Riders from Australia and New Zealand have been ever present in the peloton at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, perhaps more so than ever last year when Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) and Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) came fifth and sixth overall. Now, it’s time to see what the riders from these southern hemisphere nations can deliver in 2026.
From the 11 who lined up for the last edition, a number will be returning, including Fisher-Black and Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco). There is also a new name on the start list, Australian champion Mackenzie Coupland (Liv AlUla Jayco). However, a solid portion of the previous starters are also missing. Gigante is out as she recovers from another surgery and Ally Wollaston isn’t in the FDJ United-Suez squad that is now completely focussed on yellow with Demi Vollering.
The tally of riders from the nations is, in fact, the lowest ever at the modern incarnation of the Tour de France for women, down to just seven, with five coming from Australia and two from New Zealand.
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Still, while the quantity may be down, that doesn’t mean the impression they leave on the race has to be reduced. This could still be the year a rider from this patch of the world clinches a first stage win in the latest incarnation of the event and, with Fisher-Black among the group, a strong overall result is also a real possibility.
Whether or not the results come for the riders from Australia or New Zealand – many of whom are in support roles – they are sure to play a crucial role in the Tour de France Femmes as it moves through the 1,175 kilometres from the start in Switzerland on August 1 to the finale in Nice on August 9.
Australians
Brodie Chapman (UAE Team L’IMAD)
Brodie Chapman had one tumultuous debut at the Tour de France Femmes last year, as did the entire UAE Team ADQ squad (branded UAE Team L’IMAD for this year’s edition). They lost not just leader Elisa Longo Borghini, but also a long list of other key team members, while Chapman herself also ultimately succumbed to illness and delivered a DNS on the final stage.
Despite that, Chapman was still part of a Tour de France team which pursued opportunity relentlessly and delivered some seriously impressive results given the hand they were dealt. That included two stage victories with Maëva Squiban and fourth overall for Dominika Wlodarczyk.
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Chapman may be hoping for a smoother beginning this year, but her journey toward the second start at the Tour de France Femmes certainly has been anything but straightforward. A Tour of Flanders crash left the rider with a pelvic fracture and the long recovery that injury entailed. Still, with a combination of patience and determination she worked her way back to form, resuming racing at the Tour de Suisse and earning herself a place on the roster for the Grand Tour, which will be starting in Switzerland.
Chapman will be riding amongst a team with some serious firepower. Longo Borghini and Wlodarczyk will be back, as will the winner of two stages in 2025, Squiban. Then there is also Mavi García, who picked up a stage while in Liv AlUla Jayco colours last year and Paula Blasi, who won the Vuelta Femenina in May. That means there will be plenty of work for Chapman to do as this is bound to be a team that is right in the action. The added bonus is that Cyclingnews readers will get the inside view of that rider, as the Australian is penning a column through the event.
Mackenzie Coupland (Liv AlUla Jayco)
The Australian Champion may be just 20 and in her first year in the Women’s WorldTour but Mackenzie Coupland will be lining up in Switzerland with a solid bank of results behind her. She not only won the elite national title in January but also claimed Vuelta a Extremadura Femenina in March, although she raced that with the development team, so the associated Women’s WorldToursquad missed out on scooping up their first, and only, UCI victory in Europe so far this year.
What’s more, the aftorementioned wins haven’t been Coupland’s only strong results, with the rider coming third in La Périgord Ladies in July and delivering a show of strong form leading toward her somewhat unexpected Grand Tour debut.
“To be part of the biggest race of the year is something I didn’t see myself doing this year,” said Coupland. “It also being my first Grand Tour gives me a mix of excitement and nervousness, and I can’t wait to race with such a supportive and motivated group of people.”
Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco)
It will be a fourth Tour de France Femmes for Ruby Roseman-Gannon, who delivered her best result at the race with an eighth on stage 4 in her debut year of 2022. The 27-year-old is capable in the hills but also delivers a fair turn of speed in a reduced sprint, a combination that could be useful in the terrain of this year, which is rarely truly flat.
The rider who won the Australian road title and a stage of the Tour of Britain in 2024, has shown some solid form in 2026, starting the year with a criterium title and runner-up slot in the road race at the Australian National Championships. Then she came close to adding another victory to her win tally at Navarra Women’s Elite Classic, coming second to Cat Ferguson (Movistar) at the Spanish event in May.
Roseman-Gannon is a rider who could well contribute to the team’s stage win chase goal by capitalising on a break through one of the lumpier stages of the event, where the pure sprinters may have to concede a chance at victory and give an opportunity to a reduced group.
Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek)
This will be Amanda Spratt‘s fourth Tour de France Femmes, and her last. The rider who has stood on the podium of the Giro d’Italia, World Championships and, in 2023, also slotted into the top 10 overall at the French Grand Tour is retiring at the end of the year so this season is her farewell lap. A key figure in the sport for Australia since 2012, Spratt is bound to be lending not just her legs but also her wealth of experience to the LIdl-Trek team’s young leadership duo of Fisher-Black and Isabella Holmgren.
Despite the top 10 finish three editions back, Spratt’s experience with the Tour de France has generally been a little rockier. Crashes ended her races in 2022 and 2024, while she fell ill right before the start last year and had to head home. That has meant missing out on a chance to race some memorable climbs like the Alpe d’Huez and last year’s Col de la Madeleine, but hopefully this year’s send off will deliver a dose of Mont Ventoux that will fit well among the highlight reel of a long and fruitful career.
Lucie Fityus (Picnic-PostNL)
Lucie Fityus certainly didn’t get the debut Tour de France Femmes she was looking for in 2025 while racing with St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93. She crashed out in the second stage and, after that, ended up outside the time limit. But in her second edition, which she will be racing with Women’s WorldTour team Picnic-PostNL, the 25-year-old will get her chance for a redo.
The squad Fityus is part of will be chasing stage victories, with Mia Griffin the rider the team plans to pilot to the line for the sprints. It’s likely that Fityus, who herself just grabbed a top ten spot in the sprint on stage 1 of the recent Tour de Pologne, will be a valuable part of the leadout.
The missing names for Australia
There are some riders that might have been expected to be potential starters, but for one reason or another will not be lining up for the Grand Départ in Lausanne. One standout name that fit this bill among the Australians is Sarah Gigante. She delighted with her efforts in the mountains in 2025 and inspired hopes that the nation may just have found their next Tour de France podium placer. It won’t, however, be this year for the 25-year-old as a crashed in training last season and broken femur has led to a long recovery path, with multiple surgeries. She is now, however, back on the bike again so hopefully next year we will be able to add her right to the top of the list.
Then there is also Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM) who is another key figure in the mountains, the last two editions slotting into a support role for Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, who won in 2024 and was once again on the podium in 2025. Niewiadoma-Phinney will have to do without Bradbury in 2026, though, with the rider having undergone iliac endofibrosis surgery in May.
New Zealand
Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek)
Niamh Fisher-Black is the rider to watch when the mountains hit. Not that there was any doubt of this before last year’s Tour de France Femmes, but her performance on the Col de la Madeleine, where she took to the podium, was another firm reminder of just what this 25-year-old rider from New Zealand is capable of.
After spending four seasons at SD Worx-Protime, Fisher-Black switched to Lidl-Trek last season with the aim of morphing into a leader and after sixth overall at the 2025 Vuelta Femenina, fourth at the Tour de Suisse and then fifth overall at the Tour de France you’d have to say it was a successful foray into that realm in her opening season with the squad.
This year Fisher-Black is lining up at the Tour de France with more leadership experience and in the wake of a strong performance at an unpredictable edition of the Giro d’Italia. She played an ambitious and aggressive hand on the final stage of the Italian Grand Tour, giving her second on the day and helping move her up three spots on the overall. That means she is heading into this year’s Tour with a solid foundation and with her efforts in Italy as fresh evidence that she has morphed into a rider that has the confidence to take a chance in pursuit of victory.
This year she will be riding among a squad that also includes Isabella Holmgren, with the young Canadian’s debut providing the opportunity for the team to deliver a two-pronged approach in the mountains.
Henrietta Christie (EF Education-Oatly)
It is a fourth Tour de France Femmes for Henrietta Christie in 2026, and she will be lining up with a powerful EF Education-Oatly squad that has plenty of options to chase victories, from two-time Tour Down Under winner Noemi Rüegg to Olympic gold medallist Kristen Faulkner and world champion Magdeleine Vallieres.
The 24-year-old from Wellington, who claimed the Tour Down Under white jersey in 2023, is likely to settle into a valuable support role at the race among a team that could well find themselves with a reason to celebrate at some point across the nine stages of racing.
The missing riders from New Zealand
Among the notable omissions from New Zealand is Ally Wollaston, with the fast-finishing rider having delivered a podium result for FDJ-Suez on stage 3 in 2025. Still, while her team would likely have had a better chance on sprint days if Wollaston was there, the team of Demi Vollering made clear when announcing the squad: “We have only one goal: yellow”.
Ella Wyllie is another who delivered an impact in 2025, coming 12th overall, who won’t be on the start line in 2026. Her Liv AlUla Jayco team announced a roster that is stage-win focussed with Monica Trinca Colonel leading the charge in the mountains.
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