The Women's Tour

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The Women's Tour
2017 Women's Tour stage 3 - 034 Kasia Niewiadoma in Warwick.JPG
Katarzyna Niewiadoma wearing the leader's green jersey as the 2017 edition passes through Warwick
Race details
DateMay or June
RegionGreat Britain
DisciplineRoad
CompetitionUCI Women's World Tour
TypeStage race
OrganiserSweetSpot
Web sitewww.womenstour.co.uk Edit this at Wikidata
History
First edition2014 (2014)
Editions7 (as of 2021)
First winner Marianne Vos (NED)
Most wins Lizzie Deignan (GBR) (2)
Most recent Demi Vollering (NED)

The Women's Tour is a women's staged cycle race which takes place in Great Britain and has been part of the new UCI Women's World Tour since 2016. Until 2015 it was rated by the UCI as a 2.1 race.[1]

Its origins trace back to 2010 when SweetSpot (the company behind the Women's Tour) organised their first women's cycling race, the Horizon Fitness Grand Prix in Stoke-on-Trent. What began as a supporting event for the men's Tour Series – Britain's leading televised cycle race series – grew into a key part of the women's racing scene in Britain, thanks to television coverage on ITV4 in the UK and around the world. In 2018, Britain's leading women's teams took part in the whole series for the first time.[2]

The Women's Tour is organised by the company behind the men's Tour of Britain, which has been an ever-present on the UCI calendar since 2004. At this event's national launch in March 2013, SweetSpot MD Chairman Hugh Roberts and director Guy Elliott first announced[3] the company's intentions to create a standalone stage race for the world's top female cyclists in Britain – the first event of its kind.

As a prelude to the inaugural 2014 Women's Tour, a women's one-day race was held on the final day of the 2013 Tour of Britain in London, won by Hannah Barnes.[4] As history would show, SweetSpot's move was one that the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana organisers would announce some months later.

Just a week after this SweetSpot received the news that the Women's Tour had been granted a place on the UCI calendar for May 2014, being granted what was the highest possible ranking for a stage race (2.1) at the time.[5] This put it instantly on a par with the world's top races for women. The first edition was a widely acclaimed success, attracting the world's top riders and teams and widespread media coverage for women's cycling in the UK.

While the first edition of the race took place in May (Wednesday 7 - Sunday 11), the second edition - 2015 The Women's Tour - moved to a mid-June position,[6] a slot it has held on the UCI calendar ever since.

In 2016 the race became a part of the inaugural UCI Women's WorldTour,[7] the leading series of races for professional women cyclists.

In 2017 The Women's Tour finished in London for the first time in race history,[8] with Belgian rider Jolien D'Hoore winning the stage.[9] Wales hosted the race for the first time in 2018, with the final stage taking place between Dolgellau and Colwyn Bay.[10][11]

The Women's Tour expanded to six days for the first time in 2019.[12] The increase in days also heralded a slight shift of event days, as the race ran from Monday to Saturday[13]

SweetSpot announced in March 2020[14][15] that the planned seventh edition of the race, scheduled to take place between Monday 8 and Saturday 13 June, was postponed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The race's Grand Départ in Bicester, Oxfordshire[16] and final stage in Suffolk[17] had already been announced. Organisers said that they "hope to work with the UCI and British Cycling to find an alternative date in the international cycling calendar for the race to take place should conditions permit."[18] On 4 May, the 2020 Tour was cancelled.[19] In February 2021, the 2021 Women's Tour was postponed from June to October.[20]

Overall winners[]

Year Country Rider Team
2014  Netherlands Marianne Vos Rabo–Liv
2015  Germany Lisa Brennauer Velocio–SRAM
2016  Great Britain Lizzie Armitstead Boels–Dolmans
2017  Poland Katarzyna Niewiadoma WM3 Pro Cycling
2018  United States Coryn Rivera Team Sunweb
2019  Great Britain Lizzie Deignan Trek–Segafredo
2020 No race due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021  Netherlands Demi Vollering SD Worx

Classification leaders jerseys[]

Classification 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021
General Jersey yellow.svg Jersey green.svg Jersey blue.svg
Points Jersey green.svg Jersey blue.svg Jersey white.svg Jersey pink.svg Jersey light blue.svg
Sprints No award Jersey red.svg
Mountains Jersey orange.svg Jersey polkadot.svg Jersey black.svg Jersey green.svg
Youth Jersey white.svg No award
British Jersey red.svg Jersey violet.svg Jersey light blue.svg No award
Team Jersey yellow number.svg Jersey red number.svg Jersey yellow number.svg

Women's Tour facts and figures[]

Overall winners [21]

