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Tour de France Tour de France Femmes 2022 (July 24th-31st)

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(This thread is a work in progress. I'll add stage previews later on)

On Sunday, a few hours before the men finish their Tour de France on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, 144 riders from 28 countries will begin their 10-day journey through France in the first official Tour de France for women since 1989.

But fortunately, there have been other French stage races in the intervening period, although they have all struggled with issues like finding willing host cities, long transfers, poor accommodation and/or lack of coverage (not that those weren’t issues in the ASO race, too). And ASO has also been keeping a close eye on them to make sure their rights weren’t infringed, after they discontinued their rebranded Tour de la C.E.E. Féminin after 1993.

After introducing La Course in 2014, ASO has now finally turned it into a stage race (although La Course isn’t officially killed off yet). While the original ASO version (1984-89) was held alongside the men’s race and using some of the same finish lines, the new race will, at least for its first edition, be prolonging the French cycling party by another 8 stages, covering a total of 1034 kilometres.

The question is now, who will get to follow in the footsteps of riders like Millie Robinson, Marianne Martin, Maria Canins, Jeannie Longo, Catherine Marsal, Leontien van Moorsel, Fabiana Luperine, Edita Pučinskaitė, Joane Somarriba, Nicole Cooke, Emma Pooley, Amber Neben, Evelyn Stevens, Linda Villumsen, Judith Arndt, Claudia Lichtenberg and Susanne Ljungskoog (all winners of races which at some points have been seen the major French stage races)?

This list also includes heavy favourite Annemiek van Vleuten as well as Kasia Niewadoma and Elisa Longo Borghini, who are all former winners of the defunct La Route de France.

Race favourites
:wineglass::wineglass::wineglass::wineglass::wineglass: Annemiek van Vleuten
:wineglass::wineglass::wineglass::wineglass:: Demi Vollering and Marta Cavalli
:wineglass::wineglass::wineglass: Kasia Niewiadoma, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, Elisa Longo Borghini, Mavi García and Juliette Labous
:wineglass::wineglass: For instance Paulina Roojakkers, Kristen Faulkner, Évita Muzic, Amanda Spratt and Veronica Ewers

Startlist: https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=15687&y=2022&k=8
 
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Stage one takes place before the Tour de France finishes in ceremoniously fashion on the famed Champs Elysees. One QOM to be had, around the Arc de Triomphe, so really just to have a QOM on the first stage. Will Wiebes not lose, we will find out tomorrow.

A return to the La Course routes from 2014, 15 and 16, that saw Vos, Van der Breggen (in a rain and crash fest) and Hosking win.
The finish was also used in the original ASO race as well as in the Grande Boucle Féminine.

Hopefully there won't be too many crashes this time. It would be a shame to DNF on day one.
 
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I have question marks about Vollering being able to compete with AVV - I wonder about Vollering's climbing ability on the longer climbs on stage seven - I know that she was third in the 2021 Giro in 2021 , however that course was not as challenging as the 2022 edition.
 
I have question marks about Vollering being able to compete with AVV - I wonder about Vollering's climbing ability on the longer climbs on stage seven - I know that she was third in the 2021 Giro in 2021 , however that course was not as challenging as the 2022 edition.
I think IJzeren 'miek is the obvious favourite, but Demi does have some good results on longer climbs, such as this from the Vuelta a Burgos where she rode on the front almost the whole climb to stretch it out for Anna, but even then Annemiek was the only rider she couldn't drop. She won the same stage this year, but the field was weaker then.
 

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