follow the first stage from Clermont-Ferrand

Building on the success of the first edition, the Women’s Tour de France offers the Massif Central and the Pyrenees as the backdrop for a 2023 edition that aims to confirm the growing interest in women’s cycling. Starting on Sunday from Clermont-Ferrand and spanning eight days of racing, the queens of cycling will set off over nearly 1,000 kilometers which promise a great fight between the Dutch favourites, the experienced Annemiek van Vleuten (title holder) and Demi Vollering, her runner-up last year. Follow our live.

Clermont-Ferrand in the spotlight. The 1st stage of the Tour starts from the Auvergne capital and also arrives in the city. A stage with a rather simple profile on paper, but with a potentially insidious ending. After a relatively flat course, the road climbs into the Durtol coast (1.7km at 7.2%), the summit of which is 9.3km from the finish.

Sprinters may be disabled. Still, Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx) seems to have the legs needed for the final meters of this first stage. We will also have to watch the legend Marianne Vos (Team Jumbo-Visma). In the French clan, Juliette Labous (Team DSM-Firmenich) and Evita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) are not the fastest in the sprint. They have every interest in launching an attack in the last bump to end up in a small committee.

Van Vleuten big favorite of the Tour. The Dutch Annemiek van Vleuten, already victorious in the Vuelta and the Giro this year, will aim like last year for the triplet in the Tour de France. She will face competition from the young guard led by her compatriot Demi Vollering.