Five non-cycling mums from Buckinghamshire have joined forces to take on L’Etape du Tour in order to raise awareness and money for autism.

Stephanie, Anna, Sarah, Rachael and Natalie are on a big mission. Their newly formed women’s cycling team Puzzle5Etape aims to conquer road cycling’s toughest sportive, L’Etape du Tour. 

Their end goal by July 19, is to have made more people aware of the needs of very young children with autism and to have raised funds to extend the services provided and already in great demand at Puzzle Centre.

Each of the riders either has a child on the autism spectrum or works at the charity’s early intervention centre.

The riders, who each had know idea what the race even was before hand, have had to learn to ride bikes all over again. And it seems like they’re loving it!

With support from big brands in the industry, Trek have put them each on a Silque SLX bike and they’ve been kitted out with all the gear they need from Rapha to make it to the finish line.

They will be testing their legs on the route of one of the mountain stages of the Tour de France, which this year runs over a over 142km course from Saint-Jean De-Maurienne to a summit finish at La Toussuire.

You can make donations for the Puzzle5Etape here and keep up to date with their progress on their Facebook page.

Keep up the good work ladies!