Annemiek van Vleuten extended her career long enough to be able to race the modern version of the Tour de France Femmes as it returned after many years, and became the winner with a dominant performance in the mountains of the Vosges. She defends however that the race is ready to have it's own identity.
"For this year, I was super happy to start on the Champs-Élysées on the same day as the guys. It was strong and we took the audience with us, to follow us," van Vleuten told Cyclingnews at the recent Tour de Romandie Fe´minin. "Maybe now the Tour de France Femmes is already ready. We don't need that anymore, to get the attention from the people, that they will move with us on the same day."
With a second place in the GC, van Vleuten concluded an outstandingly successful season, including wins at all Grand Tours and the World Championships. She is an incredibly important voice within the sport, and she stands by the decision of taking the Tour de France Femmes in an opposite direction to the men's Tour de France, and become it's own brand.
"I liked the concept to start on the Champs-Élysées, not that it was my day and not my favourite race day, but I think it's a good point to move away a little bit around France," Van Vleuten said.
The 2023 edition is said to start in Clermont-Ferrand, and set to take place in significantly different roads to those of 2022 where only the north of France was in display. The route will be announced on the 27th of October alongside the men's Tour de France. "I'm super excited to see the whole route and then maybe I can say something more meaningful," she added.
"I would not say that it's necessary to try and go to all the parts of France in eight or ten days, I don't know how long it will be but hopefully a little bit longer. It's a good move to try and move around France every year," she concluded.
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