TOUR DE FRANCE FEMMES
Women compete in a stage race around France called the Tour de France Femmes. The Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), which also manages the Tour de France, is in charge of organizing it. The UCI Women’s World Tour includes it.
ASO stated in June 2021 that they would introduce the Tour de France Femmes, a new women’s stage competition. Following the 2022 Tour de France in July 2022, the first edition would last 8 days. The European Broadcasting Union and France Televisions will jointly broadcast the race’s live television coverage, according to ASO, who also revealed that Zwift would sponsor it. The Grande Boucle Feminine International was a failure, and the men’s tour director, Christian Prudhomme, said that lessons must be learnt from that. The ASO’s objective is to establish an event that is financially sustainable and “will still exist in 100 years.”
The response from the professional women’s peloton was largely favorable. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Anna van der Breggen both said that it has been “a day that we’ve waited for, for a long time” to compete in a women’s Tour de France.
The race will follow the same classifications as the Tour de France, with the general classification represented by the yellow jersey, the points classification by the green jersey, the mountain classification by the polka-dot jersey, and the young rider classification by the white jersey. Santini will create the jerseys. Major Tour de France sponsors including LCL, E.Leclerc, and koda are also supporting the event. According to the race’s main sponsor Zwift, the success of the women’s “virtual Tour de France” during the COVID-19 epidemic inspired them to commit to sponsorship. The competition will have a €250,000 prize pool, making it the largest event in women’s cycling.
Race director Marion Rousse revealed the 2022 edition’s itinerary in October 2021. On the morning of the men’s race’s last day, a stage of the race will conclude on the Champs-Élysées, where it will begin in Paris. The eight-day race continues and concludes at La Planche des Belles Filles with a summit finish.
HISTORIC FRENCH RACES
The first of these events was held as a one-time event in 1955 and has since been followed by other professional women’s cycle stage races across France that serve as the equivalent of the Tour de France for women. Since 1984, there has been a women’s Tour de France, though it has gone by a variety of names, including Tour de France Feminin, Tour of the EEC Women, Tour Cyclist Feminin, and Grande Boucle Feminine International.
These competitions faced with financial concerns, scant media attention, and trademark disputes with the organizers, Amaury Sport Organization, over the years (the organizers of the Tour de France). The final of these competitions was held in 2009, and Emma Pooley made fun of it by saying it was “more of a Petite Boucle than Grande.”
2022 Tour de France Femmes
One of the two major tours for women’s cycling, the Tour de France Femmes, or formally Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, will debut in 2022. The event will be the 16th on the 2022 UCI Women’s World Tour and is planned for 24–31 July 2022.
The event comes after years of agitation by the women’s professional peloton for a race that would be comparable to the Tour de France for men, after previous attempts had failed owing to financial constraints, a lack of media attention, and trademark issues. Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), which also manages the Tour de France, is in charge of organizing the race.