Tour de France Femmes 2024: news & route preview

The Tour de France is the most well-known cycling race in the world. Winning the overall yellow jersey – and sometimes even just a stage – of the prestigious event is enough to cement your status as one of the best in the sport. After decades of being practically ignored by race organizers, the women’s peloton not only have their own version of the race, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, but are also proving why they deserve the spotlight as well. 

• Total distance: 946.3km 
• Total distance climbed: 10,700m 
• 3 countries visited: Netherlands, Belgium, and France. 
• 4 mountain ranges: the Ardennes, Vosges, Jura. and Alps. 
• 2 summit finishes 
• 3 sprint finishes 
• 1 time trial 

The 2024 Tour de France Femmes has its first Grand Depart when the race begins in Rotterdam Aug. 12, shortly after the completion of the Paris Summer Olympics. The first three days of the race will wind its way through the Netherlands, before transitioning into Belgium, then France on the fourth day. The third edition of the race will end Aug. 18 with a thrilling summit finish atop the iconic Alpe d'Huez.

Although this is only the third year the Tour de France Femmes has officially existed, women racers have competed in a version of the Tour de France since the 1950’s.   

After a one-off women’s race in 1955, it would be nearly 30 years until a female-led Tour de France race was held. Beginning in 1984, the Tour de France Féminin ran around the same time as the men’s race, albeit with fewer and somewhat shorter stages. That race lasted until 1989. For the next two years, two other women’s stage races blazed through France, although under different names, such as the Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale and Tour Cycliste Féminin, and without a direct connection to the men’s race.   

In 2014, the La Course, a one- or two-day event held in conjunction with the men’s race by the Tour de France organizers, began. The race brought a much-deserved spotlight back to the women’s peloton, but teams and fans alike believed the race didn’t really show off what the competitors were capable of, as the stages weren’t difficult enough. La Course lasted until 2021, when it was replaced by the current iteration of the race, the Tour de France Femmes.   

The first Tour de France Femmes was held in 2022, directly after the men’s race, with eight stages of intense racing. Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) won that first edition enroute to sweeping all three women’s Grand Tour stage races and the women’s world road race title that same year. Truly one of the most dominant seasons in cycling history.   

In 2023, van Vleuten would finish fourth, while the 2022 runner-up Demi Vollering (SD Worx) ascended one step up the podium. Vollering made her mark on the race during a dominant performance up the feared Col du Tourmalet. Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) won the polka-dot Queen of the Mountains jersey while placing third overall for the second year in a row and riding a variety of Canyon road bikes. Find out which Canyon road bikes our pro riders ride during their races. 

Canyon/SRAM bikes 

Last year’s winner Vollering will be back in 2024, looking to defend her yellow jersey, while Niewiadoma looks to finally move up to the top step of the podium this August. 

Vollering’s teammate Lotte Kopecky, last year’s second-place finisher, green jersey winner, and current road-race world champion, could aim for overall victory this year as well. Will we see an internal team struggle like the Jumbo-Visma dysfunction at the 2023 Vuelta? 

Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich) will be looking to be the first French winner of a Tour de France (men or women) since Bernard Hinault. Multiple-time world champion Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) is always a threat whenever she pins on a race number and could contend again for the green jersey she won in 2022. Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep), Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ) will be aiming for stage wins and podium spots. 

The balanced route gives the sprinters, climbers, and puncheurs each their moment in the spotlight. At the end of the three weeks, we'll finally find out the winners of the prized Tour de France Femmes jerseys – yellow for the overall winner, polka-dot for queen of the mountains classifications winner, green for the winner of the points classification, and white, won by the best-placed rider under the age of 23 in the general classification. 

This 77-mile, pancake-flat route will give one talented sprinter her chance to wear the yellow jersey during the early stages. It’s highly unlikely a breakaway will succeed on this stage or the main contenders will want to risk getting involved in what promises to be a mad dash for the finish. 

Riders will be doing double duty on this stage, racing two stages. The first is a flat, 41-mile route that returns riders to Rotterdam. Strong winds could be a factor, but this promises to be another spotlight for the green-jersey contenders. 

The second of two stages on this day, this 4-mile time trial won’t be long enough for any of the true diesel-powered specialists like Canyon-sponsored Chloe Dygert to put any real time on the field, but could shuffle the deck a bit at the top of the standings. 

