ASO has announced the teams to take part in the 2020 edition of La Course by Le Tour de France. 2019 winner Marianne Vos' CCC-Liv team are among the automatic selections for the race, which is set to run on August 29.
The seven other Women's WorldTour teams – Alé BTC Ljubljana, Canyon-SRAM, FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope, Mitchelton-Scott, Movistar, Team Sunweb and Trek-Segafredo – also receive automatic invitations, while 15 women's Continental teams will also take part.
Other teams to race the seventh edition of the one-day race include Boels Dolmans, Lotto Soudal and Paule Ka, the newly rebranded Bigla-Katusha team.
The race was originally set to be held on July 19 in Paris, though the original date was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the new date coinciding with the opening stage of the men's Tour de France in Nice, it's likely that La Course will be held in the southern city, though that has yet to be confirmed by ASO.
Founded in 2014, La Course has been dominated by Dutch riders since its inception, with Chloe Hosking's win in 2016 the only edition won by a non-Dutchwoman. Vos took victory in 2014 and 2019, Anna van der Breggen triumphed in 2015, and Annemiek van Vleuten won the two-stage event in 2017 and in 2018.
After 2017 and the unofficial second 'pursuit' time trial stage, the race reverted to a one-day format, with the thrilling 2018 edition seeing Van Vleuten hunt down Van der Breggen during the final 14km of the race, catching and passing her compatriot in the final metres of the 112km race.
An expansion of the race into a full women's Tour de France looks possible in the future, with Tour race director Christian Prudhomme commenting in May that it would be "logical to envision" a race for 2022. The comments came shortly after the 2020 Women's WorldTour was expanded with the surprise addition of a women's Paris-Roubaix, which will be held on October 25.
Full list of teams at La Course by Le Tour 2020
Alé BTC Ljubljana
Canyon-SRAM Racing
CCC-Liv
FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope
Mitchelton-Scott
Movistar Team Women
Team Sunweb
Trek-Segafredo
Aromitalia-Basso Bikes-Vaiano
Astana Women's Team
Bizkaia-Durango
Boels Dolmans
Cereatizit-WNT
Charente-Maritime
Cogeas Mettlere Look
Hitec Products-Birk Sport
Lotto Soudal Ladies
Parkhotel Valkenburg
Paule Ka
Rally Cycling
Team Arkéa
Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank
Valcar-Travel & Service
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Daniel Ostanek has been a staff writer at Cyclingnews since August 2019, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later part-time production editor. Before Cyclingnews, he was published in numerous publications around the cycling world, including Procycling, CyclingWeekly, CyclingTips, Cyclist, and Rouleur, among others. As well as reporting and writing news, Daniel runs the 'How to watch' content on Cyclingnews and takes on live race text coverage throughout the season.
Daniel has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, and has interviewed a number of the sport's biggest stars, including Egan Bernal, Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, Mark Cavendish, and Anna van der Breggen. Daniel rides a 2002 Landbouwkrediet Colnago C40 and his favourite races are Tro-Bro Léon, Strade Bianche, and the Vuelta a España.