{"id":291537,"date":"2025-07-25T21:03:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T21:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/291537\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T21:03:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T21:03:13","slug":"tour-de-france-femmes-facts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/291537\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour de France Femmes Facts"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re approaching the end of the 2025 Tour de France<\/a> in just a few days\u2013but that doesn\u2019t mean the riding stops once the men\u2019s Tour concludes.<\/p>\n

The women’s Tour, officially called the Tour de France Femmes<\/a>, kicks off on July 26 as some of the world\u2019s fastest cyclists take on nine stages of racing. It marks the fourth installment of the event, and the longest edition of the event so far.<\/p>\n

If you read my piece on the five things I never knew about the Tour de France<\/a> earlier this month, you know that I\u2019m still learning the ins and outs of pro cycling. In fact, I didn\u2019t even know a women\u2019s equivalent to the Tour de France existed until recently. <\/p>\n

For those of you seeking more information on the women\u2019s Tour, you\u2019ve come to the right place. I found these four facts about the race\u2019s history\u2013and specific details about the Tour de France Femmes itself\u2013quite eye-opening. Now, I\u2019m even more excited to watch the women\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

Related StoryThe Tour de France Femmes Isn\u2019t The First Women\u2019s Tour <\/strong><\/p>\n

Before the Tour de France Femmes began in 2022, numerous other races tried to serve as a \u201cthe\u201d women\u2019s pro race. But it wasn\u2019t until the mid-1980s that such competitions caught on.<\/p>\n

For the majority of the 20th century, women had few multi-day stage races at all, let alone a race equivalent to the Tour.<\/a> The first attempt at a Tour-like race came in 1955, a one-time effort with seven stages that survived only one year. Then in 1984, the Tour de France F\u00e9minin launched with the support of the organizer’s of the men\u2019s race. But it folded after the 1989 edition from a lack of financial, media, and fan support. <\/p>\n

In the following years, other races attempted to bring women a Tour de France-like competition, including the La Grande Boucle, but that also failed due to money woes. Then in 2014, the one-day La Course<\/a> race on the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es earned respect among the women\u2019s circuit and became women\u2019s de facto \u201cTour\u201d race, and it served as such until the Tour de France Femmes came along in 2022.<\/p>\n

Related StoryZwift Plays a Huge Role in the Women\u2019s Tour as Its Main Sponsor<\/strong><\/p>\n

My Strava feed these days is full of activities logged on Zwift, but I never truly knew how much of a role the popular indoor cycling software plays in the staging of the Tour de France Femmes<\/a>\u2013and in its inception. The race\u2019s full name is Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. <\/p>\n

Zwift\u2019s involvement began during the COVID pandemic as it teamed up with ASO to create a virtual Tour de France<\/a> in 2020, featuring both men\u2019s and women\u2019s races. The races garnered a global audience, with both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s virtual races receiving broadcast coverage. So when ASO decided to create the multi-stage Tour de France Femmes, Zwift invested as a sponsor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis comes from years of really believing in the entertainment and the excitement of women\u2019s racing,\u201d Zwift Head of Women\u2019s Strategy and Content Kate Veronneau told Bicycling<\/a> at the time. \u201cI think anybody who is investing in women\u2019s cycling right now is getting a big return, because it\u2019s just great business as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zwift continues to invest significantly in the Tour de France Femmes as the title sponsor, and Veronneau told Bicycling last year<\/a> that the company continues to see room for growth in the sport. \u201cThis race shows ample space in the sport for fresh talent, new excitement, and inspiring stories,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about opening new doors for riders and fans; it\u2019s also about uplifting all the women involved in and around cycling, which is essential for the sport\u2019s growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related StoryWomen’s Tour Riders Earn Much Less Than Racers in the Men’s Tour<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tour de France Femmes is a great step forward for the growing women\u2019s pro cycling space. However, riders on the women\u2019s Tour take a much smaller cut<\/a> for their accomplishments on the roads.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Tour de France Femmes features a prize purse<\/a> just north of $290,000. The winner of the overall classification receives around $58,000. Meanwhile, this year\u2019s Tour de France GC winner will earn a whopping $587,000 more than 11 times more than the women’s Tour allotment) and the overall prize pot for the men\u2019s Tour equals about $2.7 million. <\/p>\n

So there\u2019s still a long way to go in terms of equal pay for men\u2019s and women\u2019s pro cyclists. The Tour de France Femmes is the highest-paying event on the UCI Women\u2019s WorldTour<\/a>, but it still lags behind the men\u2019s Tour significantly in prize payouts. However, it\u2019s encouraging that Zwift continues to invest<\/a> heavily in the event, and viewership continues to climb. In 2024, Europe accounted for 80 million viewing hours of the Tour de France Femmes, according to CyclingWeekly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related StoryThe Women\u2019s Tour Has Already Made an Impact in Pro Cycling<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a common sentiment among riders who have completed the Tour de France Femmes that the competition has completely changed the women\u2019s pro cycling landscape.<\/p>\n

Athletes commended the Tour de France Femmes for giving them and their teams visibility thanks to consistent media coverage of the race from print, TV, and online news outlets. Riders also told Bicycling in 2023<\/a> that the Tour has become the most notable event in the world each year for women, influencing how those on the circuit train and prepare for the multi-stage competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s already become the biggest race on the calendar. The race\u2019s prestige translates across to the women\u2019s side,\u201d Alice Towers of Canyon\/\/SRAM told Bicycling<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s changed in the way riders train: everyone\u2019s at altitude now and everyone\u2019s really focusing on it. It feels like everyone\u2019s centering their season around this one race. I don\u2019t know if that has happened before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some riders also said the TDFF has helped the women\u2019s sport grow financially. Now, as Dutch Pro Marjolein van\u2019t Geloof told Bicycling in 2023, riders may now get paid an actual salary and prize money for race performances. \u201cNot long ago, women were used to racing and getting paid maybe 250 Euros per month,\u201d she said to Bicycling<\/a>. Now, some young riders are actually getting minimum wage, an actual salary. Women can afford to be racers now, and more women come to the sport because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n

Make sure to visit Bicycling<\/a> each day of the women\u2019s Tour de France for our expert commentary and video recaps from each stage. We\u2019ll break down stage results, plus give our takeaways on what riders like you can learn from watching the women on the Tour.<\/p>\n

Get Exclusive Training Programs and Digital Issues\"Chevron\"Chevron\"Lettermark\"<\/p>\n

Ashley is Editor of Content Hype at Hearst\u2019s Enthusiast & Wellness Group. She is a former collegiate runner at UNC Asheville where she studied mass communication. Ashley loves all things running; she has raced two marathons, plus has covered some of the sport\u2019s top events in her career, including the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials and multiple World Marathon Majors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re approaching the end of the 2025 Tour de France in just a few days\u2013but that doesn\u2019t mean…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36,85496],"class_list":{"0":"post-291537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-hype"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114915901704445404","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}