The Women's Tour de France

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The women’s Tour de France, Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, started today in Lausanne, Switzerland (the Swiss will host the first three stages.) Dutch sprinter Lorena Wiebes won the first yellow jersey of this year’s edition by winning the stage in a bunch sprint. As a lot of people seem a bit surprised that the women do indeed have their own Tour, just know it wasn’t always the case. This particular version of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (Zwift being the main sponsor) has been running since 2022, so it’s still a fairly new race on the women’s schedule. There used to be a women’s Tour de France, back in the 80’s. It was run under various names, dominated by French rider Jeannie Longo. Financial setbacks, media sexism, and even trademark issues stood in the way and these races finally ended in 2009, although interest had waned far previously. Prior to this, any women’s Tour races were one-day races held in conjunction with the Tour. Finally, in 2013, four professionals (three cyclists and one triathlete) formed an advocacy group and petitioned for a new women’s Tour de France. It helped that the Queen of Cycling, Marianne Vos, was behind the petition. It also helped that women’s cycling as a whole had busted their butts becoming relevant again, so media coverage was up. This version of the race has proven so popular that there have been calls (from the media, even) to expand the race from its current nine stages to two weeks. Race director (and former pro) Marion Rousse has said, however, that such an expansion can’t happen overnight. Hopefully soon, though. Because the ladies put on an entertaining show! Link is to a short video of the final kilometer of today’s stage: