Today, my normal race column will be replaced by an account of a future race, rather than a past one. Amstel Gold Race was the race intended; however, due to my crash and problems in Roubaix (my story on that is available to read here on Cyclingnews), I had to take some days off the bike, focusing on a lot of physio for a small knee problem. Therefore, there was no Amstel for me. This opened up the opportunity to attend the 2027 Tour de France Femmes presentation event in London last Monday.
The capital city is where the third stage of the 2027 edition will be held, a team time trial passing all of London’s iconic landmarks. As well as the announcement of stage 3’s TTT sightseeing tour, the full routes for the first two stages through Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield, including the elevation, distance, all the climbs, corners, and challenging Yorkshire roads, were revealed to the public.
A Grand Départ in Leeds means a 40-minute drive to the start of the 2027 Tour de France from my childhood home. Pretty easy work for my travel plan for the logistics team at Movistar, and hopefully an additional reason to help me with selection. The full stage 3 route is still to come; it will be released in October, along with the rest of the route – but I did get a sneak peek at stage 3’s course, and it’s going to be incredibly exciting.
The women alongside me were Sally Munday (CEO, UK Sport), Zoe Stratford (2025 Rugby World Cup-winning captain of the Red Roses), Tracy Power (Managing Director, British Cycling), Kate Veronneau (Director of Women’s Strategy, Zwift), Alice Barnes (former professional cyclist, now commentator), Flora Perkins (professional cyclist for Fenix-Premier Tech), and Marion Rousse (Race Director, Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift).
Stratford’s role in particular stood out to me. Listening to her speak about winning the 2025 rugby World Cup in front of a home crowd in London…
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