The Tour de France Femmes 2024 is underway, running from August 12 - 18, and forms another key part of France’s busy summer of sport between the Olympics and Paralympic Games.
The race started in The Netherlands at 13:00 today and will end in the Alps.
Like its 2024 male counterpart, the race started outside of France, beginning in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, which will also be the starting point for the time trial.
Another leg of the competition will begin in Belgium, and the final stage will run between Le Grand Bornand and Alpe d’Huez in the Alps.
It will only be the third iteration of the female version of the competition, which was won last year by Dutch cyclist Demi Vollering.
Competition has eight stages, including two in the Alps
The full route of the competition is:
VisActu / The Connexion
This is the first time the competition has started outside of France, with the Grand Départ in Rotterdam.
The competition has only eight stages – significantly fewer than its male counterpart – which are also generally shorter in length.
Nonetheless, it includes two gruelling stages across the Alps.
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All but one of the top five competitors over the last two iterations were Dutch (with the other a Belgian).
Continuation of jam-packed summer of sport
Previous races began immediately after the men’s Tour de France, with the first version of the competition setting off from Paris just after the end of the men’s race.
However, this year the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games mean that the Tour de France Femmes started almost two months after the men’s competition.
Due to the Olympics, the men’s Tour de France race did not finish in Paris for the first time in its history. Instead, it ended in Nice on July 21.
Here are the schedules for France’s busy summer of sport:
