- This Sunday, the race begins at 7:30 A.M. EST and finishes at roughly 9:30 A.M.
- NBC's broadcast will be available at 3:00 P.M. EST
- Live streaming will be available on Peacock App starting at 7:20 A.M. EST
Stage 1 - Paris to Champs-Élyseés - 82km - Sunday, July 24
Starting at the Eiffel Tower and ending on the iconic Champs-Élyseés? It doesn’t get more classic than the first stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. And yes, this isn’t the first women’s Tour de France. There have been women’s iterations of the Tour in the past, and in recent history, we’ve seen La Course on the same route as Stage 1, but this eight-day stage race version has a lot of steam behind it. We’re excited.
Today’s stage will be relatively short, just 51 miles, with relatively little climbing, which should make it an exciting one to watch from start to finish, since it should only take around two hours for the women to complete it. This race is one that the women in the peloton have been preparing for all year (as Kristen Faulkner told us in an interview earlier this week, it has an almost Olympic-like aura to it), so expect riders to come in fresh and prepared to really make their mark on the course.
The course has only two sprints and one mild climb with a QOM in the eleven laps of the 6.8-kilometer course, so expect the pack to stay tight together, though you’ll likely see plenty of attempted attacks as teams test their strengths in this early stage. And with the men’s Tour de France finishing in Paris on the same day in the same place, expect the finish area to be absolutely wild.
More From Bicycling
And in Stage 1, it’s not just about who moves into the overall lead: As with the men’s race, caravan positions are decided by each team’s top rider on the Tour’s General Classification–which means a win on Stage 1 could give your team an advantage throughout the week, with better access to team cars. As well as the chance to step onto the podium with the Champs-Élyseés in the background. So don't be surprised if the competition for points in the Green, Polka Dot, and White jerseys is a heated one from day 1.
Riders to Watch
All of the road racing heavy-hitters will be in attendance. Movistar’s Annemiek van Vleuten will be there, coming off of her win at the Giro Donne. Marianne Vos of Jumbo Visma—one of the original women to fight for La Course, the precursor to the Tour de France Femmes—stopped racing the Giro Donne early (after taking two stage wins) to turn her focus to this race. Vos has also won this stage before, in its initial inception at La Course, the one-day race for women at the Tour de France, so we expect her tactically to have an advantage.
But are also plenty of riders who could easily factor in for a stage wins or top spots in the overall standings in this early stage, including UAE Team ADQ’s Mavi García, Canyon SRAM’s Elise Chabbey, and Trek-Segafredo’s Elisa Balsamo and Elisa Longo-Borghini. Team SD Worx also has three riders we’ll be watching closely: Ashley Moolman-Pasio, Lotte Kopecky, and Demi Vollering.
On the American side, there’s Team BikeExchange-Jayco’s Kristen Faulker, who took two stage wins at the Giro Donne this year. Additionally, Coryn Labecki (Jumbo-Visma), Chloe Dygert (Canyon/SRAM Racing), Team EF’s Krista Doebel-Hickok, and Lily Williams (Human Powered Health) will be on the start line.
So, how do riders feel with just one day before racing kicks off? “It feels happy. Or, I feel happy! It reminds me a little of when I got the callup for the World Championships: I was just so honored and thrilled and excited to be there. And, then, in the race, I saw I very much belonged there,” says Doebel-Hickok. “I know myself and my team belong at this race, at this event, and in beautiful Paris with our beautiful bikes. I thought I would feel more nervous, but actually, I feel a sense of calm. I feel like myself, our team, and women’s cycling is where it should be.”
When to Watch
Sunday is a big day for bike racing: With the men’s Tour de France finishing in Paris on the same day, prepare to be glued to your screen for most of the day. The women’s race will begin at 7:30 A.M. EST and finish at roughly 9:30 A.M. The men roll out soon after, and their final stage is expected to finish around 3:30 P.M. EST.
The NBC broadcast of the women’s race won’t be until 3 P.M. EST on Sunday, so if you’re hoping to watch it as it streams live, head over to the Peacock App for coverage beginning at 7:20 A.M. EST. (Your NBC credentials should allow you to log in, or if you don’t have cable, a month-long subscription to Peacock is reasonably inexpensive!) For those in Canada, FloBikes will begin their broadcast at 5:30 A.M.
If you’re concerned about missing some pedaling time while you spectate the race, you can always hop on Zwift and ride sections of Zwift Island created to mimic parts of each stage—and join other Tour de France Femmes-obsessed fans while you ride!
