The 2023 Tour de France Femmes (officially Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift) was the second edition of the Tour de France Femmes. The race took place from 23 to 30 July 2023, and was the 21st race in the 2023 UCI Women's World Tour calendar. The race was organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), which also organises the men's Tour de France.
The race was won by Demi Vollering of , beating her rival Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) with a dominant stage win on the Col du Tourmalet. Second place went to Vollering's teammate Lotte Kopecky, who wore the yellow jersey for six stages after winning the first stage. The podium was rounded out by Katarzyna Niewiadoma of for the second year in a row.
In the race's other classifications, Kopecky won the points classification. Apart from finishing third in the general classification (GC), Niewiadoma also took the polka-dot jersey as winner of the Queen of the Mountains (QoM) classification. Cédrine Kerbaol of took the white jersey as the winner of the young riders classification, which was awarded to the best-placed rider under the age of 23. Yara Kastelijn took the super-combativity award to add to her win on stage 4. SD Worx won the team classification as the team with the lowest aggregate time among their three best-placed riders.
Overall, the race was highly praised by the public, media, teams and riders – with large crowds and high TV viewership. Race director Marion Rousse stated that the 2023 edition "was the year of confirmation: we had to prove that the first edition was not just curiosity".
Teams
22 teams participated in the race. Each team had seven riders, one more than the 2022 edition. The teams were announced on 14 April 2023. All 15 UCI Women's WorldTeams were automatically invited. They were joined by seven UCI Women's Continental Teams – the two best 2022 UCI Women's Continental Teams (Ceratizit–WNT Pro Cycling and Lifeplus–Wahoo) received an automatic invitation, and the other five teams were selected by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the organisers of the Tour. 154 riders from 27 nationalities started the race, the largest percentage of whom were Dutch (19% of the peloton).
UCI Women's WorldTeams
UCI Women's Continental Teams
Route and stages
In October 2022, the route was announced by race director Marion Rousse. It comprised eight consecutive days of racing, covering a total of . The race started in Clermont-Ferrand on the same day that the men's tour finished in Paris, before heading south across the Massif Central (including the longest, stage 4) towards the Pyrenees. The penultimate stage was the queen stage of the Tour, with a summit finish at the Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees at an elevation of . The final stage was an individual time trial in Pau, using a similar course to the 2019 edition of La Course by Le Tour de France. 2022 winner Annemiek van Vleuten called the route "an upgrade", with other riders welcoming the inclusion of bigger climbs and a time trial.
As with the 2022 edition, the route required a waiver from the Union Cycliste Internationale, as Women's WorldTour races have a maximum stage length of and a maximum race length of six days.
Race overview
Ahead of the race, Annemiek van Vleuten and Demi Vollering were considered pre-race favourites for the general classification (GC), following Van Vleuten's wins earlier in the season at and Giro Donne, and Vollering's second places at La Vuelta Femenina and the 2022 Tour de France Femmes. Other contenders tipped for the general classification (GC) included Elisa Longo Borghini, Juliette Labous, Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and Veronica Ewers.
Lorena Wiebes, Charlotte Kool, and Silvia Persico were considered favourites for the points classification, with Van Vleuten and Vollering tipped for the mountains classification. Eleonora Gasparrini, Cédrine Kerbaol and Alice Towers were considered favourites for the young rider classification, and SD Worx were considered favourites for the team classification.
Overall, the field of 154 riders was described as "stacked", with the top 13 finishers from the 2022 edition all taking part. Media coverage prior to the event was very positive, with anticipation of the summit finish at the Col du Tourmalet and the time trial in Pau. The start in Clermont-Ferrand was also welcomed, with Rouleur stating it "breaks the shackles that tie it to the men's race". The prize fund remained at €250,000 (compared to €2.3 million for the men's tour), with €50,000 for the winner of the general classification – making it one of the richest races in women's cycling.