{"id":301401,"date":"2025-07-29T14:24:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T14:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/301401\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T14:24:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T14:24:25","slug":"is-the-tour-de-france-femmes-easier-than-the-tour-de-france-the-differences-between-two-of-the-most-prestigious-races-on-the-pro-cycling-calendar-and-why-that-question-may-be-the-wrong-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/301401\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the Tour de France Femmes easier than the Tour de France? The differences between two of the most prestigious races on the pro cycling calendar (and why that question may be the wrong one)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having been out in Brittany ahead of the Tour de France Femmes<\/a> Grand D\u00e9part, I was lucky enough to ride along the same route as the pros on the\u00a0first two stages with\u00a0The Route<\/a>. The Femmes might be a lot shorter than the men\u2019s Tour de France – with nine stages making up the former as opposed to 21 for the latter – so common wisdom might lead some to believe that the Femmes is an ‘easier’ challenge for its participants. Let’s find out whether there’s any truth in this, and ask an expert what she makes of comparisons between the two events. I also have plenty of thoughts of my own…\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

How ‘hard’ is\u00a0a Tour de France Femmes stage?<\/p>\n

\"20252025 Emily TdFFaZ The Route riding shot \u00a9Joolze Dymond (credit: Joolze Dymond)<\/p>\n

The Tour de France Femmes\u00a0started in the Brittany region of France, with stage 1 being\u00a0a relatively short 78.8km\u00a0route covering just under 1,000m of elevation from Vannes to Plumelec, followed by a hilly 110.4km run from Brest to Quimper. Stage 1 is around 100km shorter than the shortest men\u2019s bunch stage across three\u00a0weeks \u2013but having ridden it myself, I can tell you shorter doesn\u2019t necessarily mean easier.<\/p>\n

It featured four classified climbs, including the C\u00f4te de\u00a0Bots\u00e9galo\u00a0(0.8km at 5.3%) after 29.3km, before hitting a finishing circuit with three ascents of the C\u00f4te de\u00a0Cadoudal\u00a0\u2013 1.7km at 6.2% \u2013 the final climb doubling as the finish line.\u00a0Brittany’s punchy ramps can sap the legs long before the finishing ascent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"20252025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift stage 2 profile (credit: Le Tour)<\/p>\n

Stage 2 might have looked more forgiving, and was originally classified as flat by the organisers, but was upgraded to hilly before the start.\u00a0There were four categorised climbs and an uphill finish, with the longest climb of the day being the Menez Quelerc’h after 50.7km\u00a0which is 3km long at 6.2%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Across the whole race, the women cover 1,165km \u2013 the longest edition of the Femmes so far \u2013 with a mix of two flat stages, three hilly stages, two medium mountain days and two high mountain stages. There\u2019s no time trial this year, a deliberate choice in an attempt to keep all the drama in the mountains, and\u00a0with no rest days and just nine stages in total, there\u2019s no room to hide \u2013 every day matters.<\/p>\n

With fewer stages, every mistake is magnified and each day has a much bigger impact on the overall. The Tour de France Femmes\u00a0might be shorter, but it\u2019s raced flat-out from start to finish.<\/p>\n

\"KimKim Le Court in the yellow jersey, stage 2, 2025 Tour de France Femmes (credit: ASO\/Thomas Maheux)<\/p>\n

Megan Chard, Assistant Sports Director at Liv AlUla Jayco, says: \u201cIn the men\u2019s Tour you have 21 opportunities; in the women\u2019s, it\u2019s nine.<\/p>\n

“That means mistakes are magnified and there\u2019s less room to let a stage go. In previous years we saw dominant teams take most of the wins, but this year already feels more open. We\u2019ve had three\u00a0different teams winning the first three stages, and I think it’s\u00a0open this year to have more winners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chard also talk about the\u00a0unique intensity of women\u2019s racing:<\/p>\n

“Women\u2019s cycling is different to men’s, it is not as structured. There\u2019s not\u00a0often a break of 15 riders because of the fewer opportunities, and riders don\u2019t want to just give five stages away for free to protect GC.”<\/p>\n

It’s also not just about the racing that makes it tough.\u00a0The logistics add another layer of fatigue, with riders often having\u00a0long transfers after each stage, eating into recovery time. After stage 1, they faced just over two hours, and after\u00a0stage 2 it was around 90 minutes.<\/p>\n

Why is the Tour de France Femmes\u00a0still shorter than the men\u2019s?<\/p>\n

\"20252025 Tour de France Femmes route (credit: Le Tour)<\/p>\n

The Femmes covers around a third of the distance of the men’s Tour de France, but that’s not because anyone doubts the women’s physical ability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The real reasons are financial and logistical. Sponsorship and broadcast deals are still catching up with the rapid growth of women\u2019s cycling, and organisers are trying to find the \u2018sweet spot\u2019 \u2013 long enough to be a proper test, but short enough to keep audiences engaged and sponsors\u00a0on board.<\/p>\n

UCI rules have also historically limited the number of stages for women\u2019s races, with a maximum of six set for most elite events. The Tour de France Femmes, like the Giro d\u2019Italia Women\u00a0and the Vuelta Espa\u00f1a Femenina, has an exemption, but those restrictions were originally introduced to avoid overcrowding the calendar, and to give women\u2019s racing space to grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The good news? It\u00a0is\u00a0growing. Last year\u2019s edition was eight days, this year it\u2019s nine, and there\u2019s hope it will expand further in the future.<\/p>\n

