Tour de France Femmes

From 1984 to 1989, the Tour de France Women was the curtain raising event for the men's event. It was organised by the Tour de France Society, organiser of the men's Tour de France. In 1990, the event changed its name and format, becoming the Tour of the EEC Women, which ran until 1993.[1]

In 1992, a new race was created, the Tour cycliste féminin, organised in August by Pierre Boué. The race lacked stable sponsorship and with the location of stages determined by locations willing to contribute, there were long transfers between stages. Until 1998, it was the Tour Cycliste Féminin, but the Société du Tour de France, organizers of the men's Tour de France, said that infringed their trademark and in 1999 the name was changed.[2] It resumed under the name Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale, but was not held in 2004 because of organisational difficulties. It returned, smaller, in 2005. The previous tours were 10 to 15 stages; later ones had five and stayed in one region. The race also received a lower classification by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), and had a reduced field. In 2008, the race was six days and seven stages. However, in 2009 the race was only four days long with only 66 riders, after a planned race start and three stages in Britain fell through, leading winner Emma Pooley to joke that the race was "more of a Petite Boucle than Grande."[3][4] The race was discontinued after 2009.

France was left with no major women's stage race after the Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin and the Route de France Féminine finished in 2010 and 2016 respectively.[5]

In 2022, the race is to return, with eight stages:Zwift will be the main sponsor.

• Giro d'Italia Femminile
• La Course by Le Tour de France

• Scrymgeour, Kristy (2003). "La Grande Débâcle: What's wrong with the women's Tour de France?". cyclingnews.com.
• Official website