The Tour de France Femmes () is an annual women's
cycle stage race
A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages, but sometimes stages ...
around
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. It is organised by
Amaury Sport Organization
The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) is part of the French media group Éditions Philippe Amaury. It organises the Tour de France and other cycling races, as well as golf, running, sailing and off-road motorsport events. The president of ASO is Je ...
(ASO), which also runs the
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
. It is part of the
UCI Women's World Tour
The UCI Women's World Tour is the premier annual female elite road cycling tour.
History
In order to increase the coverage of Women's cycling the UCI held a summit in December 2014 between the UCI Women’s Working Group and the UCI Women's ...
.
Some teams and media have referred to the race as a
'Grand Tour', as it is one of the biggest events on the women's calendar.
However, the race does not meet the UCI definition of such an event.
After a one off event in 1955, an
equivalent race to the Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
for women was held under different names between 1984 and 2009. Over the years, these races struggled with financial difficulties, limited media coverage and trademark issues with the organisers of the Tour de France. Following criticism by
campaigners and the professional women's peloton, a one/two day race (
La Course by Le Tour de France
La Course by Le Tour de France was an elite women's professional road bicycle race held in France. First held in 2014 as a one-day race on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, it has been part of the UCI Women's WorldTour since 2016 as a one or two ...
) was held between 2014 and 2021, with Tour de France Femmes staging its first edition in
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
.
The 2022 edition of the race featured 8 stages, taking place in July in the week after the men's tour. 24 teams took part, with six riders in each team.
All stages are timed to the finish; the riders' times are compounded with their previous stage times.
The rider with the lowest cumulative finishing times is the leader of the race and wears the yellow jersey (''maillot jaune)''.
While the
general classification
The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulati ...
garners the most attention, there are other contests held within the Tour: the
points classification
The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called ''intermediate sprints''. The points cl ...
for the sprinters, the
mountains classification
The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a femal ...
for the climbers,
young rider classification Young rider classification (french: classement général des jeunes) is a cycling jersey competition in multi-day stage race events, such as the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and many others, which awards the current leader by overall time for ride ...
for riders under the age of 23, and the
team classification The team classification is one of the different rankings for which competitors can compete in a multiple stage cycling race. It differs from the other usual rankings (general classification, points, king of the mountain and best young rider competi ...
, based on the first three finishers from each team on each stage.
Achieving a stage win also provides prestige, often accomplished by a team's
sprint specialist or a rider taking part in a breakaway.
Historic French races
Various professional women's
cycle stage races across France have been held as an equivalent to the
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
for women, with the first of these races staged as a one off in 1955.
From 1984, a women's Tour de France was staged consistently, although the name of the event changed several times - such as Tour de France Féminin, Tour of the EEC Women, Tour Cycliste Féminin and Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale.
Over the years, these races struggled with financial difficulties, limited media coverage and trademark issues with the organisers
Amaury Sport Organisation
The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) is part of the French media group Éditions Philippe Amaury. It organises the Tour de France and other cycling races, as well as golf, running, sailing and off-road motorsport events. The president of ASO is Je ...
(the organisers of the Tour de France).
The last of these races took place in 2009, with
Emma Pooley
Emma may refer to:
* Emma (given name)
Film
* ''Emma'' (1932 film), a comedy-drama film by Clarence Brown
* ''Emma'' (1996 theatrical film), a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow
* ''Emma'' (1996 TV film), a British television film starring Kate Be ...
joking that the race was "more of a Petite Boucle than Grande."
La Course by Le Tour de France
In 2013, professional cyclists
Kathryn Bertine
Kathryn Bertine (born 11 May 1975) is a Saint Kitts and Nevis racing cyclist, author, activist, film-maker and former professional figure skater and professional triathlete. She turned professional in road cycling in 2012 and raced on World Tour ...
,
Marianne Vos
Marianne Vos (; born 13 May 1987) is a Dutch multi-discipline cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam .
