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- 2022 Le Tour de France Femmes

- 2022 Le Tour de France Femmes - The return of a women's Tour de France - Q&A by Pete Geyer

- Q: In 2022, we will finally see the return of a women's Tour de France. How did this come about?

- A: The return of a women's Tour de France is the result of years of direct action activism on the part of the Paris-based women's cycling club, Donnons des Elles au Vélo (DDEAV). The club includes a competition team that races at the French national, regional and local levels. Launched in 2014, the club immediately began planning a project, "J-1," which has seen a team of selected women riding the full route of the Tour de France each year since 2015, pushing for the return of a women's Tour de France. I am founding sponsor of DDEAV and an advisor to the club.

- Q: What will the new women's race be called?

- A: The new women's Tour de France is expected to be called the Tour de France Femmes. This TDF branding is a strong move and sends a strong message.

- Q: What about the one-day race, La Course?

- A: La Course has been eliminated. Though there was some initial talk that it might be maintained, it was decided to cease the organization of the race.

- Q: Is the Tour de France Femmes an expanded version of La Course?

- A: No. The new Tour de France Femmes stage race and the one-day La Course are two entirely different races, with different histories, different palmares/list of winners and different reasons for their existence.

- Q: Some in the media are referring to La Course as a "stepping stone" to the Tour de France Femmes. Is this accurate?

- A: No, it is not acccurate. Quite the contrary. La Course was effectively a roadblock to true change. A one-day race was not change, it was not even change for ASO which had already organized, for example, the women's Fleche Wallonne for years.

- Q: Will the race be broadcast live?

- A: Of course. The Tour de France Femmes will be broadcast live on TV as well as streamed live, depending on the country.

- Q: When will the race be held?

- A: The race is expected to start in Paris on the final day of the men's 2022 Tour de France.

- Q: How long will the race be?

- A: Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme approached DDEAV during the summer of 2020 and told team leader Claire Floret that the new women's stage race will be held over 8 days, Sunday to Sunday.

- Q: Why is ASO launching the Tour de France Femmes? What is the market?

- A: Marketing. Image. Experimentation. (For example, ASO and host broadcaster France Télévisions almost certainly will expand their use of drones. They will try new revenue streams, including embedding ads in the broadcast, on mountainsides for example.) This is an important card they are playing.

- Q: What else can we expect following the launch of the Tour de France Femmes?

- A:

- Q: Should ASO and men's cycling subsidize women's cycling?

- A:

- More to come...

- The Donnons des Elles au Vélo project that I have sponsored since the beginning has successfully convinced Tour de France organizer ASO to bring back a women's Tour de France. The new race, the "Tour de France Femmes," will be launched in 2022.

Peter Geyer

How it started...How it's going. Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Coming 2022. But the work continues for the women of @desELLESauVELO who for the 7th consecutive year will ride the full route of the TDF one day ahead of the men's race. They depart 1 week from today. Allez! pic.twitter.com/3lXsTDuhUa

— Pete Geyer (@cyclingfans) June 18, 2021