Zwift announced as presenting partner of the (non-virtual) Tour de France Femme

On June 17, Zwift, the virtual cycling platform, announced that it will be the presenting partner of the 2022 Tour de France Femme, which will be officially called the “Tour de France Femme avec Zwift.”

The race will be held outdoors (not on Zwift), but the four-year partnership is part of Zwift’s broader strategy to grow women’s cycling and lay solid foundations, as the race seeks to establish itself as the pinnacle of the UCI Women’s World Tour cycling calendar. The goal of Zwift and Tour de France organizer ASO is to position the new Tour de France Femme as the flagship race of women’s cycling, in the same way that the men’s Tour de France has become the most watched annual sporting event in the world.

What we know so far

Twenty-two teams, with six riders per team, will compete in the inaugural edition of the event which starts on Sunday, July 24, 2022, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The Stages will be slightly shorter than the men’s stages, but further details about the full official course, along with prize money amounts and rules and regulations, will be announced on Oct. 14.

Although men’s Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme will still be involved with the women’s race, ASO is looking for a female race director for the event and is aiming to place “many women in key positions in the sports organization.”

According to Zwift and ASO making a profit from the race is “not the immediate objective,” though previous comments from Prudhomme warned that the women’s Tour de France may face cancellation if isn’t financially stable.

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Coverage and categories

In terms of coverage, ASO says it is using the connections it has from the men’s Tour de France to “pull together the same dedicated ecosystem for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift by providing equal opportunity for the media to follow the event as closely as possible.” Agreements have already been made with France Télévisions and the EBU to broadcast two hours of live coverage daily on most of the leading European general interest channels.

Regarding the significance of the new event Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx) says she is hopeful that the race will help grow the sport even more by “providing us with a media platform to take the excitement of women’s cycling to new audiences.”

The categories for the Tour de France Femmes will be the same as the men’s Tour de France—yellow, green, polka dot and white jerseys, team classifications and combativity awards. LCL will sponsor the yellow jersey and E.Leclerc will sponsor the polka dot jersey. Women’s cycling brand Liv will be the sponsor of the white jersey.

“I’ve long been a fan of the attacking style of women’s racing,” said Zwift CEO and co-founder Eric Min. “I really believe the women’s peloton puts on some of the most exciting bike racing to watch and it deserves a much bigger platform to exhibit these talents and skills. I’m proud that we can play a big part in making the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift a reality in 2022. Together we can bring women’s cycling to a larger audience and inspire new generations of female cyclists for years to come.”