La Course, by Le Tour de France, will take place on Saturday, June 26 with a 107.7km course from Brest to Landerneau over similar roads to the opening stage of the men's race.
The eighth La Course was originally going to be taking place on the route of stage two of the Tour which took in two passages of the Mûr de Bretagne but local elections have meant that the race had to be moved to the opening stage of the Tour de France.
The race used to take place on the Champs Élysées on the final stage of the Tour de France but the race has since ventured around the country taking in varying terrain with last year's race seeing Britain's Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) taking the win ahead of then-defending champion Marianne Vos (then CCC-Liv) and now Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner Demi Vollering (then Parkhotel Valkenburg).
The finishing circuit is designed to try and bring the same outcome as the originally planned route around the Mûr de Bretagne with a tough 14km circuit taken on three times with the short climb of the Côte de la Fosse aux Loups at 3km with an average gradient of 5.7 per cent.
The steepest gradient comes right at the end of the climb with a kick of 14 per cent that will likely be the launchpad for any attacks.
La Course, which is a UCI Women's WorldTour event, was originally added to the calendar by ASO, the Tour de France organisers, in 2014 to answer the growing demand for a women's Tour.
The first three editions consisted of this kermesse-style race in Paris. In 2017, the event progressed to comprise of two days - the second being a 'pursuit' style handicap time trial.
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Handicapping the world-class women's peloton in the style of a local league Thursday night race didn't go down so well, so in 2018 it was back down to just one day - held 48-hours after the final stage of the Giro Rosa.
The one day format remains for 2021 but it is unclear whether the race will continue as well as the Tour. The Tour de France Femmes has officially been announced the be taking place just after the men's race in 2022 over eight stages.
The women's Tour de France was also announced to be partnered with Zwift as the main sponsor as the race looks to build towards a big future in women's racing.
Joining the newly reinstated WorldTour race of RideLondon, which is now a stage race for the women as well as the Battle of the North taking place in Denmark, Sweden and Norway, it should be an exciting season in 2022.
La Course 2021 route, Brest to Landerneau (107.7km)
(Image credit: ASO)
La Course 2021 is going to be a war of attrition on the sharp climbs that pepper this shark-tooth profile. At least 25 noticeable climbs on the profile with 14 climbs likely to cause issues in the bunch.
As well the route being vicious is also has a hilltop finish to really sap the legs right at the end of the day. Albeit, a very short day. But the fact that the race is short means that there should be explosive racing, even without riders like Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) who will skip La Course and the Giro Rosa to focus on the Olympic Games.
La Course 2021 TV guide
The race will be covered on Eurosport, GCN+ and ITV4 in the UK with Eurosport Player and GCN+ offering uninterrupted coverage from stage to finish.
La Course 2021: Past winners
2014: Marianne Vos (Ned) Rabobank-Liv Women Cycling Team
2015: Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Rabobank-Liv Women Cycling Team
2016: Chloe Hosking (Aus) Wiggle-High5
2017: Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Orica-Scott
2018: Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton-Scott
2019: Marianne Vos (Ned) CCC-Liv
2020: Lizzie Deignan (GBr) Trek-Segafredo
La Course 2021 start list
Team BikeExchange
SPRATT Amanda
ROY Sarah
WILLIAMS Georgia
BROWN Grace
SANTESTEBAN Ane
Movistar Team
BIANNIC Aude
PATIÑO Paula Andrea
AALERUD Katrine
THOMAS Leah
GUTIÉRREZ Sheyla
MARTIN Sara
Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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