Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift 2022: Everything You Need to Know

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last updated 28 July 2022

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Eight days of racing, worldwide TV coverage, a €250,000 prize purse and dynamic, mixed-terrain courses. The 2022 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is shaping up to be a great showcasing of women’s cycling, and one we’ve been waiting for since the last official women’s Tour de France was discontinued after 1989.

While you may see a lot of references to the “inaugural” Tour de France Femmes, there have been several versions of a women’s Tour de France throughout history, dating back to 1955 with the Leulliot race. This, however, was just a one-off five-day race organised by journalist and race director Jean Leulliot. A starting list of 41 women contested the race and was won by Manx cyclist Millie Robinson. The race failed to receive financial backing and did not return for a second year.

An official women’s Tour de France was launched in 1984. Organised by the Société du Tour de France in conjunction with the men’s event, the women raced on the same day and same, albeit shortened, routes as the men’s race. The women raced for 18 stages for a total length of 991 kilometres. By winning that race, American Marianne Martin is widely recognized as the first official women’s Tour de France winner.

After two years of a full-length tour, organisers cut the Tour de France Féminin down to two weeks before scrapping the women’s race altogether, citing lack of commercial and media interest. During the six years the race was held, it was very much a battle between the Italian Maria Canins and iconic French racer Jeannie Longo. Canins won the 1985 and 1986 editions while Longo made do with second place. The roles reversed for the next three editions with Longo taking the yellow jersey and Canins in second.

Over the years, several other formations of a women’s Tour de France formed, though none were held in conjunction with the men’s event nor held the same prestige. There was the Tour de la C.E.E. Féminin, which ran from 1990 until 1992, and the Tour Cycliste Féminin which later was renamed La Grande Boucle Féminin Internationale after organisers of the Tour de France, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), claimed trademark infringement. This event featured somewhere between 9 and 13 stages and saw familiar names like Leontien van Moorsel, Nicole Cooke and Emma Pooley victorious. The event decreased in the number of stages and competitors as the years went on, and was discontinued after the 2009 edition.

In 2014, a large lobbying effort spearheaded by cyclists Kathryn Bertine, Marianne Vos, Emma Pooley and former world triathlon champion Chrissie Wellington, resulted into the A.S.O organising a single-day La Course by le Tour de France women’s race, held on the cobbles of Champs-Élysées on the same day at the men’s final stage of the Tour de France. La Course continued to be held in various (at times, experimental) formats and locations until the ASO announced its inaugural Tour de France Femmes, the closest thing to an actual women’s Tour de France since 1989.

While the official start list is yet to be announced, look to familiar faces like Marianne “the G.O.A.T” Vos (Jumbo-Visma), breakout rider Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx, sprinter sensation Lorena Wiebes (DSM) and world champion Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) to go for the early stage wins and vie for the sprinters jersey. Vos and Balsamo showed tremendous form at the Giro Donne in early July as they scored multiple sprint wins each.

Cycling Weekly's North American Editor, Anne-Marije Rook is old school. She holds a degree in journalism and started out as a newspaper reporter — in print! She can even be seen bringing a pen and notepad to the press conference.

Originally from The Netherlands, she grew up a bike commuter and didn't find bike racing until her early twenties when living in Seattle, Washington. Strengthened by the many miles spent darting around Seattle's hilly streets on a steel single speed, Rook's progression in the sport was a quick one. As she competed at the elite level, her journalism career followed, and soon she became a full-time cycling journalist. She's now been a cycling journalist for 11 years.