Profiles & Route Tour de France Femmes 2023

Profiles. The Tour de France Femmes will take place from the 23rd to the 30th of July 2023 and is perhaps the climax of the women's season. Eight days of racing throughout France follow the Tour de France as an extremely popular race.

The race will feature 8 stages throughout the center and south of France. It will feature three hilly stages, a time-trial, a mountainous stage and three opportunities for the sprinters. Breakaways could also have their opportunities throughout the race which will receive most of the women's biggest stars in the peloton of all fields.

The Grand Depart will take place in Clermont-Ferrand this edition, with a whole stage looping around the central French city. It will be an open day, with the puncheurs and sprinters having an opportunity to ride for the first yellow jersey. It features a 1.6-kilometer climb at 7.6% before a downhill finish into town.

The second stage will have an hilltop finish in Mauriac with 3.4 kilometers at 5.8% which should open the fight for the yellow jersey, and will be an interesting day with several riders in the mix for an explosive finale, in a day that features a climbing start and a few climbs close to the finish as attacks can come.

Stage 3 will have it's finale in Montignac-Lascaux and should be a bunch sprint. It isn't a flat day however with five categorized ascents on the day, but the pure sprinters should have here their first opportunity.

Stage 4 into Rodez will see a familiar finale, an explosive one after a hilly stage. he final kilometers will see three small climbs but ones that feature gradients hard enough to explode the race. The hilltop finish will see 570 meters at 10%. It will be a difficult day where the overall classification will be played, however it is likely that all will come down to the steep finale where the climbers and puncheurs will battle it out.

Stage 5 will finish in Albi, a stage that should see a sprint finish, however with possibilities for the offensive riders aswell. With a mostly downhill profile and a couple of short and sharp ascents, it could also be a reduced sprint, breakaway or late attacks to succeed. GC raids are also possible in such terrain.

Stage 6 into Blagnac should be another opportunity for the fast women, it will be the flattest stage of the race and the most likely to be calm. The 122 kilometers between Albi and Blagnac will host the world's best when it comes to the sprints.

Stage 7 will be the queen stage, as the race heads into the Pyrenees. The 90-kilometer stage will see the ascent of the Col d'Aspin (12Km; 6.5%) to warm things up, and a very hard summit finish at the Col du Tourmalet (17Km; 7.3%), a day that will be decisive for the overall classification and see the pure climbers fight for the win.

The race will finish in Pau, as the 8th stage will see an individual time-trial around the city with 22 kilometers in difference, which features two small hilltops and will see important differences in the overall classification - which can be decided here. The route is not flat with a 1.4-kilometer climb at 7.4% in it's middle, and a tricky final uphill ramp to the line.