From Monday August 12 (the day after the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games) to Sunday 18, 8 stages (including two half-stages on August 13) and 946.3 km (through three countries, the Netherlands , Belgium and France) in total will host the Women’s Tour. The third of the new era. With 3 plain stages, 2 hilly stages, 2 mountain stages and 1 time trial on the menu. And a big departure, the first from abroad, from Rotterdam for 154 runners (22 teams of 7).
“The Netherlands, there is a kind of evidence. I follow in my father’s footsteps, that’s the title of the film. The first start of the Tour de France from abroad was in 1954 in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam. And there, it will start from the country of the little queen. The country which dominates (Annemiek van Vleuten won the event in 2022, her compatriot Demi Vollering won in 2023) which crushes women’s cycling. In the Netherlands, we are assured of popular success,” summarizes Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France.
After three stages in two days around Rotterdam, the Women’s Tour takes on classic accents with Valkenburg-Liège (with passages through the Cauberg, the Côte des Forges and the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons). After Bastogne-Amnéville, the 6th stage, in France (10 French departments crossed during the edition), will go from Remiremont to Morteau. Before the final weekend in the Alps: arrival of the 7th stage at Grand-Bornand (at the end of the longest stage; 167 km), then final arrival at the summit of L’Alpe d’Huez (via the pass du Glandon; 1924 m, the roof of the Women’s Tour) at the end of the 8th stage which will display 3900 m of positive altitude difference, the record for the edition. “We will therefore go from Rotterdam in the Netherlands to Alpe d’Huez, the mountain of the Dutch,” summarizes Christian Prudhomme.
