French riders ready to make history at Tour de France Femmes

When the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift gets underway this Sunday, it will be a special moment for the whole peloton, but few will feel the importance more than the French riders in its midst. Riders who have grown up spending every July watching the men’s Tour de France, hearing of the women’s versions decades ago, wondering if and when they might have the chance to ride the most well-known cycling race in the world. This year, those riders will finally have their Tour, and the French members of the peloton are ready to make their mark on the race. 

Women’s cycling in France has had a long and varied history, which has included women’s Tours de France in the 1950s and 1980s, and produced stars of the sport from Jeannie Longo to Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. The French contingent of the peloton may not have always been as dominant as their Dutch or Italian opponents – for example, only one French rider, Catherine Marsal, has ever won the Giro d’Italia Donne – but things seem to be changing.