The Women's Tour is a six-stage race taking place in Great Britain, and the 2022 edition gets underway in Colchester on Monday 6 June, before finishing in Oxford on Saturday 11 June.
The race kicks off in Colchester, with a relatively flat stage, finishing in Bury St Edmunds - where Marianne Vos won back in 2014.
Stage two, starting and finishing in Harlow, is the shortest of the race at 92 kilometres, and it's once again likely to yield a sprint finish.
The climbs begin to rear their head from day three, where riders set off in Tewkesbury and complete a loop to Gloucester - the start and finish lines are just 10 miles apart, but there will be two Queen of the Mountains opportunities at Worrall Hill and Speech House.
Stage four introduces new locations to the race, with North Wales' Wrexham hosting the depart, and the finish in Welshpool. Climbs include Hirnant Bank and the cat 1 classified Bryn-y-Fedwen.
However, it's stage five which functions as the Queen stage, with the 106.6km route from Pembrey Country concluding with a summit finish at Black Mountain - which measures 7.2km in length, and averages 5.3%, notably, featuring 21% ramps along the way.
It's highly likely that we'll see the GC competition cemented atop of Black Mountain, but there is still one stage left - with what's likely to be a sprinter's race from Chipping Norton to Oxford.
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Women's Tour 2022 route
Stage one (Monday, June 6): Colchester to Bury St Edmunds, 142.1km
(Image credit: Women'sTour)
Stage two (Tuesday, June 7): Harlow to Harlow, 92.1km
(Image credit: Womens Tour)
Stage three (Wednesday, June 8): Tewkesbury to Gloucester, 107.9km
(Image credit: Women's Tour)
Stage four (Thursday, June 9): Wrexham to Welshpool, 144.7km
(Image credit: Women's Tour)
Stage five (Friday, June 10): Pembrey Country Park to Black Mountain, 106.6km
(Image credit: Women's Tour)
Stage six (Saturdaay, June 11): Chipping Norton to Oxford, 142.9km
(Image credit: Women's Tour)
Where can I watch the Women's Tour 2022?
For the first time in the race's history, the Women's Tour will be broadcast live on Eurosport Player and GCN+, with a highlights show each evening on ITV4 in the UK.
Who is riding the Women's Tour 2022?
Thirteen of the 14 UCI Women's WorldTour teams will compete in this year's race, for what is set to be the joint largest field ever, with 102 cyclists riding for 17 teams.
Among the competitors are former champions Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM) and Coryn Labecki (Jumbo-Visma), who won in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Niewiadoma is among the favourites to take the overall win, with stage five specifically tailored to climbing abilities, as the stage finishes atop the Black Mountain in Carmarthenshire.
Meanwhile, Labecki is an accomplished rider who has triumphed at both the Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Tour of Flanders. Women's Tour stage winners Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM), Christine Marjerus (SD Worx) and Chloe Hosking (Trek-Segafredo) are all set to join the duo on the start line as well, as they look to add to their palmarès this time out.
Wiebes is fresh off of winning all three stages and the general classification at the RideLondon Classique, too, meaning she is in top form to compete at the WorldTour event. Newly-crowned UCI World Hour Record holder Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) will also be racing across the six stages, as she looks to showcase her incredible power on the bike once again, just weeks after her last successful effort.
However, last year's winner Demi Vollering isn't scheduled to start the race on June 6.
The Women's Tour begins with a stage concluding in Bury St Edmunds, after starting in Colchester. Stage two will start and finish in Harlow, with the third day a race around Gloucestershire. Two subsequent legs will visit Wales, with Oxford and the Cotswolds hosting the finale.
Women's Tour 2022 start list
SD Worx
VAN DEN BROEK-BLAAK Chantal
CECCHINI Elena
FOURNIER Roxane
MAJERUS Christine
MOOLMAN Ashleigh
REUSSER Marlen
Team DSM GEORGI Pfeiffer
WIEBES Lorena
JASTRAB Megan
KIRCHMANN Leah
KOCH Franziska
KOOL Charlotte
FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope
COPPONI Clara
BROWN Grace
DUVAL Eugénie
GROSSETÊTE Maëlle
LE NET Marie
FAHLIN Emilia
Movistar
GUTIÉRREZ Sheyla
MARTIN MARTIN Sara
GONZÁLEZ Alicia
GUARISCHI Barbara
OYARBIDE Lourdes
RODRÍGUEZ Gloria
Canyon//SRAM
NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna
BARNES Alice
BOSSUYT Shari
CHABBEY Elise
CROMWELL Tiffany
HARVEY Mikayla
Le Col-Wahoo
VAN 'T GELOOF Marjolein
HOLDEN Elizabeth
TACEY April
VAN DER DUIN Maike
VANDENBULCKE Jesse
VERHULST Gladys
BikeExchange-Jayco
MANLY Alexandra
CAMPBELL Teniel
FAULKNER Kristen
FIDANZA Arianna
KESSLER Nina
WILLIAMS Georgia
EF Education-TIBCO-SVB
SMITH Abi
BORGHESI Letizia
DOEBEL-HICKOK Krista
EWERS Veronica
ERATH Tanja
SHAPIRA Omer
Coop-Hitec Products
ROBERTS Jessica
IVERSEN Ane
GÅSKJENN Ingvild
MOHR Mari Hole
JØRGENSEN Tiril
UAE Team ADQ
BERTIZZOLO Sofia
BOOGAARD Maaike
PATUELLI Alessia
TOMASI Laura
TREVISI Anna
WRIGHT Sophie
CAMS-Basso
LEWIS Sophie
MORROW Beth
SCOTT Katie
SHROSBREE Danielle
STORRIE Becky
STUART Sammie
Trek-Segafredo
LONGO BORGHINI Elisa
CORDON-RAGOT Audrey
BÄCKSTEDT Elynor
HANSON Lauretta
HOSKING Chloe
VAN DIJK Ellen
Liv Racing Xstra
JACKSON Alison
DE JONG Thalita
BUURMAN Eva
TON Quinty
NEUMANOVA Tereza
Human Powered Health
KRÖGER Mieke
BUIJSMAN Nina
CHRISTIE Henrietta
KUIJPERS Evy
RAAIJMAKERS Marit
WILLIAMS Lily
Ryan is a staff writer for Cycling Weekly, having joined the team in September 2021. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before making his way to cycling. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer.
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