the line I don't think they crossed the line".
The Gery-Niewiadoma incident marked the 2026 Tour de France Femmes
Read also
Was the Tour de France Femmes more exciting than the men's race?
On the final day of the race, Vollering sealed the overall win with a strong solo win that cemented her lead by over a minute, leaving no doubts on who was the strongest rider in the race. Both writers were unanimous that the Tour delivered in terms of the expectations. Besides the racing, the off-the-bike matters also proved to be exciting.
"I very much appreciate that in women's racing is that it just feels like you have you're actually listening to the riders opinions and emotions a lot more than in men's cycling," Silva stated. "Because you have these very media trained responses to interviews and to post-race interviews".
"Specially it's the sort of 'let's say nothing too big here and everything that we need to say is in private' which of course is nice and it's fine, but a lot of times it's very bland, you get these interviews and it just gives you very little, it doesn't really provide much insight into what the riders actually felt, or what they wanted to do, or how they felt like it could have done".
Silva put out several instances in which this was the case at the Tour de France Femmes. "And in this instance and you see with Paula Blasi before the Tour speaking about the speaking about not being a leader at UAE; you see Niewiadoma just very bluntly putting it that she believes that Gery's move was very bad and questioning why did she do that, confronting her after the stage...
"Even to yesterday Vollering being rightfully pissed that Gery was literally getting death threats and accusations over this and saying that she didn't forget what happened in 2024 when she crashed the day that she lost the yellow jersey - that would literally be won by Niewiadoma.
"You just have these actual clashes of opinions and it's just so interesting to see and it's such a breath of fresh air, because you don't see this in men's racing anymore it's very rare that someone sort of breaks the glass and actually puts it as it is".
Wood argued that Remco Evenepoel is one of the riders who, at times, does it, but that the difference is strong between the two sides of the sport. "With the women it feels like there's actual personalities".
"it's the same every sport as well though because in any sport you need characters more than the actual sport actually as well, because that's what makes it entertaining".
"We like as fans we like the needle between FDJ and Canyon, we like the needle between Vollering and Niewiadoma because it makes the racing feel more important it makes it feel more spicy, it gives it that extra little bit of flair where it's not just who's the best rider, it's who's the best rider with this personal element as well and it just makes everything so much better".
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- death threats??? no one should have to deal with this. it was a dicey move, very aggressive perhaps. but wrong? well no one was relegated so it was ok. as Demi said, when she was in yellow, no one waited for her. Maybe Kasia should have taken the inside so the corner couldn’t have been removed by FDJ. I don’t like that she did this, I don’t agree with it. but it is within hard racing to many. death threats, and really any threats, are way out of line.mij10-08-2026
- hiring young guns instead of almost retired ex-stars. the right way to go!Ketterechts10-08-2026
- alot of pundits online especially twitter contributing to that. Riders dont deserve that. Alot of hate on twittermiguel10-08-2026
- Poggi has been cloned, she`s called Demi Vollering.
Senna196010-08-2026 - The thing is for a young rider to not get into controversial positions at all. She did impede Kasia and that brings consequences. If Kasia had crashed, it would be even more. Avoid dirty tactics or be prepared to take the social media consequences in your stridesabstractengineer10-08-2026
- > If Kasia had gone straight to FDJ Suez DS instead, there would have been no death threats. You confuse the effect with the cause. If Gery hadn't been unfair, there wouldn't have been any threats. > And the message that you are sending out here, that a young cyclist deserves to have her life threatened for controversial positioning is extraordinary. What??? I'm not supporting any threats to anyone. So go and be an idiot somewhere else.averagecyclist10-08-2026
- Especially since Gery received death threats!onegear2910-08-2026
- If Kasia had gone straight to FDJ Suez DS instead, there would have been no death threats. And the message that you are sending out here, that a young cyclist deserves to have her life threatened for controversial positioning is extraordinary.Hills3310-08-2026
- Pogacar is uae been there all career without them he is not the best in history. Creds to them for that and their the best team now too, its impossible to beat that combo. Dont know whats hard to grasp by that. And they raising del toro too to become great rider its hard for other teams to keep up with that.miguel10-08-2026
- When you trying to judge here please consider first: - would any of Visma domestiques do same to Pogačar? - would any of UAE domestiques do same to Jonas Vingegaard? The only answer that comes to mind is: NO, they respect each other. So why the hell Gery/FDJ had to do such a dirty and not necessary move? Shame on them.averagecyclist10-08-2026
Loading
Write a comment