Tour de France Femmes 2023 preview: Full schedule and how to watch live women's Grand Tour cycling action
Reigning champion Annemiek van Vleuten is targeting another Tour de France Femmes crown, as the second modern edition of the stage race takes place on 23 July to 30 July. Here is all you need to know before the start in Clermont-Ferrand.
Cycling Road
The second edition of the most prestigious stage race on the women’s cycling calendar is billed as being the biggest yet. Tour de France Femmes 2023 is offering a diverse route starting in the highland region of Massif Central and finishing at the foot of the Pyrenees in Pau.
The big question before this year’s race has been whether anyone can challenge defending champion Annemiek van Vleuten, who is also an Olympic gold and silver medallist and four-time world champion.
The 40-year-old Dutchwoman has already claimed La Vuelta Femenina and the Giro d’Italia Donne this season, and victory in the Tour de France Femmes would complete the set of 2023 women's Grand Tour race wins.
22 teams will be at the start line to battle over 8 stages, not just for the yellow leader’s jersey, but also the green points classification jersey, the polka-dot jersey for leader of the mountain classification and the white jersey for the best young rider under 23 years of age.
Read on to find everything you need to know about the Tour de France Femmes 2023.
Tour de France Femmes 2023 route
Tour de France Femmes 2023 consists of eight stages with a total of 956 kilometres of racing. The peloton starts with a fairly flat stage around Clermont-Ferrand, and from the second hilly stage, the riders slowly move towards the southwest of France.
A mix of flat and hilly stages follow until the seventh stage, where the big battle among the GC favourites will be fought on the mountainous route to the iconic Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees.
The race will conclude with a 22 kilometres individual time trial around Pau.
Day-by-day route of the 2023 Tour de France Femmes stages
- Sunday 23 July: Stage 1 - Clermont-Ferrand - Clermont-Ferrand (124 km)
- Monday 24 July: Stage 2 - Clermont-Ferrand - Mauriac (152 km)
- Tuesday 25 July: Stage 3 - Collonges-la-Rouge - Montignac-Lascaux (147.2 km)
- Wednesday 26 July: Stage 4 - Cahors - Rodez (177.5 km)
- Thursday 27 July: Stage 5 - Onet-le-Château - Albi (126.1 km)
- Friday 28 July: Stage 6 - Albi - Blagnac (122.1 km)
- Saturday 29 July: Stage 7 - Lannemezan - Col du Tourmalet (89.8 km)
- Sunday 30 July: Stage 8 - Pau - Pau (22.6 km individual time trial)
Riders to watch at the Tour de France Femmes 2023
Two-time road race world champion Annemiek van Vleuten is the big favourite for the Tour de France Femmes 2023. In the Giro d’Italia Donne that finished earlier this month, the Olympic time trial champion claimed three stages and won the general classification by almost four minutes to Juliette Labous of France in second place.
The Movistar rider is in the middle of her last season before retiring, but after having claimed both the overall in the Giro d’Italia Donne and La Vuelta Femenina, the defending champion has proved that she isn't finished yet.
Last year, van Vleuten clinched the yellow jersey by taking the last two stages of the Tour de France Femmes. 3 minutes and 48 seconds was the gap to second place Demi Vollering.
The second placed rider from last year’s edition could also be the biggest threat for van Vleuten this year. Vollering completed the Ardennes hat-trick of one-day races earlier this season, winning the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes.
The 26-year-old SD Worx rider is currently leading the UCI World Rankings, as she has secured an incredible 13 victories already this season, and the Dutch road race champion has taken a big step up since last year’s second place at this race.
At the La Vuelta Femenina, Vollering looked like she was about to be crowned the overall winner, but van Vleuten capitalized on a toilet break and gained more than a minute on the penultimate stage to ultimately win the race.
By the looks of this season’s results, we can hope to see a breathtaking Dutch battle between van Vleuten and Vollering.
Other riders, who potentially can fight for the overall victory are Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy, Juliette Labous of France, and Katarzyna Niewiadoma of Poland.
In the battle for the green jersey, the European road race champion Lorena Wiebes will be the woman to beat. The Dutchwoman has a strong team to support her in SD Worx.
Her 24-year-old compatriot Charlotte Kool of dsm-firmenich has showed earlier this season that she has the top speed to beat Wiebes in a bunch sprint.
Last year’s winner of the green jersey and arguably the greatest female cyclist of all time, Marianne Vos, also needs to be mentioned among the contenders for the points classification.
As the general classification riders will most likely battle it out on the decisive mountain stage to Col du Tourmalet, they will also be the favourites to claim the polka dot jersey after the final stage in Pau.
How to watch the 2023 Tour de France Femmes live
The Tour de France Femmes 2023 will be shown live in numerous countries. Here is a list of the official broadcast partners across different territories.
Europe
- Various European countries - Eurosport and GCN
- Belgium - RTBF and VRT
- Denmark - TV2
- France - France 3
- Ireland - TG4
- Netherlands - NOS
- Norway - TV2
- Spain - RTVE
- Switzerland - SRG-SSR
Americas
- Canada - FloBikes
- South America - ESPN
- United States - NBC Sports and Peacock
Asia Pacific
- Australia - SBS
- China - Zhibo TV
- Japan - J Sports
- New Zealand - Sky Sport
- South-East Asia - Global Cycling Network
Middle East and Africa
- The Middle East and North Africa - BeIN Sports, SSC and GCN
- Subsaharan Africa - Supersport
Worldwide
- TV5 Monde