This 76-mile stage brings the peloton into Belgium, traversing some of roads used in the famed Classics races and including eight categorised ascents. The hilly terrain will increase the chances of a successful breakaway or solo escape. The short, but steep, climbs will make this one of the more lively stages of this year’s Tour. 

• Bemelerberg (twice), 1.3km long with an average gradient of 4.9% 
• Cauberg, 0.7km long with an average gradient of 8% 
• Geulhemmerberg, 1.1km long with an average gradient of 5.1% 
• Mont-Theux, 2.8km long with an average gradient of 5.6% 
• Côte de la Redoute, 1.6km long with an average gradient of 9.4% 
• Côte des Forges, 1.3km long with an average gradient of 7.8% 
• Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, 1.3km long with an average gradient of 11% 

A mostly flat, 93-mile route that brings race into France. While riders must contend with five short climbs, none of them should be difficult enough to create any significant gaps. The uphill lead-in to the Amnéville finish will be interesting. Will the main contenders watch as a puncheur grabs the stage win or will they attempt to assert control over the race before the peloton enters the mountains? 

• Côte de Hotte, 1.2km long with an average gradient of 7.9% 
• Côte de Saint-Pancre, 1.5km long with an average gradient of 3.9% 
• Côte de Fermont, 1.5km long with an average gradient of 4.6% 
• Côte de Briey, 1.1km long with an average gradient of 4.4% 
• Côte de Montois-la-Montagne, 1.7km long with an average gradient of 6% 

Four categorized climbs over the second half of the 100-mile stage should animate the day’s racing. 

• Col du Mont de Fourche, 3.2km long with an average gradient of 5.9% 
• Col de Ferriere, 2.6km long with an average gradient of 4.7% 
• Côte de Laviron, 5.7km long with an average gradient of 4.1% 
• La Roche du Pretre, 5.5km long with an average gradient of 5.6% 
• Côte des Fins, 1.8km long with an average gradient of 6.9% 

The peloton finally arrives in the mountains for this 103-mile stage. Competitors won’t have time for a refreshing sparkling beverage on the 12km (7.5-mile) climb up the Col de la Croix la Sierra, as they rocket toward the day’s denouement. The last 30km (18 miles) of the route is essentially all uphill, climbing nearly 700m to the 1,285m Le Grand-Bornand finish. 

• Col de la Croix la Sierra, 12km long with an average gradient of 5.1% 
• Côte de Bois d'Ariod, 2.4km long with an average gradient of 4.6% 
• Côte de Cercier, 4km long with an average gradient of 4.9% 
• Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt, 5.4km long with an average gradient of 5.1% 
• Montée du Chinaillon, 7km long with an average gradient of 5.1% 

It all comes down to this 93-mile stage. After the relatively short Col de Tamié climb and descent, the peloton has a relatively flat 50km (32-mile) pedal before the day’s fireworks begin at the foot of the monstrous, 1,924m Col du Glandon, the highest point of this year’s Tour. Expect the main contenders’ teams to begin duking it out here, hoping to score a knockout blow before the iconic 1,850m Alpe d'Huez climb and finish. 

• Col de Tamié, 9.5km long with an average gradient of 4% 
• Col du Glandon, 19.7km long with an average gradient of 7.2% 
• Alpe d'Huez, 13.8km long with an average gradient of 8.1% 

This year’s Tour comes directly on the heels of the 2024 Olympics, held in Paris. After falling short of a gold medal, many athletes will be looking for solace in a yellow jersey, which means the competition should be intense. 

Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), will be gunning for the yellow jersey again this year after finishing on the podium the last two years. Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM), who won a Zwift Academy challenge to earn her professional contract in 2020, will also be looking to add to her palmarès and could be wearing the white jersey at the race end. Current world time-trial champion Chloe Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) may also participate. 

There’s no better way to experience the 2024 Tour de France Femmes than attending the race live. But for those of us who can’t afford to take more than a week off work to attend a bike race and drink exquisite French wine, these networks will be broadcasting the stage race, either through daily highlights or start-to-finish coverage. 

• Eurosport (Europe) 
• NBC Sports (USA) 
• SBS (Australia)