\"20242024 Tour de France Femmes, stage four (A.S.O.\/Charly Lopez) (credit: A.S.O.\/Charly Lopez)<\/p>\n

Chard\u00a0believes that while a longer Tour de France Femmes\u00a0would be a great step forward, it needs to be introduced at the right time:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be great to have a three-week Tour, but the logistics behind it aren\u2019t simple.<\/p>\n

“For example, it’s\u00a0less than a month between the Giro and the Tour, and then Romandie straight after. Is there enough time to put a three-week tour into the calendar when we don’t have the same number of riders\u00a0in teams as the men?<\/p>\n

\u201cTeams would need more resources \u2013 vehicles, staff, and that means increased budgets. Women\u2019s cycling has changed so much in recent years, and we need to make sure the races we have now are sustainable before we push for more.\u201d<\/p>\n

While many want to see the Femmes\u00a0increase in\u00a0length in the future, the shorter format does have one big advantage: it\u2019s really exciting to watch in my opinion. There are no long transition stages, every mistake\u00a0counts, and the aggressive, attacking racing means the general classification can change in seconds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How far we have (or haven’t) come…<\/p>\n

\"MarianneMarianne Martin, 1984 Tour de France (Marianne Martin) (credit: road.cc)<\/p>\n

Back in 1984, the first Tour de France\u00a0F\u00e9minin\u00a0ran alongside the men\u2019s race, featuring 18 stages and covering a total distance of 1,066km \u2014 less than what the women now complete in just nine days at the Tour de France Femmes. It was won by Marianne Martin and is often\u00a0called \u201cthe perfect Tour de France\u201d, since it was\u00a0a landmark moment with women riding a shortened version of the men\u2019s route just a couple of hours ahead of them.<\/p>\n

From 1992 to 2009, the Grand Boucle F\u00e9minine Internationale carried the torch for women\u2019s stage racing in France, but over time it gradually declined due to financial struggles, organisational issues, and limited media exposure.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until 2022 that ASO revived the Tour de France Femmes, bringing a growing global audience. Since that inaugural modern edition, the race has improved year on year,\u00a0increasing in length, delivering aggressive racing, and attracting record audiences.<\/p>\n

\"20252025 Liv AlUla Jayco warm up (credit: GreenEdge Cycling)<\/p>\n

The way women\u2019s cycling is growing now is truly exciting. When you compare today\u2019s\u00a0Tour de France Femmes to the 1984 edition, the difference is incredible. Many riders today are full-time professionals with salaries, supported by\u00a0teams, buses, and staff. It\u2019s very different, and a much stronger\u00a0position for the sport to be in.<\/p>\n

Chard says:\u00a0“It’s\u00a0important to pause and appreciate how far we\u2019ve come, remembering those original riders\u00a0who fought for these opportunities. The growth over the past 5\u201310 years has been phenomenal; riders have transitioned from juggling other jobs to full-time\u00a0cycling careers.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

What I’d like to see next\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Tour de France Femmes isn\u2019t a \u2018lite\u2019 version of the men\u2019s race \u2013 it\u2019s already one of the most exciting events on the calendar.<\/p>\n

\"20232023 Tour de France – Stage 21 Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to Paris \u00a9 Zac WiLLIAMS SWpix.com (t:a Photography Hub Ltd (credit: Simon Wilkinson\/SWpix.com)<\/p>\n

What I\u2019d love to see going forward isn\u2019t necessarily a much longer race, but more of the\u00a0iconic\u00a0Tour de France feel \u2013 the climbs and the big finish-line moments. For example, the first stage of the modern edition in 2022 took place on the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es, the same day as the men\u2019s final stage. Paris is the Tour\u2019s trademark finish, and it feels right for the women to have that too.<\/p>\n

Adding more iconic climbs and perhaps a decisive uphill time trial would deepen the race\u2019s complexity,\u00a0all without needing to mirror the men\u2019s format stage-for-stage.<\/p>\n

What really matters most is ensuring the race is sustainable, pushing for more equal prize money, and continuing to improve coverage. In my opinion, these\u00a0will do far more for the sport than simply extending the race to 21 days before the teams and infrastructure are fully ready.<\/p>\n

So, is the Femmes\u00a0‘easier’?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"KasiaKasia Niewiadoma, stage eight, Alpe d\u2019Huez, 2024 Tour de France Femmes (A.S.O.\/Thomas Maheux) (credit: road.cc)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not really a question of easier or harder \u2014 it\u2019s a different challenge. The women\u2019s race is shorter in distance and duration, but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s any less intense. With fewer stages and no rest days, every single day is raced flat-out, which makes it incredibly demanding and unforgiving.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So while the men cover more kilometres\/miles\u00a0over three weeks, the Femmes packs in a\u00a0huge amount of intensity, tactical complexity, and drama into a shorter time frame.<\/p>\n

Chard agrees that direct comparisons to the men\u2019s race aren\u2019t always useful:<\/p>\n

\u201cShould we even be comparing the two in the first place?<\/p>\n

“Women\u2019s cycling is different. The men\u2019s calendar isn\u2019t necessarily the perfect model or the end goal, and we should be working with what we have and improving that.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is the Tour de France Femmes ready to go longer,\u00a0or is the current format just right? Let us know your thoughts\u00a0in the comments section below.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Having been out in Brittany ahead of the Tour de France Femmes Grand D\u00e9part, I was lucky enough…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-301401","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"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114936982239101399","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301401","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=301401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}