ASO, the organisers of the Tour de France Femmes, has announced the 24 teams (opens in new tab) set to start the inaugural women's cycle stage race around France on July 24-31.
All 14 UCI Women's WorldTour teams will participate in the race, with 10 Women's UCI Continental teams also featuring at the event. Three places were automatically handed to the top three Continental teams from 2021, which included Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling, Valcar-Travel & Service and Parkhotel Valkenburg.
The remaining seven places were then based on wildcard invitations, with ASO providing spots to AG Insurance NXTG Team, Arkéa Pro Cycling Team, Cofidis Women Team, Le Col-Wahoo, Plantur-Pura, St Michel-Auber93 WE, and Stade Rochelais Charente-Maritime.
⭐ Team Selection ⭐🌍 𝟏𝟒 teams @UCI_WWT ✅ The 𝟑 top Women's UCI Continental teams in 2021✅ 𝟕 invitationsHere are the 𝟐𝟒 teams that'll take to the start of the 1st #TDFF avec @GoZwift on the 24th July! 🤩 We can't wait! pic.twitter.com/1QeJUGnWc5March 30, 2022
In total, five French teams will compete at the first edition of the Tour de France Femmes, but Netherlands-based teams feature the most heavily, with six teams from the country participating in July.
The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift starts on July 24 in Paris, on the same day the men's Tour de France race finishes. Covering eight stages in northern France, the women's race will finish on Sunday July 31 at La Planche des Belles Filles.
The first stage of the female Tour de France will be bookended by a start and finish at France’s two most iconic sites: the Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Élysées. From the capital the women's peloton will then wind its way down to the Vosges with a stop off in Épernay and a few gravel roads around Troyes.
All in all, the riders will face two mountain stages, both coming in the final two races, and three flat and hilly stages apiece.
ASO announced the launch of the Tour de France Femmes in June 2021 to replace the one or two-day race La Course by Le Tour de France, held from 2014 to 2021. Zwift is a title sponsor of the first edition of the Tour de France Femmes, while every minute of every stage will be broadcast on Discovery Sports.
Thank you for reading 10 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
-
Denmark dreaming: Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and the country's cycling resurgenceThe FDJ rider and her male counterparts, from Jonas Vingegaard to Mads Pedersen, are at the top of the sport
-
Annemiek van Vleuten heads to Kenya with the Masai tribe
Dutch World Champion takes her gravel bike to Kenya for an off season adventure with the Masai tribe
-
Sponsoring the Tour de France Femmes: what’s in it for Zwift?
With a 4-year investment, the virtual platform goes all in on women’s cycling, while also trying to reduce its own gender gap
-
Tour de France Femmes 2023 set to feature Tourmalet summit finish
The climb would be the race's toughest mountain test
-
Quarter of women's peloton still unpaid in 2022
Rider survey highlights growing disparity between women's WorldTour and Continental ranks
-
Tour de France Femmes a smash hit with French TV audience with nearly 20m viewers
Figures show that millions of people tuned into the action across the eight stages
-
Annemiek van Vleuten's Tour de France Femmes winning ride smashes Strava records
Movistar's Dutchwoman gets most kudos ever for a women's ride
-
Tweets of the week: A Tour de France Femmes special
Guess who's back, back again, tweets of the week - tell a friend...
