Race of our own

In just four years, the Tour de France Femmes has gone from being an addendum to the men's race to an established and exciting fixture in its own right.

- Words Jeremy Whittle Photography Eloise Mavian/Tornanti

That's down to a boom in women's sport in general, but also to the determination of race director Marion Rousse

When Marion Rousse stood up to speak at the UCI’s headquarters in Aigle at the start of June, it was a landmark moment. The director of the women’s Tour de France, or the ‘Femmes’, was revealing new standalone dates in 2026 for the reborn race, dates that hammered home the explosive growth in women’s racing.

That’s because in 2026, the Tour de France Femmes will not piggyback the men’s Tour, the Olympic Games or anything else. It will be its own event and no longer riding on the coattails of the men’s peloton, an achievement that has taken just four years, during which sponsors, TV rights holders and the wider sports audience have all embraced the Femmes. Understandably, Rousse was jubilant.

‘We no longer need men for the Tour de France Femmes to exist,’ she said after unveiling the Grand Départ of the 2026 race, which will start in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 1st August, a week after the men’s Tour ends. ‘The Femmes demonstrated that in 2024. There’s no need to have the men’s race as a platform to launch the women’s race. Now people are waiting to see us.’

Rousse was herself a gifted rider and raced professionally between 2010 and 2015. She won the road race at the French National Championships in 2012 and spent three years racing in a Lotto-Soudal jersey. But it was a different era, one in which women raced for passion, not for money, especially as most of the time there wasn’t any. Despite a promising start, she retired from the sport in 2015.

Now she is a respected race director and, unlike some road-weary male contemporaries, is determined, assured and serious. She is a highly successful woman in what remains a sport dominated by men.