The 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift broke TV records in its host country, fuelling calls for the whole race to be broadcast in full.
The fifth edition of the race boasted a 32.9% audience share on average in France, meaning almost a third of TV viewers were tuned into the race, which was won by Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez).
The data, released by host broadcaster France Télévisions on Monday, showed that the Tour had captured more of the TV audience, with the 2025 race averaging a 31.6% share. As many as 23.2 million French people watched at least a minute of the race.
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The daily average of viewers for the Tour de France Femmes was down slightly, with 2.6 million viewers a day rather than 2.7 million, but that can be partly attributed to a lack of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot in the yellow jersey. The French Visma-Lease a Bike rider did not start stage eight after a disappointing defence of her title.
All these records were despite only three of the nine stages being given full broadcasts – stages one, five and nine – with hours missing from the the starts of the remaining six stages.
Data for the rest of the world is yet to be released, but it is proof that the Tour has already become a big part of the French sporting calendar; the men’s Tour de France averaged 35.1% of audience share over its 21 stages, with every stage broadcast in full.
The peak viewership came on Friday 7 August’s stage seven, when Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney stormed to a historic victory atop Mont Ventoux. An average audience share of 41.5% tuned in, with the viewers topping at 5.1 million; this stage was not broadcast in full, and was on a Friday.
Sunday’s final stage saw a peak of 3.5 million people in France, with a 35.8% audience share watching Vollering complete her challenge in Nice.
Last week, race director Marion Rousse told Cycling Weekly that she and the race organiser, ASO, were giving “serious consideration” to broadcasting the race in full.
“What’s certain is that I’ve discussed this at length with France Télévisions [who produce the broadcast for the race, commissioned by ASO], and we’re giving serious consideration to broadcasting all the stages in full in the future because the women deserve it, and because it works well in terms of audience figures,” Rousse said.
“We’re currently giving it real consideration, which is a step forward. Things are moving in the right direction.”
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