"It's inhuman". Dominika Włodarczyk, Polish national champion and currently fifth in the general classification of the Tour de France Femmes 2026, expressed herself this way at the conclusion of yesterday's stage that brought the athletes to Belleville en Beaujolais.

At the center of attention for the 25-year-old from UAE Team L'IMAD is the intense heat accompanying the athletes' rides in the French race.

"I've never experienced anything like this. It feels like we're racing in an oven, and even on the descents you can't breathe fresh air," explained Dominika, who, to better convey the concept, added: "It's the same sensation you get when you open an oven that's turned on".

The weather conditions, in France as in much of Europe, are indeed extreme, so much so that yesterday evening ASO issued a statement indicating that a section of tomorrow's seventh stage ending at Mont Ventoux will be closed to the public. "The prefect has decided, considering the particular sensitivity of the mountain massif and the risk of forest fires, to prohibit public access to the Dentelles de Montmirail massif," the document reads.

As happened at the men's Tour de France, the heat is putting the protagonists of the world's most important stage race to the test, forcing them – as we've seen repeatedly – to seek relief with ice and cooling jackets. Given that the Météo-France website has activated the "heatwave" alert in several areas of France and forecasts 35° for tomorrow at Mont Ventoux, will athletes, organizers, and commissioners decide to apply the weather protocol provided for high temperatures? To be continued.