“The level is a little lower this year” – Patrick Lefevere unimpressed by Tour de France Femmes 2026

Patrick Lefevere has been left underwhelmed by the 2026 Tour de France Femmes, despite a race that has already seen the defending champion fall out of contention and the yellow jersey change hands on Mont Ventoux.

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney now leads Demi Vollering by just 15 seconds after blowing apart the general classification on Stage 7, while Marlen Reusser remains only 39 seconds behind. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, meanwhile, has seen her title defence unravel across the time trial and mountains.

For Lefevere, though, dramatic changes in the standings have not necessarily translated into better racing.

“I’m curious to see what will still happen in this Tour de France Femmes,” the former Soudal Quick-Step boss wrote in his column for Het Nieuwsblad. “Personally, though, I think the level is a little lower this year than it was last year. The racing is less aggressive. I thought it would be more attractive.”

There has been no shortage of decisive moments. Reusser demolished her GC rivals in the Stage 4 time trial, Vollering responded with victory on Stage 5 and Niewiadoma-Phinney then produced the biggest climbing performance of the race on Mont Ventoux. Only 54 seconds now cover the top three with two stages remaining.

Lefevere’s frustration appears to lie less with the consequences of those stages than with how races are developing before the decisive attacks arrive. “But it often remains difficult to predict what will happen in women’s races,” he said. “Sometimes you see breakaways with a huge advantage and think: they will never be caught. But then suddenly they start looking at each other at the front and, in no time at all, everything comes back together.”

That assessment places him at odds with anyone judging the Tour purely by the movement on GC. The race has changed repeatedly, but Lefevere believes the underlying racing has lacked some of the aggression he saw in 2025.

His comments also come from someone whose own involvement in women’s cycling arrived relatively late. For decades Lefevere built his reputation running one of the strongest men’s teams in the sport. He initially resisted adding a women’s operation while the financial conditions for riders remained precarious, before eventually becoming involved with the project that developed into AG Insurance-Soudal.

Lefevere now points to the financial transformation of the women’s peloton as evidence of how much has changed in a remarkably short period. “We sometimes forget how fast everything has gone,” he said. “The minimum salary in the WorldTour is now around 50,000 euros. When I became involved three years ago, I heard stories about girls earning 250 euros per month.”

His original position was characteristically blunt. “At first I said I didn’t want to start a women’s team because I didn’t want to play social services.”

That stance softened once the sport developed further and a viable project presented itself. “In the end, I did take over a team. At the beginning it was difficult and the figures were very poor. Fortunately, we eventually found a good sponsor in AG Insurance. And look where they are now...”

The women’s peloton Lefevere once considered too financially fragile to enter has changed substantially since then. His expectations have evidently changed with it.

With Niewiadoma-Phinney, Vollering and Reusser separated by less than 40 seconds at the top of the Tour, the 2026 edition still has plenty of scope for late drama. Lefevere’s complaint is that, seven stages in, he expected more aggression on the road before reaching this point.