The women's Tour de France will start from Clermont-Ferrand in 2023
Annemiek Van Vleuten at La Super Planche des Belles Files, July 31st.
AFP - JEFF PACHOUD
Text by: RFI Follow
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The women's Tour de France will start from Clermont-Ferrand on July 23, 2023, event director Marion Rousse announced on Thursday October 27, revealing the route of this second edition which will pass through the legendary Col du Tourmalet.
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Run in eight stages, the women's race will end on July 30 with a 22 km individual time trial in Pau.
The 2022 edition marked the rebirth of the women's Tour de France, which had existed in different forms before disappearing at the end of the 2000s due to lack of funding.
Three regions crossed
The women's Tour de France will visit three regions - Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie - for eight stages to be covered over nearly 1,000 km.
After crossing the Massif Central and passing close to the Lascaux cave, the queen stage will take place in the Pyrenees with the sequence of the Aspin and Tourmalet passes.
The finish will be judged at the top of this mythical summit, at an altitude of 2,110 m, as in 1994, 1996 and 2000 during previous versions of the women's Tour de France, which existed in different forms before disappearing at the end of the decade 2000 for lack of funding, and to be reborn in 2022. The Tour will end on July 30 with a 22 km individual time trial in Pau, a novelty compared to this year.
“
This year, people really got into the game, they got attached to the riders and they watched the Tour for the same reasons as for men's cycling.
But we remain cautious.
It's still a fragile object that we need to anchor.
The goal is to have a solid Tour de France and not to go faster than the development of women's cycling
, ”said Marion Rousse in an interview with AFP.
The Women's Tour de France continues to grow with the expansion from six to seven riders per team.
Steps
July 23: 1st stage Clermont-Ferrand - Clermont-Ferrand, 124 km
July 24: 2nd stage Clermont-Ferrand - Mauriac, 148 km
July 25: 3rd stage Collonges-la-Rouge - Montignac-Lascaux, 147 km
July 26: 4th stage Cahors - Rodez, 177 km
July 27: 5th stage Onet-le-Château - Albi, 126 km
July 28: 6th stage Albi - Blagnac, 122 km
July 29: 7th stage Lannemezan - Tourmalet Bagnères-de-Bigorre, 90 km
July 30: 8th stage Pau - Pau (individual time trial), 22 km
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