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Tour favorite Annemiek van Vleuten
Photo: Bryn Lennon/ AP
The new edition of the women's Tour de France starts on Sunday.
This is a big step for the industry, for the cycling elite it should be the highlight in the competition calendar.
However, the first stage winner is determined in the pre-program for the men, so to speak.
The 82-kilometer start of the Tour de France Femmes through Paris (1.30 p.m., TV: One, Eurosport) ends on the Champs-Élysées at the very point where the winner of the 109th men's tour is chosen a few hours later.
From the magnificent Parisian boulevard, the journey then continues for eight days (July 24-31) to north-eastern France.
In the men's tours, the top-class sections are called king stages.
The women's Tour de France should be a queen's stage - on the way to approaching the reputation of the male colleagues.
The fact that the race starts on the day of the men's final gives the race »tailwind«, said tour director Christian Prudhomme.
The media could cover the race better.
His Tour de France Femmes counterpart, Marion Rousse, also emphasizes the importance of increased awareness.
Tour director Rousse was once one of the best riders in the country herself, but later she also became known as a cycling expert on French television.
As tour boss, she has been able to win some of the most prominent drivers in the world for the tour.
»I will do everything to ensure that this race will last for a long time.
It's not about delivering two or three editions,” she said.
Is it the first women's Tour de France?
No, but it is the first stage race of the Tour Organization Amaury Sport Organization ASO The previous version was held from 1984 to 2009.
At that time there was already starting help from the Societé du Tour de France, later ASO, which organized the race parallel to the men's tour.
But the company withdrew after five years.
Gradually, the tour lost its importance under other names.
The current tour is the extension of the one-day race that was held as part of the tour from 2014 until last year.
struggle for equality
Tour participant Marianne Vos had already campaigned in 2013 together with some colleagues for the ASO to organize a stage race for women again parallel to the men's Tour of France.
The one-day race "La Course by Le Tour" was also launched on the basis of a petition signed by around 97,000 people - as a compromise.
Vos and many of her fellow campaigners had nevertheless organized a stage race to Paris themselves.
From Utrecht in the Netherlands it was more than 550 km to the metropolis on the Seine.
Vos is one of the best cyclists of all time, and her commitment is also instrumental in making the dream of a tour come true for many cyclists.
What is the route like?
Eight stages cover a total of 1029 kilometers through north-eastern France.
The athletes cross three regions and eleven departments.
From Paris it goes via Reims and Bar-sur-Aube to the Vosges, where the finale takes place.
On the seventh stage, the riders reach the highest point of the race, the Grand Ballon at 1336 meters.
The last and at the same time most difficult stage leads up to La Super Planche des Belles Filles, that up to 20 percent steep ascent, the upper part of which is actually a ski slope.
This is also one of the toughest tests in the men's tour.
Overall, the riders can expect four flat, two mountain stages and two hilly sections.
There is no rest day.
A special feature are the white gravel roads ("chemins blancs"), which stretch for around 13 kilometers through the vineyards of Bar-sur-Aube.
The fourth stage could also play a role in the fight for the yellow jersey: in the last 60 kilometers the peloton can expect six climbs and four sections with unpaved roads.
Is there a time trial?
Rousse said in an interview that the time trial is part of the Tour de France.
At the premiere, however, they decided against it, because otherwise they would have had one less flat stage.
But more spectators would be expected on this one.
Rousse did not rule out that time trials would also be included in the program in the future.
The racing stables
24 teams, each with six riders, will be at the start.
Some of the big racing teams that are also represented in the men's tour will be there.
For example the teams of overall leader Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and his pursuer Tadej Pogačar (UAE), or Cofidis, for which the German Simon Geschke drives, among others.
All three women's teams are in their first seasons.
The German racing teams have been there for a long time.
Team Canyon SRAM, founded by Ronny Lauke from Leipzig in 2016, already has its own youth department.
For the 2020 season, the team received a license as a UCI Women's World Team and competes in the Women's World Tour racing series founded in 2016, in which there is also a minimum salary for the drivers.
This allows more drivers to "do the sport with the necessary attention and meticulousness," Lauke told SPIEGEL.
»As a result, more female drivers will also be able to catch up with the top performers in the sport.
It makes races more exciting because there will be a greater number of potential winners."
For the tour, the team is aiming for an overall top five finish.
With the second German team, Ceratizit-WNT, 33-year-old Lisa Brennauer is hoping for a German stage win.
“I'll focus on the beginning of the tour.
There are five stages on which you can achieve a lot,” said the former time trial world champion and track cycling Olympic champion.
Brennauer was recently able to defend her German championship title in the time trial, but she missed the spring classic Paris-Roubaix, where she finished fourth last year, due to a corona infection.
Next to Brennauer go with road champion Liane Lippert, Hannah
Ludwig, Kathrin Hammes, Hannah Buch, Franziska Koch and Laura üßmilch six other German riders at the start.
Why isn't Bora there?
Bora-hansgrohe is the most successful German cycling team and currently the only representative from Germany in the highest racing series in men's road cycling, the World Tour.
At the Tour de France de Femmes, however, one looks in vain for the racing team in the field of participants.
Team boss Ralph Denk will not open a women's team, at least in the short term.
"We are also observing the developments in women's cycling very closely and note with respect that an incredibly rapid professionalization has taken place here in recent years, both in terms of sport and structure," Denk told SPIEGEL.
"At the moment we have ambitious goals in the men's area, which we have to pursue with all consistency in order to have a chance of achieving them in this extremely competitive environment," says Denk.
If there is a good opportunity to get started, it will be checked with the sponsors.
The Dutch Annemiek van Vleuten is the big favorite for the overall victory.
The Olympic champion and three-time world champion most recently succeeded at the Giro d'Italia and has strong helpers at her side with the Movistar team in Emma Norsgaard, Aude Biannic and Paula Andrea Patiño, some of whom already made a significant contribution to Van Vleuten in the Tour of Italy for the third time times could win.
The 39-year-old climber feels particularly at home in the mountains, but she also enjoys medium-difficulty stages with steep climbs.
Demi Vollering is the pursuer.
The Dutchwoman had skipped the Giro d'Italia in order to be able to concentrate fully on the Tour of France.
The climbing specialist also rides for the SD Worx team, which has been number one in women’s cycling almost continuously since 2016.
Italy's Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), who won the second edition of Paris-Roubaix, is also in good form.
How much is the prize money?
For the time being, the Tour will be the highest-paying race in women's cycling.
A total of 125,000 euros will be distributed, with the winner receiving 50,000 euros.
The total is almost twice as high as in the eight-day men's race, which is also organized by the OSA.
However, there is still much more to be won for the participants of the men's tour: Although it lasts for three weeks, it has a total of 2.3 million euros in prizes, the overall winner in Paris receives half a million euros.
With material from dpa and sid
