Starting on Sunday, July 23 the 2nd edition of the modern Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift kicked off with the Grand Départ set in the Massif Central on July 23 and the finish in Pau on July 30.
Lotte Kopecky claimed the first yellow jersey for SD Worx with a stinging attack over the final climb on stage 1, but was denied a second stage win the next day by Liane Lippert (Movistar). On stage 3, Kopecky had to put in a huge pull to bring back solo attacker Julie van de Velde (Fenix-Deceuninck) with just 200 metres to go.
The GC riders came out to play on the longest day of the race on stage 4, a 177km trip to Rodez with enough climbing to cause significant shifts in the standings. While Kopecky kept the lead, her teammate Demi Vollering is closing in with higher mountains in the near future.
The 2023 Tour de France Femmes will be broadcast globally with live coverage of all eight stages, and you can find out how to watch the race wherever you are with our handy guide with ExpressVPN
Marion Rousse and the 2023 Tour de France Femmes map (Image credit: Getty Images)
The 2023 Tour de France Femmes begins in the Massif Central on July 23, in the city of Clermont-Ferrand, the capital of the Auvergne region. It is a 124km flat race with a decisive final where the winner will take the first yellow jersey of the eight-day race.
Stage 2 on July 24 begins in Clermont-Ferrand with a 148km hilly route into Mauriac that will undoubtedly shake up the GC standings. The peloton will then contest a flatter route on stage 3, July 25, with a 147km route that begins in Collonges-La-Rouge, offers several short climbs and a flat run-in into Montignac-Lascaux.
On July 26, stage 4's hilly 177km, will be the longest stage of the event with an altitude gain of 2,400 metres. It starts in Cahors but most of the climbing is in the second half of the stage where the puncheurs will be out to play for the finish in Rodez.
As the race heads further south into the Pyrénées, stage 5 on July 27, will begin in Onet-Le-Château. Among the flatter stages, the 126km route does offer a series of short climbs, and a flat run-in to Albi. Albi will also be the start of stage 6 on July 28 with a 122km route that will include four ascents before a flatter finish into Blagnac.
The queen stage of the Tour de France Femmes takes place on the penultimate stage 7 on July 29 with a summit finish at the iconic Tourmalet. Stage 8 will take place in Pau and the peloton will race a 22km time trial to close out the event before the overall champion is crowned.
Join Cyclingnews' live coverage of the 2023 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and check in daily for race reports, results, photo galleries, news and race analysis.
How to watch the Tour de France Femmes in the USA and Canada
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CNBC holds the broadcasting rights for the Tour de France Femmes in the USA. The race will be broadcast live on NBC, as well as the network's streaming service, Peacock TV.
FloBikes will air the Tour de France Femmes in Canada. An annual subscription will set you back $12.99/month.
Viewers in the USA can watch the Tour de France Femmes live via the network, while highlights and on-demand streams will also be available.
How to watch Tour de France Femmes in the UK
In the UK, the Tour de France Femmes will also be aired live by GCN+ in the UK, with the same coverage also available via Eurosport.
A subscription to GCN+ or Discovery+ will cost you £6.99 per month or £59.99 for a year.
How to watch Tour de France Femmes around the World
In Australia, national broadcaster SBS and GCN+ will carry live Tour de France Femmes coverage. In New Zealand, Sky Sports will offer live coverage.
For a local feel and full French-language coverage of the race, head to France TV Around Europe, broadcasters include, VRT/Sporza and RTBF in Belgium, NOS in the Netherlands, TV2 in Norway, DKTV2 in Denmark, and RTVE in Spain.
Be warned, though, geo-restrictions may apply if you're outside your home country or on holiday during the Tour de France Femmes.
Best VPN for streaming the Tour de France Femmes
Geo-restrictions are the bane of cycling fans because they can prevent you from watching the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift using your live-streaming accounts if you are outside of your home country.
While you can always follow Cyclingnews for all the live coverage you can access your geo-blocked live streaming services by simulating being in your home country with a VPN - a 'virtual private network'.
Our experts have thoroughly tested VPNs for live-streaming sports and recommend ExpressVPN. The service lets you to watch the race live on various devices – Smart TVs, Fire TV Stick, PC, Mac, iPhone, Android phone, iPads, tablets, etc.
Try ExpressVPN risk-free for 30 days ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money back guarantee with its VPN service. You can use it to watch on your mobile, tablet, laptop, TV, games console and more. There's 24/7 customer support and three months free when you sign-up.
There are a couple other very good options that are safe, reliable and offer good bandwidth for streaming sports. Check out the best two options below - NordVPN and the best budget option, Surfshark.
NordVPN - get the world's favorite VPN We've put all the major VPNs through their paces and we rate NordVPN as the best for streaming Netflix as our top pick, thanks to its speed, ease of use and strong security features. It's also compatible with just about any streaming device out there, including Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox and PlayStation, as well as Android and Apple mobiles.
3. Surfshark: the best cheap VPN Currently topping our charts as the fastest VPN around, Surfshark keeps giving us reasons to recommend it. It's a high-value, low-cost option that's easy to use, full of features, and excellent at unblocking restricted content.
With servers in over 100 countries, you can stream your favorite shows from almost anywhere. Best of all, Surfshark costs as little as $2.30 per month, and it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee to try it out.
Tour de France Femmes 2023 stages schedule
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Schedule
Date
Stage
Start time
Finish time
Live Streaming
July 23
Stage 1
12:15 CET
15:36 CET
Row 0 - Cell 4
July 24
Stage 2
13:05 CET
17:45 CET
Row 1 - Cell 4
July 25
Stage 3
13:30 CET
17:44 CET
Row 2 - Cell 4
July 26
Stage 4
12:25 CET
17:44 CET
Row 3 - Cell 4
July 27
Stage 5
14:00 CET
17:39 CET
Row 4 - Cell 4
July 28
Stage 6
14:20 CET
17:38 CET
Row 5 - Cell 4
July 29
Stage 7
16:15 CET
19:25 CET
Row 6 - Cell 4
July 30
Stage 8
14:30 CET
17:30 CET
Row 7 - Cell 4
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Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
