With the 2023 Tour de France Femmes now underway in the Massif Central, we look back at the long and circuitous history of the women’s Tour de France – and why last year’s race was a “massive moment” for the sport cycling TDFF2023
On Sunday morning, the peloton will roll out of Clermont-Ferrand for start of the second edition of the relaunched Tour de France Femmes. After the roaring success of the 2022 Tour Femmes, in terms of both the racing and the fervent roadside and television audience , expectations are high for an event that is already, just twelve months into its renaissance, an integral part of the women’s cycling calendar.
> History maker: Peerless Annemiek van Vleuten wins first edition of relaunched Tour de France Femmes It was won by Irish-born Isle of Man rider Millie Robinson, the winner of the Lyonnais-Auvergne race two months previously, who secured her historic success via a late attack into Elbeuf on stage four and a dominant time trial performance – unsurprisingly, for someone from this part of the world – the following day.
Running concurrently with the men’s race meant that the pioneering women’s peloton were greeted by the same huge crowds, on the same iconic roads, while images of three-time winner Jeannie Longo – who enjoyed a brilliant rivalry with Italian double winner Maria Canins – on the final podium in Paris alongside Stephen Roche and LeMond, are embedded in the psyche of cycling fans of a certain vintage.
The trademark issue became a persistent thorn in the side for the event’s eventual successor, Pierre Boué’s Tour Cycliste Féminin . In the late 2000s, a campaign was launched by pro cyclist, film maker, and writer Kathryn Bertine, who was later joined by Pooley, the sport’s new superstar Marianne Vos, and triathlete Chrissie Wellington, to convince Tour organisers ASO to put their weight behind a real women’s Tour de France.In 2014, the Tour organisers finally relented, to some degree, and came up with La Course by Le Tour de France.
And, it’s safe to say, the women’s peloton certainly made the most of the opportunity during a frenetic, exhilarating week on the fan-packed roads of France last year. This was a case of cycling’s most iconic rider finally gracing the stage she has deserved for almost two decades. Vos fought long and hard for her moment at the Tour, and she deserved every second of it.
Of course, while we all got carried away with the euphoria of a fourth week of racing in July, the Tour Femmes isn’t perfect, and we should be cautious when evaluating what essentially amounts to a spot of late-stage band wagoning by ASO.
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