Race Preview - Page 6

The Tour de France Femmes, the women's equivalent of the iconic men's race, has a rich history. The very first equivalent of the Tour de France Femmes was held in 1955 and won by the Brit Millie Robinson but it was a one-off event. It took until 1984 with the "Tour de France Féminin" for a true event

The 2023 Baloise Ladies Tour sees 6 stages over 5 days as we get a rare split stage. An opening prologue will introduce some time gaps and whilst there are hills on Stage 1 and 2, they shouldn't be decisive in the overall general classification.

The Giro Donne is one of the longest running major stage races in the women's cycling calendar. You can trace it all the way back to 1988 when Maria Canins won...

The Tour des Suisse Women has quickly moved up the ranks since its re-introduction to the calendar. Opening up as a 2.1 in 2021, it was a 2.Pro in 2022 and now part of the Women's WorldTour in 2023. It had been a 20-year wait from the last original edition in 2001 and the return in 2021. The two races were linked by the presence of Olga Zabelinskaya, the Russian-born Uzbek taking part in both sides of the gap.

The women's Dwars Door het Hageland has had 2 editions so far, both this side of the covid pandemic. The first year, 2021, was won by classics queen Chantal van der Broek-Blaak in a solo victory of 36 seconds ahead of teammate Christine Majerus.

The CIC-Tour Féminin Pyrénées has a limited history with just the one edition in 2022. Krista Doebel-Hickok was the strongest rider over the 4 stages, taking the GC by 1'07" from Eri Yonamine and Ricarda Bauernfeind back at 1'38" behind the American.

This year's Dwars Door de Westhoek has been scaled back due to roadworks. The riders will tackle 12 laps of a 10km circuit that...

The Alpes Gresivaudan Classic kicked off last season with, forgive me, a classic. Evita Muzic was the pre-race favourite and whilst she took the...

Kicking off in 2022, the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta del Sol saw Arlenis Sierra take the inaugural victory in what was a fun trio...

RideLondon Classique History After a tumultuous off-season, RideLondon Classique returns in 2023 still just about as a Women's WorldTour level race. Last year, only the...