Emma Pooley, national time trial champion, world and Olympic champion Marianne Vos, world champion ironman triathlete Chrissie Wellington and Kathryn Bertine are the girls to thank for the inclusion of women’s event, La Course, at this year’s Tour de France.
La Course by Le Tour de France, a one day event will be held in conjunction with the final day of the Tour de France and is considered a huge step towards the girl’s final goal of a three week stage race in conjunction with the main event.
Despite initial reluctance from the Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme, it was agreed to host La Course, an event that will be televised live globally.
What happened to the original Women’s Tour de France
La Course: The Course
20 teams will take to the start line of La Course by Le Tour de France on 27 July 2014 at 11.45pm (GMT). The riders will complete the circuit marked above on the Champs-Elysées 13 times, covering a total distance of 90 km.
The course which is completely flat will not be the hardest on the racing calendar but with €22,500 (equal to that of a stage win at the Tour de France for the men) up for grabs for the winner, we have no doubt it will be an electric race awash with nail biting excitement from start to finish.
La Course will also include an intermediate sprint on every lap for points counting towards a sprinters’ prize.
The presentation will take place at 2pm (GMT), at which the first ever winner of La Course by Le Tour de France will treated to kisses from Podium Boys and presented with their prize.
Where to Watch La Course
Of course the most preferable option here would be to travel to Paris and watch the race from the sidelines. We do have a couple of race packages up for grabs which include flights, accommodation and grandstand tickets so why not head on over to the website and enter this trip of a lifetime to La Course by Le Tour de France.
If however you are not lucky enough to be heading to the race itself, fear not as unlike a lot of other women’s races, La Course will actually be broadcast in 147 countries with 12 channels across 104 of those countries showing it live.
Here in the UK you will be able to watch La Course by Le Tour de France on British Eurosport from 11.45am – 1.45pm.
If you are unable to get to a TV, then fear not Total Women’s Cycling will bring you all of the action live from our Twitter Feed and also keep track of #LaCourse on Twitter too.
La Course: The Teams
17 Pro teams and three national teams will take part in the first edition of la Course by le Tour de France. Every team will be composed of 6 competitors.
The following 20 teams have been invited to the race :
Australia
ORICA – AIS
EQUIPE NATIONALE AUSTRALIENNE
Belgium
LOTTO BELISOL LADIES
Spain
BIZKAIA – DURANGO
United States
OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES
UNITEDHEALTHCARE PRO CYCLING TEAM
SPECIALIZED – LULULEMON
France
POITOU CHARENTES FUTUROSCOPE 86
EQUIPE NATIONALE FRANÇAISE
United Kingdom
WIGGLE HONDA
Italy
ALE CIPOLLINI
ASTANA BEPINK WOMENS TEAM
Mexico
ESTADO DE MEXICO FAREN
Norway
HITEC PRODUCTS
Netherlands
RABO LIV WOMEN CYCLING TEAM
BOELS DOLMANS CYCLING TEAM
TEAM GIANT-SHIMANO
EQUIPE NATIONALE HOLLANDAISE
Russia
RUSVELO
Switzerland
BIGLA CYCLING TEAM
Wondering who to watch out for at La Course, then check out this very cheesy but highly entertaining video showing Kittel and Greipel’s predictions for the race:
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