When the men’s Tour de France concludes on Sunday, July 24 in Paris, they will hand-off the marquee event to the women’s peloton to begin a 1,029km race held across eight days that marks the return of the women’s Tour de France, this year called the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
The route will start at the Eiffel Tower and travel to the north-east of France challenging the peloton to four flat stages, two puncheur stages that include a day of racing packed with gravel sectors, and back-to-back mountain stages, before ending atop La Super Planche des Belles Filles.
This year’s race notably does not include a time trial and the route will favour the most versatile riders pursuing the yellow jersey before the conclusion in the Vosges on July 31.
The opening sprints
The Grand Départ of the Tour de France Femmes will be one for the sprinters. The opening two stages will likely be decided in bunch sprints, where the fastest women in the world will battle for the stage wins and the first yellow jersey.
Stage 1: Paris Eiffel Tower to Paris Champs-Élysées, 82km
Race organisers ASO have replaced La Course with the Tour de France Femmes, but the first stage gives a nod to the former event that many now see as a stepping-stone to the return of the marquee stage race. La Course began as a one-day circuit-style race held on the Champs-Élysées and it seems fitting to host stage 1 at the same location before embarking on an eight-day Tour.
The women will line up at the Eiffel Tower and then follow the route along the north side of the Seine before racing onto the official circuit. They will complete 12 laps, where there are two intermediate sprints along the Champs-Élysées and one QOM at Charles de Gaulle-Etoile, up by the Arc de Triomphe.
The main circuit route passes around the Jardin Des Tuileries at the Place de la Concorde and then up the Champs-Élysées, around the Arc du Triomphe and back down the Champs-Élysées for what is expected to be a bunch sprint.
Stage 2: Meaux to Provins, 136.4km
Departing from Meaux, the…
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