Take altitude to see further. This could be the motto of this second edition of the Tour de France Women (July 23 – 30, 2023) which made its D-100 sacred at the top of the Arc de Triomphe. This Friday morning, while the Champs-Elysées were still sparse, Marion Rousse, the director of the race organized by ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation) shone the spotlight on a route unveiled at the end of October, at the same time as the men’s Tour de France .
Departure in Clermont-Ferrand, heading south-west towards the Pyrenees where the Tourmalet will stand like a justice of the peace the day before a final stage disputed against the clock around Pau: here are the novelties. The capital, which acted as a launching pad last year during the Renaissance Tour, has this time been neglected. “As the race lasts eight days, if you want to visit new mountain ranges, you have to start from another place so that it remains coherent from a sporting point of view, specifies Marion Rousse. When you start from the Massif Central, you can have fun creating a fairly complex route, right from the first stages. »
Juliette Labous has a card to play
The ground, in any case, is conducive to the spectacle. Competitors too. Last year, they were the key to the success of this first edition of the modern era which ended at the top of the Planche-des-Belles-Filles in the Vosges. The race was marked by the consecration of the Dutch queens Annemiek van Vleuten, yellow jersey, and Marianne Vos, green jersey, victorious in two stages each. She had been lively throughout the eight days of racing. Popular success followed. People on the side of the roads, twenty million viewers at one time or another in front of their screen, audiences around three million viewers for each stage on France 3 (the event will be broadcast by France 2 this time), even more during the last stage: the figures speak for themselves.
“What is strong is that from the first edition, we invited ourselves into people’s daily lives and they adopted us,” says Marion Rousse. The girls honored the event. The level continues to evolve. The whole economic system of women’s cycling comes out stronger. “Young Tricolors also pointed their faces, like Juliette Labous (DSM), 24, 4th in the general classification or Evita Muzic (FDJ-Suez), 23, 8th. They will be expected next summer. “Juliette really has a chance of making a podium,” adds Marion Rousse. It progresses from year to year, it matures. And she grew with the Tour.