The organisers of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift have listened to feedback from the riders, teams and stakeholders by adding two key changes to the second edition of the marquee event.
Race director Marion Rousse said it was a conscious decision to bring the women’s race into the high mountains of the Pyrénées with a summit finish at the Col du Tourmalet and then conclude with an individual time trial in Pau.
“It won’t have escaped you that we go to the high mountains, the Pyrénées, with the climb of Col d’Aspin and then the Col du Tourmalet. Really, with the idea of inscribing the Tour de France Femmes in history,” Rousse said on Thursday at the route reveal held at the Palais des Congrès in Paris.
“The final stage is another novelty with a time trial, which will be far from simple as well.”
The rebirth of the Tour de France Femmes this year was a resounding success with a start on the Champs-Élysées and conclusion in the Vosges mountains atop La Planche des Belles Filles where Annemiek van Vleuten won the overall title.
However, teams and riders offered feedback and expressed areas of improvement, hoping organisers would include some of the more iconic aspects of the men’s Tour de France in the Alps or the Pyrénées, and particularly noting a lack of a time trial.
Rousse believes that, together with ASO, they have created a route that now has something for everyone. The race moves away from the Paris start and will instead begin in Clermont-Ferrand before heading south into the Pyrénées.
“We really wanted to make a balanced route, that corresponds to different rider types. There’s something for all tastes,” Rousse said. “Starting from Clermont-Ferrand, we’re in the Massif Central, so we have difficulties from the first day. Those are stages with some pitfalls, with a fair bit of elevation.”
The opening six stages range from flat to hilly, with options for sprinters and puncheurs, with the longest route set at 177km on stage 4, where strong winds could also play a factor. Rousse believes that the fourth stage is deceiving and could play a major factor in the overall classification.
“The fourth stage, when we’ll arrive at Rodez, doesn’t seem so difficult on paper. But I went there and I can tell you it’s very hard, above all in the last 40km, where it’s always up or down, small roads, the positioning will be very important. Really, the fourth stage for me will be almost decisive for the GC,” Rousse said.
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