A last monumental ascent, that of the Super Planche des Belles Filles, and the 109 riders completed the first Tour de France Women, Sunday July 31, in a cloud of dust. 

“We are going to take stock calmly in the coming days. It was edition n°1 so there will necessarily be some small changes but the base is solid”, assures Marion Rousse, director of the race.

France 24, which followed the entire course of this women's Great Loop, takes stock of this historic edition.

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A real popular success:

This was one of the main fears of the organizers and the teams: would the public be there on the sides of the roads and in front of their TV for this Tour de France Women?

The result was beyond their expectations.

In the start and finish towns, there was real popular enthusiasm, as in the towns and villages crossed by the publicity caravan and the runners.

France Télévisions, broadcaster of the event in France, is also rubbing its hands.

Audiences oscillate between 2 and 3 million, unheard of for women's cycling.

Marianne Vos and Annemiek van Vleuten, the queens in yellow

At the height of their respective 35 and 39 years, the Dutch are the patron saints of women's cycling.

During their long career, they have seen the discipline develop and become more professional.

In the peloton and the teams, there was unanimity on the fact that, for the symbol, they had to put on this yellow jersey which was lacking for the women during the 33 years of absence from the Tour.

The "Cannibal" Marianne Vos added two Tour victories to the 241 they already had in her career and wore the yellow jersey from the 3rd to the 7th stage.

Annemiek van Vleuten then took over, winning the last two stages at the Markstein and the Super Planche des Belles Filles.

>> To read also: Tour de France Women: Marianne Vos, yellow jersey and stainless all-terrain champion

Juliette Labous, fourth in the Tour

Among the men, David Gaudu managed the feat of completing the Tour by finishing in fourth place.

Among the women, a Frenchwoman pulled off the same coup: Juliette Labous, the 23-year-old leader of the DSM team.

The runner completed a Tour au Cordeau.

She passed between the pitfalls of the flat stages, avoided the dangers of the white paths and followed the best ones in mountains that she knew well.

The only regret: not having managed to unclamp the Polish Katarzyna Niewiadoma on the slopes of the Planche des Belles Filles.

The rebound capacity of the FDJ

The FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope landed on the Tour with ambitions for its two leaders: Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Marta Cavalli.

The second stage almost sounded the death knell between multiple falls and especially the abandonment of the Italian, victim of a concussion.

But the French World Tour team has mental resources.

The next day, the Dane won in Epernay and images of the collective joy of the team went around the world.

The team can also be satisfied with the second place of Evita Muzic on the white paths stage, and a third place of Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig on the queen stage, finished at Markstein.

The icing on the cake: both rank in the top 10. 

MAGIC!!!!!!!!✨😍🥺😭🥳🤩


Thank you team🙏🏻❤️🥰 pic.twitter.com/KC5iPbqivj

— Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (@CUttrupLudwig) July 26, 2022

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Level differences

On paper, the 144 runners who took the start in Paris arrived with the same weapons: a bike and their legs.

In fact, we saw a huge disparity between the 14 teams of the World Tour, the professional level created in 2019 by the UCI, and the others.

The 14 "big guys" in the peloton monopolized all the stage victories and jerseys, leaving the crumbs to their opponents.

If Silvia Persico (Valcar) clung to the podium for a long time and finished in the top 10 and if other teams such as Saint-Michel Auber93 raced with their weapons, most showed their limits, at the image of the Rochelais stadium, which ends with a single runner, the other five having finished out of time on various stages.

Stephen Delcourt, manager of FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope, talks about

a "subject not yet matured".

Legend Jeannie Longo is more cash in an interview with AFP: "There are a few too many teams that do not have the best international level".

Marianne, Annemiek, Lorena and the others?

It's no exaggeration to say that the Dutch crushed the Tour de France.

The yellow jersey was worn throughout by a Dutch national.

We could also rename it the "orange" jersey.

Three yellow jersey wearers who each won two stages: the 1st and 5th for Lorena Wiebes, the 2nd and 6th for Marianne Vos and the 7th and 8th for Annemiek van Vleuten.

They left only the crumbs to their adversary.

Only the Danish Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and the Swiss Marlen Reusser were able to thwart the Dutch domination.

For the beauty of the Tour to come, it is to be hoped that others will be able to impose themselves.

Falls… and sexism

In cycling, falls are part of the race.

The Women's Tour de France was no exception, with in particular a real upheaval on the second stage and the impressive collision which forced the co-leader of the FDJ, Marta Cavalli, to retire.

During the fourth stage, another crash took about 40 riders to the ground, sparking sarcastic and sexist comments on social media about the supposed incompetence of the women's peloton.

Many took the trouble to respond, recalling that the men's Tour de France is far from free of crashes.

For the haters…


Shall I continue?

pic.twitter.com/4twtPWhbtf

— Christine Majerus (@C_Majerus) July 28, 2022

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