TOUR DE FRANCE FEMMES
In what is bound to be a fervent exchange of the baton in Paris on Sunday, the inaugural Tour Femmes picks up just as the men are about to leave off, with a short, sharp 12-lap blast around the famous Champs-Élysées circuit.
And so begins the long-anticipated eight-stage race, which heads in a southeastern direction across l’Hexagone, culminating in what could be a firecracker showdown at La Super Planches des Belles Filles the following Sunday, 31 July.
Supporters of women’s cycling have long lobbied for a proper Tour de France for female riders, and this feels like a great start and a major step forward from the one and two-day La Course of recent years, which felt like a token in comparison.
After their Paris criterium comes a flat sprint stage to Meaux on stage two, followed by a somewhat more lumpy day out to Épernay for Tuesday’s third stage. This delivers them deep into Champagne territory but, winners aside, the bubbly will have to remain on ice: the riders will need their wits about them for stage four’s foray across the region’s chalk roads and climbs, à la Strade Bianche. Next it’s into the Vosges region with the race’s longest stage –
