Finally! ASO Is Reportedly Planning a Women’s Stage Race for 2022
Could ASO, the Tour de France organisers, finally be offering women's cycling a proper stage race for the first time in 30 years?
David Lappartient, the president of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), said in an interview with Dutch media outlet WielerFlits that Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) will organize a stage race to be held in 2022 that will be seen as the women’s equivalent to the Tour de France.
“Whether this race will also be called Tour de France, I don’t know yet,” Lappartient told WielerFlits. “I am assured that ASO will be ready to put this event on the calendar in 2022. This is a very good step in the further development of women’s cycling.”
WielerFlits also says the race will reportedly have eight stages, and will start in Paris on the last day of the men’s Tour de France.
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The push for a true Tour de France equivalent for women’s pro cycling has been happening for a long time. There was, in fact, a Tour de France Feminin stage race from 1984 to ’89, which ran as a three-week race parallel to the men’s for two years before being cut back to two weeks. Since then, the race has been held in different variations, under different names.
Most recently, ASO has organized La Course since 2016, though only as either a one- or two-day race. (The women’s WorldTour level of racing has only existed since 2016, too.)
Earlier this year, UCI announced that women would finally get their own edition of Paris-Roubaix—another win in the constant fight for equality in women’s pro cycling.
Additionally, ASO also recently announced that it will no longer use podium girls at the Tour de France, and will instead have a male host and female hostess to present awards.
We can’t wait to see Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio let loose on the mountains of France.
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