After winning a junior European and World Championship in road racing, she continued her success in senior cycling by becomin ...
and
Emma Pooley
Emma may refer to:
* Emma (given name)
Film
* ''Emma'' (1932 film), a comedy-drama film by Clarence Brown
* ''Emma'' (1996 theatrical film), a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow
* ''Emma'' (1996 TV film), a British television film starring Kate Be ...
and professional triathlete
Chrissie Wellington formed an activist group called
Le Tour Entier
Le Tour Entier is an activist group to improve women's cycle racing, and call for a women's Tour de France. The group was founded by multiple world champion Marianne Vos, Olympic silver medallist Emma Pooley, professional cyclist Kathryn Bertine a ...
(“the whole tour”), to petition ASO to launch a women's Tour de France.
Following substantial media coverage, and a petition signed by over 100,000 people, ASO launched La Course by Tour de France in 2014.
This race would be held in conjunction with the Tour de France, with the first edition taking place as a
one-day race
The classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional road cycling races in the international calendar. Some of these events date back to the 19th century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most ...
on the
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is lo ...
in advance of the final stage of the men's race. In subsequent years, the race took place in a variety of locations such as
Pau,
Col de la Colombière
Col de la Colombière (elevation 1613 m) is a mountain pass in the Alps in the department of Haute-Savoie in France.
It connects Cluses in the Arve valley with Le Grand-Bornand in the Bourne valley. The road then leads further to Annecy ...
and
Col d'Izoard
Col d'Izoard () is a mountain pass in the Alps in the department of Hautes-Alpes in France.
It is accessible in summer via the D902 road, connecting Briançon on the north and the valley of the Guil in Queyras, which ends at Guillestre in the sou ...
in conjunction with the men's race, as the ASO argued that this was the "best way to shine a light on female cycling".
The race was initially praised for the exposure gained by 'sharing the stage' with the Tour de France, however La Course was criticised for not being a "full Tour de France", being overshadowed by the men's race and not having a challenging enough
parcours
Parkour () is an athletic training discipline or sport in which practitioners (called ''traceurs'') attempt to get from point A to point B in the fastest and most efficient way possible, without assisting equipment and often while performing a ...
.
ASO were also criticised for not doing enough to promote the race.
ASO stated that logistical issues mean that a men's and women's Tour de France would not be able to be staged simultaneously,
and that any race must be financially sustainable.
Tour de France Femmes
![2022-07-31_-_TDF_Femmes_-_Lure_-_302_(cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/2022-07-31_-_TDF_Femmes_-_Lure_-_302_%28cropped%29.jpg)
In June 2021, ASO announced that they would launch a new women's stage race, Tour de France Femmes. The first edition would take place over 8 days, following the
2022 Tour de France
The 2022 Tour de France was the 109th edition of the Tour de France. It started in Copenhagen, Denmark on 1 July 2022 and ended with the final stage on the Champs-Élysées, Paris on 24 July 2022. Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard () won the general clas ...
in July 2022. ASO also announced that
Zwift
Zwift is a massively multiplayer online cycling and running physical training program that enables users to interact, train, and compete in a virtual world.
Zwift was developed by Zwift Inc., which was co-founded by Jon Mayfield, Eric Min, Scot ...
would sponsor the race, with live television coverage provided by
France Télévisions
France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (former ...
in conjunction with the
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
. The men's tour director,
Christian Prudhomme
Christian Prudhomme (born 11 November 1960) is a French journalist and general director of the Tour de France since 2007.
Pre-Tour career
Born in Paris, Prudhomme studied at the ESJ school of journalism in Lille from 1983 to 1985. He joined RT ...
stated that lessons must be learned from the failure of previous events like the Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale,
and the goal of ASO is to have a financially sustainable event, one "that will still exist in 100 years".
The reaction to the launch of the event from the professional women's peloton was overwhelmingly positive,
with
Anna van der Breggen
Anna van der Breggen (born 18 April 1990) is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2021 for Team Flexpoint, , and . She won the gold medal in the women's road race at the 2016 Summer Olympics ...
stating that it has "long been a dream for many of us to compete in a women's Tour de France" and
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (born 23 August 1995) is a Danish professional road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam .
