Tour de France Femmes: The TOUR Blog for the Women's Tour de France
The Tour de France Femmes entered its second edition in 2023. Between 23 and 30 July, the stars of international women's cycling battled it out for stage wins and the yellow jersey on the roads of France. You had the opportunity to follow the race in our Tour de France Femmes live ticker.
We kept you informed about the sporting events in the Tour de France Femmes live ticker. TOUR was also on site at the 2023 Women's Tour de France. You can of course read our impressions of the route here in the live ticker.
22 teams at the start of the Tour de France Femmes
As with the men's race, there were 22 teams at the start of the 2023 Tour de France Femmes. Each team had a squad consisting of seven female riders. That makes a total of 154 riders who set off from Clermont-Ferrand.
The cyclists had to put their skills to the test over eight stages. "We really wanted to create a balanced route that would suit the different female racers. There's something for everyone," said race director Marion Rousse at the route presentation in October 2022.
The race started with a 123.8 kilometre section around Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne. However, the women did not ride up the Puy de Dome like the men. Shortly before the finish, however, there was a short climb that pulled the peloton apart.
Challenging 2nd stage
Day two was very demanding with six mountain classifications over 152 kilometres. The favourites for the overall victory fought their first battle here - in our Tour de France Femmes live ticker, we naturally kept you informed about the events on stage 2 of the 2023 Tour de France for women.
Stage three was also hilly with five mountain classifications over 147.2 kilometres between Collonges-la-Rouge and Montignac-Lascaux. However, the chances of a sprint were very good due to the almost flat finish.
On day four, we followed the 177.1 kilometres between Cahors and Rodez here in the live ticker. The demanding finale was something for the puncheurs. The following day, the 126.1 kilometres from Onet-le-Chateau to Albi. It was potentially a stage for a breakaway group.
Women's Tour de France 2023: Tourmalet stage in the live ticker
Stage 6 was then to be something for the sprinters before we covered the highlight of the 2023 Tour de France for women here in the Tour de France Femmes live ticker on stage 7: the ascent of the Col du Tourmalet, where the preliminary decision for the overall victory was made.
There was still the individual time trial on the final stage to make a correction in the overall standings. A detailed description of the complete route of the women's Tour de France we have compiled for you here.
