A Tourmalet finish and a time trial, keys to the 2023 Women’s Tour

The Women’s Tour de France wants to continue collecting the fruit of the popular success it achieved last year in its first edition and in 2023 it is committed to renewing, with the introduction of a test of time, and maintaining what has worked, with high end.

If last year it was La Planche des Belles Fillesthis year the leading role will go to Tourmaletend of the penultimate stage, according to the route shown this Thursday at Paris.

“Last year’s contestants told us they wanted to vary the route, which won a Tour de France need to show that it is good in all areas”, assured the director of the exam, the former cyclist Marion Rousseto justify the inclusion of the time trial.

The women’s tour will start on the same day as the men’s finish but this time it won’t come in Pariswill go up to Clermont-Ferrandin the heart of Auvergnewith a steep profile that will mark the first differences in the general classification from the beginning.

gg.didomi.doWhenConsent(!window.didomiBypass, ‘c:twitterwi-wUmBnnKy’, function () {
var x = document.createElement(‘script’);
x.setAttribute(“type”,”text/javascript”);
x.setAttribute(“src”, “//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”);
x.setAttribute(“charset”, “utf-8”);
$(“.twitter-tweet”).closest( “span” ).append(x);
});

The second day’s route will also be bumpy, heading south, with a battle between the qualifiers for the general classification, before the “sprinters” take center stage on day three.

The fourth, with a slope of 2,400 meters and final in Rodezit will again be a matter of the ascendants, while the fifth and sixth again predict a massive arrival in Albi and Blagnac.

It’s time to conserve energy to tackle the climb to Tourmalet and this 17 kilometers at 7.3% gradienton a day of 90 kilometers which also includes climbing the col d’Aspinwith a total of 2,600 meters of positive slope.

If last year the high mountain, with climbing to La Planche des Belles Fillesthe final verdict of the edition, in which the Dutch won Annemiek van Vleutenof the group Movistarthis time it will be the time trial.

Twenty-two kilometers around Pauin the opposite direction that the men finished in 2019 tourswith an elevation in the middle, 1.8 kilometers at 5% gradient.

“We want to explore what this means for female cyclists, who face all kinds of difficulties,” she said. rousse.

gg.didomi.doWhenConsent(!window.didomiBypass, ‘c:twitterwi-wUmBnnKy’, function () {
var x = document.createElement(‘script’);
x.setAttribute(“type”,”text/javascript”);
x.setAttribute(“src”, “//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”);
x.setAttribute(“charset”, “utf-8”);
$(“.twitter-tweet”).closest( “span” ).append(x);
});

Christian Prudhommewho is responsible for cycling in the company organization of toursHe added that the 2023 tour “is first and foremost an experience.”

Knowing the logistical difficulties involved in organizing the start of the women’s cycling race on the same day as the men’s race and away from Paris, Prudhomme I don’t want to clip the wings women’s tour.

“We can’t leave every year of Paris, which limits us severely when searching for massifs. This year we bet on Pyrenees. Let’s see what happens. But our will is the women’s tour settle down, may it last for many years,” he said.

The first edition of last year, considered Prudhommeis “a public success” both on the road and on television, a momentum they want to keep up.

2023 Women’s Tour

stages

First: 07/23 Clermont-Ferrand – Clermont-Ferrand (124km)
Second: 07/24 Clermont-Ferrand – Mauriac (148km)
third: 07/25 Collonge-la-Rouge – Montignac-Lascaux (147km)
quarter: 26/07 Cahors – Rodez (177km)
Fifth: 07/27 Onet-Le-Château – Albi (126km)
Sixth: 07/28 Albi – Blagnac (122km)
Seventh: 07/29 Lannemezan – Tourmalet (90km)
eighth: 07/30 Pau – Pau (CRI) (22km)