  • Five riders have won the six editions of the Women's Tour since its inaugural 2014 race
  • Lizzie Deignan (GBR) is the sole double champion in race history to date: she won the 2016 and 2019 editions.
  • Coryn Rivera (USA) became the first non-European rider to win the race overall when she triumphed in the 2018 edition.
  • Kasia Niewiadoma (POL, 2017) is the only rider to lead an edition of the race from start to finish.
  • The 2019 edition was the closest to date, with only two seconds separating winner Lizzie Deignan and runner-up Kasia Niewiadoma.
  • Kasia Niewiadoma won the 2017 edition by the biggest margin to date: one minute and 18 seconds.
  • Lizzie Deignan (2019) is the oldest winner of the race at 30 years, five months and 28 days.
  • Kasia Niewiadoma is the youngest (22 years, eight months and 13 days) – the only rider in race history to win it aged 25 or younger.

Stage winners [22]

  • Marianne Vos (NED) and Jolien D'hoore (BEL) have won the most stages of the race to date: five.
  • Vos (three in 2014) and D’hoore (two in 2019) are the only riders to win multiple stages of the race in the same year.
  • Eight riders have won stages in more than one edition of the race: Vos (2014, 2016 and 2019); D’hoore (2015, 2017 and 2018); Lizzie Deignan (GBR, 2015, 2016 and 2019); Christine Majerus (LUX, 2015 and 2016); Amy Pieters (NED, 2016, 2017 and 2019); Lotta Henttala (2016 and 2018); Sarah Roy (AUS, 2017 and 2018) and Kasia Niewiadoma (POL, 2017 and 2019).
  • Five different riders won stages in each of the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 editions of the race.
  • Fifteen different riders have won stages of the Women's Tour – the most recent addition to the list being Amalie Dideriksen (NED) in Worcester in 2018 (stage four).
  • Twelve different nationalities have won stages of the Women's Tour. Dutch riders have won the most (eight), three ahead of Belgium.
  • Sarah Roy (AUS, stage four 2017 and stage three 2018), Chloe Hosking (AUS, stage three, 2017) and Coryn Rivera (USA, stage two 2018) are the only non-European stage winners in race history to date.

Host venues [23]

References[]

  1. ^ The Women's Tour 2014 at ProCyclingStats
  2. ^ Bull, Nick (5 April 2018). "Tour Series 2018 race dates". Tour Series.
  3. ^ "Tour of Britain organisers announce plans for five-day women's race". RoadCyclingUK. 22 March 2013.
  4. ^ Bull, Nick (22 September 2013). "Hannah Barnes wins Westminster GP". Cycling Weekly.
  5. ^ "Women's Tour awarded top status by UCI for 2014". British Cycling. 10 October 2013.
  6. ^ "Friends Life Women's Tour 2015 dates". Women's Tour. 24 November 2014.
  7. ^ "Aviva Women's Tour named on UCI Women's WorldTour for 2016". Women's Tour. 25 September 2015.
  8. ^ "Spectacular Sunday London finale for The Women's Tour in 2017". Women's Tour. 21 February 2017.
  9. ^ "Katarzyna Niewiadoma wins the OVO Energy Women's Tour". Women's Tour. 11 June 2017.
  10. ^ Bull, Nick (7 March 2018). "North Wales to host final stage of the OVO Energy Women's Tour". Women's Tour.
  11. ^ Bull, Nick (17 June 2018). "Coryn Rivera wins 2018 OVO Energy Women's Tour as Lotta Lepistö claims Welsh finale". Women's Tour.
  12. ^ Bull, Nick (21 September 2018). "Tour of Britain 2015 route unveiled". Women's Tour.
  13. ^ "2019 race dates: 10 to 15 June". Women's Tour. 20 December 2018.
  14. ^ Bull, Nick (13 March 2020). "Women's Tour 2020 postponed". Women's Tour.
  15. ^ "Women's Tour 2020 postponement statement". Women's Tour. 13 March 2020.
  16. ^ Bull, Nick (13 February 2020). "Bicester to host 2020 Women's Tour Grand Départ". Women's Tour.
  17. ^ Bull, Nick (16 January 2020). "Suffolk to host final stage of the Women's Tour in 2020". Women's Tour.
  18. ^ Bull, Nick (13 March 2020). "Women's Tour 2020 postponed". Women's Tour.
  19. ^ "The Women's Tour cancelled for 2020 because of coronavirus pandemic". BBC Sport. 4 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  20. ^ "Women's Tour postponed from June to October". Cyclingnews.com. 16 February 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  21. ^ "Women's Tour 2020 media guide" (PDF). Women's Tour.
  22. ^ "Women's Tour 2020 media guide" (PDF). Women's Tour.
  23. ^ "Women's Tour 2020 media guide" (PDF). Women's Tour.

External links[]

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