La Course by Le Tour: A Race for Women at the Tour de France
WATCH LA COURSE by LA TOUR DE FRANCE on UNIVERSAL SPORTS with SLING TV
For the second straight year, women will cycle down the Champs-Élysées in a race of their own.
Last year marked the inaugural La Course by La Tour, a one-day race for women prior to the end of the Tour de France. Marianne Vos, who won last year’s race, is injured and won’t be able to defend her title but the field is still filled with world-class cyclists, including current world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.
American Coryn Rivera recently won the Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen and should contend at La Course. She finished sixth in Paris last year.
“With La Course just around the corner, Thüringen has served as a great opportunity to get some hard, European racing in my legs before I reunite with my UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling teammates in France next week,” she told VeloNews. “I’m happy to take the win for Team USA and my teammates back home, and look forward to what the rest of the week has in store for us.”
Also expected to compete for a spot on the podium are last year’s runner-up Kristen Wild, Leah Kirchmann (who finished third last year), Elisa Longo Borghini, two-time world champion Giorgia Bronzini, Elena Cecchini, Ellen van Dijk, Lizzie Armiststead, Emma Johannson, and American Shelley Olds, who finished fifth at the inaugural La Course.
“If I get on the podium (at La Course), it’s because of all the training I’ve gotten here, the good competition and the motivation from the crowds to race hard and aggressive,” Olds told the Sun after dominating the eight-race BC Superweek in Metro Vancouver last week.
Click here to see all 20 teams that were invited for this year’s race, which you can watch live at 8 a.m. ET Sunday on Universal Sports.