A brief history of the women’s Tour de France
As the third edition of the relaunched Tour Femmes gets underway, we look back at the race’s long, and rather circuitous, historyOn Monday, just before lunchtime, the peloton will roll out of Rotterdam for start of the third edition of the relaunched Tour de France Femmes .
No direct handover from the men's race required, the race will stand independently in its own right, the later calendar position and heavy non-French theme during the opening stages a somewhat enforced decision due to the pesky Olympic Games. The first women’s Tour de France was, in fact, held almost seven decades ago, in 1955. The race was the brainchild of journalist and sometime-team manager Jean Leulliot, who organised the infamous Circuit de France stage race in 1942 with the collaboration of the Nazis, and was the race director, and then owner, of Paris-Nice.
Almost three decades later, in 1984, the idea was eventually revived by the Tour’s co-organiser Félix Lévitan.
Following that 1989 edition, won once again by the dominant rider of her generation Longo, incoming Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc scrapped the race, citing the commercial and financial concerns of running a race with limited media coverage and sponsorship . The final edition of the Grande Boucle in 2009, won by Emma Pooley was only four stages and 306.5km-long, prompting Pooley to memorably describe it as “more of a Petite Boucle”.
And with some scintillating racing to boot, especially once the race ventured beyond Paris – Annemiek van Vleuten’s stunning, last-ditch duel with Anna van der Breggen in the Alps in 2018 the undoubted highlight of the race’s tenure – even ASO couldn’t resist the hand of history, as well as the expectations of a sport and an audience that was fast outgrowing races seemingly more akin to amuse-bouches or petit fours than the full tasting menu of a Grand Tour.
Meanwhile, Annemiek van Vleuten’s stunning success in the Vosges mountains, after a battle with illness earlier in the week, provided the race with an inspiring, if ultimately predictable, climax. “Everyone had this feeling that it was a massive moment for women’s cycling. We waited a long time to have the race back, and just the support and the excitement of the racing every day, there was so much to fight for. And I felt very lucky to compete in the first edition of this new format.”
Despite the efforts of other race organisers, such as Flanders Classics – who last year began to offer equal prize money across its stable of one-day races – that chasm remains painfully intact for this year’s Tours de France. “The interest and excitement are there, that’s where it all begins. That’s where people see it, that’s where sponsors get their products and name shown. TV coverage is the catalyst for everything, and getting our racing and love for the sport out there more.”
However, these gains are yet to trickle down to those at the base of the pyramid, and the rapid acceleration and expansion of the Women’s WorldTour, and the accompanying budgets required to compete in this new landscape, have left teams with tight resources such as Lifeplus Wahoo in danger of being left behind, struggling to adapt and survive.
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