It is a first stage of the Tour de France Women 2022 which has a historical and symbolic character. Thirty-three years after the last edition of the women’s Tour de France organized by ASO, it is reborn this Sunday in Paris. The start was given at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, before a climb to the Trocadero. In total, 82 kilometers and 12 laps on this circuit to the Champs-Elysées. The start of the first edition of the Tour de France Women is on the same day as the finish of the Tour de France 2022 on the men’s side.
The arrival is scheduled from 3:31 p.m. on the Champs-Elysées. Follow the stage live with France Bleu.
The essential
- On the program: 82 km, a sprint on the Champs-Elysées and a climb, that of the climb to Charles de Gaulle-Etoile
- 24 teams of 6 riders took the start of this 1st stage, details in this article
- Who are the French women to follow? We list you here
- Our file Tour de France Women 2022
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1:50 p.m. – If you are near Paris this weekend, beware because some roads are closed! How to get around in the capital? The answer here.
1:45 p.m. – They are three serious candidates for this first yellow jersey: the Italian world champion Elisa Balsamo, the Dutch rocket Lorena Wiebes and the legend Marianne Vos.
1:43 p.m. – The runners pass near the Arc de Triomphe for the first time. They will perform twelve laps on the Champs-Elysées.
1:40 p.m. – Let’s go ! Marion Rousse gives the start of the Women’s Tour! The arrival is scheduled for the sprint around 3:30 p.m.
1:38 p.m. – We continue with numbers! 28. 28 Dutch take the start. Unsurprisingly, the Netherlands is the best-represented nation.
1:32 p.m. – 4 distinctive jerseys. As with the men, in addition to the yellow jersey, a polka dot jersey from the mountain classification, a green tunic from the points classification and a white fabric from the best young rider (born from 1 January 2000) will adorn the peloton.
1:30 p.m. – Let’s go for the start of the Tour de France Women 1st edition from the Trocadero!!!! The fictitious start is scheduled in 10 minutes, Marion Rousse will wave the famous Tour de France flag from her car. Our reporter Sophie Constanzer is in place.
1:25 p.m. – A sprinter should take the yellow jersey at the end of this first 100% Parisian stage.
1:17 p.m. – Audrey Cordon-Ragot, her French champion tricolor jersey on her shoulders, will soon start the race. “We hope to offer you a show that you will never forget” she said a few minutes ago during the presentation of the teams.
1:14 p.m. – This Women’s Tour therefore takes place in eight stages, from July 24 to 31, for a total of 1.029km of race. The route will cross three regions (Île-de-France, Grand Est and Bourgogne-France-Comté) and 11 departments. Four flat stages, two hilly stages and two mountain stages with an altitude finish at La Super Planche des Belles Filles. The complete route of this first Tour de France Women can be found in this article.
1:06 p.m. – The Tour de France Women is 8 stages, against 21 for men. Why this difference? “If it lasted three weeks, we would kill the other races. In addition, team supervision is much less for girls. They are not thirty per team as in the men approximately, but rather ten in women’s cycling” explained Marion Rousse to AFP. The director of the Women’s Tour mentioned a financial reason: “Let’s be honest, three weeks is an additional budget for us, with the risk of going out of business. Unless you race at a discount. But when you have the Tour de France label, you have to create a real Tour de France”.
1 p.m. – The 144 runners are ready before the big start at 1:30 p.m. from the Eiffel Tower
12:50 p.m. – A word about today’s race. The inaugural stage of this Tour de France Women borrows Sunday the same final circuit in Paris as the men later in the day. The peloton, nervous on this first day, will cover twelve times the loop around the Tuileries Gardens and on the Champs-Élysées which seems promised to the sprinters, after 81.6 km.
12:40 p.m. – A strong image. Cycling star Jeannie Longo was symbolically presented with the first yellow jersey by Marion Rousse. Jeannie Longo was the last woman to wear the yellow jersey in 1989. She won the competition three times in a row. “It’s a lot of joy, a lot of emotion” confided Jeannie Longo as the women’s Tour de France is reborn.
12:35 p.m. – “We’re finally there! There’s a lot of emotion” : on Twitter, Marion Rousse expresses her joy before the start of the 1st edition of the Tour de France Women. “I am counting the days, I am counting the hours that separate us from this great departure. With the course that we have concocted for you, rest assured, you will enjoy yourself”she promised a few minutes earlier with our colleagues from franceinfo.
12:33 p.m. – If the men’s Tour version is directed by Christian Prudhomme, the director of the Women’s Tour is Marion Rousse, commentator on France Televisions but above all a figure in women’s cycling. She was sacred champion of France in 2012.
– ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT
12:31 p.m. – It’s a historic day for cycling! The Women’s Tour de France finally starts after more than thirty years of waiting. Indeed, the women’s Tour de France already existed between 1984 and 1989. The event certainly survived, but without the support – or even despite the opposition – of the organizer of the Tour. In the form of the Tour de la CEE (1990-1993) or the Women’s Cycling Tour, which then became the Women’s Great Loop (1992-2009). Another attempt has taken place in the past, such as La Course by le Tour, from 2014 to 2021 where only one stage of the men’s Tour was contested by female riders each year.
12:30 p.m. – Hello, welcome to this live! We are going to make you experience the Tour de France Women party and behind the scenes of the start of the 1st stage in Paris.
Stage cards
On the program for this first stage, a start from the Eiffel Tower, then a loop to the Champs-Elysées that the runners will chain 12 times.
– ASO
– ASO
– ASO
Stage times
– ASO
The complete route of the Tour de France Women
