Prestigious women's under-23 race cancelled for 2026 – 'teams are currently not numerous or structured enough'

After just three editions, the women's edition of prestigious development race the Tour de l'Avenir has been cancelled.

The Tour de l'Avenir Femmes has been put on hold for 2026 due to a lack of under-23 teams for women and "structure" at that level, according to the organisers.

However, they plan to bring it back in 2027 as a junior race, instead. Still, the lack of a female version could be seen as a blow.

The men's Tour de l'Avenir has run since 1961, and has emerged into the leading development race in the world, a Tour de France in miniature.

The race is viewed as a useful barometer for future success, with a result at 'l'Avenir' often being enough to earn a rider a contract. Former winners of the week-long event include Tadej Pogačar, Egan Bernal, Davide Gaudu and Isaac Del Toro. Last year's event was won by French rider Paul Seixas, now a star.

The women's race followed in 2023, but each of the three editions so far were won by professional riders, with there not being as much of an established under-23 step for female cyclists. The race has been won by won by Shirin van Anrooij, Marion Bunel and Isabella Holmgren so far.

Beyond the winner, last year's race included riders who had already starred in the professional peloton, including Bunel, Paula Blasi, Imogen Wolff, Millie Couzens and Nienke Vinke.

This year, the men's race will be primarily raced by under-23 development teams, rather than national teams as before. With women's under-23 teams not really existing in the same guise, this seems to be behind the decision.

“Women's U23 teams are currently not numerous or structured enough to fully play their role in developing young talent, unlike what is seen with the men,” race organiser Philippe Colliou told French website DirectVelo.

“In 2025, this trend was confirmed,” he continued. “It’s possible to identify at least 17 female riders, or 18% of the women’s peloton, who participated in a WorldTour race, including nine in the Tour de France Femmes earlier in the season, before competing in the Tour de l’Avenir.

“Conversely, this trend remains marginal for male riders. It is for this major reason, and also due to the resources required, that the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes U23 was not renewed in 2026.”

However, Colliou hopes to bring back the women's race as a junior event in 2027. “That would be more relevant. That’s the purpose of the proposal we submitted to the UCI for the 2027 season,” he said.