Career
As a junior, she competed at the 2012 UCI Road World Championships and the 2013 UCI Road World Champion ...
stating that "this is a day that we’ve waited for, for a long time".
The race has identical classifications to the Tour de France, with the yellow jersey for the general classification, the green jersey for the points classification, the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification, and the white jersey for the young rider (under 23) classification.
The jerseys are made by
Santini. Main sponsor Zwift have stated that the success of the women's 'virtual Tour de France' during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
encouraged them to commit to sponsoring the race, with other major Tour de France sponsors like
LCL,
E.Leclerc
E.Leclerc (informally simply Leclerc, ) is a French cooperative society and hypermarket chain, headquartered in Ivry-sur-Seine.
E.Leclerc was established on 1 January 1948 by Édouard Leclerc in Brittany. E.Leclerc currently has more than 720 ...
and
Škoda
Škoda means ''pity'' in the Czech and Slovak languages. It may also refer to:
Czech brands and enterprises
* Škoda Auto, automobile and previously bicycle manufacturer in Mladá Boleslav
** Škoda Motorsport, the division of Škoda Auto respons ...
also supporting the event. The race has a prize fund of €250,000, making it the richest race in women's cycling.
2022 edition
In October 2021, the route of the
2022 edition was announced by race director
Marion Rousse. The race started in Paris, with a stage finishing the
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is lo ...
on the morning of the final day of the men's race. The 8 day race culminated in a summit finish at
La Planche des Belles Filles
La Planche des Belles Filles () is a ski station in the Vosges Mountains, in France. It is located in the Haute-Saône département. Since 2012, the climb to the summit has been used several times during the Tour de France cycle race.
Etymolog ...
.
The first edition of the race took place in July 2022, with
Annemiek van Vleuten
Annemiek van Vleuten (born 8 October 1982) is a Dutch professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam .
Van Vleuten is a two-time winner of both the road race (2019 and 2022) and the time trial (2017 and 2018) at the UC ...
winning the week long race by nearly 4 minutes, despite suffering from a stomach bug in the early stages of the race.
Marianne Vos
Marianne Vos (; born 13 May 1987) is a Dutch multi-discipline cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam .
After winning a junior European and World Championship in road racing, she continued her success in senior cycling by becomin ...
took the green jersey of the points classification and
Demi Vollering
Demi Vollering (born 15 November 1996) is a Dutch professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . In 2019 she won the Volta Limburg Classic and the Giro dell'Emilia. In 2021 she won Liège–Bastogne–Liège, her fi ...
took the polka dot jersey of the mountain classification, as well as finishing second overall.
The race was highly praised by the public, media, teams and riders - with large crowds and high TV viewership.
As the first official women's Tour de France since 1989, the race enjoyed substantial media coverage around the world.
Race director
Marion Rousse did note that there was room for improvement in future editions, and in women's cycling more generally.
2023 edition
The route of the
2023 edition was announced in October 2022 to praise from riders. The race will start in
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...
on the day that the
2023 Tour de France
The 2023 Tour de France will be the 110th edition of the Tour de France. It will start in Bilbao, Spain on 1 July and end with the final stage at Champs-Élysées, Paris on 23 July.
Teams
22 teams are scheduled to take part in the race. All 1 ...
finishes, before heading south across the
Massif Central
The (; oc, Massís Central, ; literally ''"Central Massif"'') is a highland region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaus. It covers about 15% of mainland France.
Subject to volcanism that has subsided in the last 10,00 ...
towards the
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
. The final stage will be a
individual time trial
An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also track-b ...
in
Pau.
Winners
See also
*
Giro d'Italia Femminile
The is an annual elite women's road bicycle racing stage race. It was rebranded from 2013-2020 as the Giro Rosa, having been branded the Giro Donne until 2012 and again in 2021. It has been considered the most prestigious stage race in women's roa ...
- a stage race in Italy
*
La Vuelta Femenina - a stage race in Spain in 2023
References
External links
*
{{Tour de France
Cycle races in France
Women's road bicycle races
Tour de France
Recurring sporting events established in 2022
2022 establishments in France
UCI Women's World Tour races