The first season, that of the revival of the Tour de France women after three decades of absence, was a great success. People on the roads and TV audience peaks of up to 5 million viewers for the last stage, it was worth relaunching it. “People really got into the game, they got attached to the riders and they watched the Tour for the same reasons as for men’s cycling, rejoices the director of the event Marion Rousse. But we remain cautious. It’s still a fragile object that we need to anchor. The goal is to have a solid Tour and not to go faster than the development of women’s cycling. »
When it’s popular, however, we start again: the Women’s Tour (July 23 to 30) therefore returns for a new epic supposed to be even more breathtaking and varied than the previous one limited to the Vosges mountains. This time, indeed, place in the high mountains with in particular the ascent of the Tourmalet and the Col d’Aspin the day before the arrival in Pau: “It’s going to be absolutely brilliant, already salivating the Dutch Annemiek van Vleuten, victorious in last July. The Tourmalet is mythical, royal, fabulous. How lucky we are to be able to go there. I have never had the opportunity to go up there. I look forward. »
To reach the Pyrenees in 7 days of racing, the Tour could not start from Paris. It is from Clermont-Ferrand that this Grand Boucle will start on July 23 when the boys arrive on the Champs. Then head south for the runners who will cross the Massif Central lengthwise. The endowment of the event does not change compared to 2022: 250,000 € in prize money, including 50,000 € for the one who will bring the yellow jersey to Pau. It is ten times less than for the winner of the men’s Tour de France. But that’s more than the prize money for a one-week race like Paris-Nice (€144,300 including €16,000) for the men.