Les Femmes de France 2022

Welcome to beautiful Paris. We’ll collect you from the airport or train station and take you back to the hotel. After you have checked in, we’ll help you reassemble your bike or get you fitted to the rental bike. After lunch, we will regroup and set out to follow the Parisian section of the women’s route, including a lap or two of the Champs-Élysées. Once back at the hotel, you can relax or explore more of alluring Paris.

We’ll have dinner together and discuss the plans for the next 9 days.

Specific race details have yet to be finalised however we anticipate an opportunity to ride some scenic routes through Paris before returning to watch Stage 1 of the women’s race on the Champs-Élysées, followed by the arrival of the men’s. The crowds will be enormous and the atmosphere will be intense as both groups fight for podium places. We will find the optimal place to view both the women’s and the men’s races.

We hope you are excited! Today we’ll start with a transfer to Meaux and allow you to watch the start of Stage 2. After the women have departed, we’ll follow the course to Tigeaux and then take a fast and furious scenic shortcut across to Provins to be in time to watch the racers arrive.

After the Stage 2 podium awards, we’ll transfer to our hotel in ancient Reims.

Yesterday was a fast flat day, today we will ride a more leisurely route through the world famous Champagne region following some of the race route, before finding one or two places to stop and sip this delicious wine.

We'll ride back through the champagne vineyards to Épernay, stop for lunch (and more Champagne?) and cheer the pros as they arrive.

We will then transfer to Troyes and our next hotel.

Today we offer you the thrill of the Ride Every Kilometre challenge! REK has been an important element of Grand Tours Project and we think that today is the day and if it is not for you, we have an alternative.

We will start early as we need to stay in front of the gendarmes and the Caravan...not to mention the professionals! The GTP van will be in Vendeurve to provide refreshments before you continue along the race route or take a shortcut / transfer to Bar-sur-Aube to quaff some water and champagne and cheer on the pros as they arrive.

After the racers arrive, it's back in the van for a transfer to our hotel in lovely Nancy.

Sorry, today is not a rest day. But never fear, we are not racing ahead of the racers, gendarmes and caravan. We will start early and head to Vezelise, then Charmes and follow the route but finish after the pros. Somewhere between Rambervillers and Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, we will find an excellent place to watch and cheer the riders go past, enjoy a picnic and then head directly to our hotel.

Everything is relative and today is relatively ‘easy’.

We will ride the route into Alsace wine country - rieslings, pinot gris and gewürztraminer to name a few, to Klingenthal and then cut over to Rosheim. There are a couple of good climbs and depending on time, we can stop and wait at Klingenthal, sip cool refreshing wine and watch the riders come up and past us before heading down to Rosheim and watch them arrive.

We will then transfer to Colmar.

Still in Alsace wine country, we’ll join the route at Ingersheim on our bikes, missing the flat part of Stage 7 and giving us time to ride the beautiful mountain climbs. Depending upon your enthusiasm you can either stop in Le Markstein the first time or continue the loop and ride to Le Ballon before returning to the finish in Le Markstein.

Once we have regrouped, we will transfer to a delightful hotel nearby.

Our last riding day and the race is on! If the race is close, then today, in the mountains, the winners will be decided. The women will need to finish the last 10km on a 650 metre climb with 20+% inclines - brutal!

And we are going to attempt it too!

We have the option to ride from our lovely hotel or transfer to Le Thillot and then race against the formidable gendarmes and Caravan, to the finish.

We plan to make it to the finish and join the fans in cheering on these amazing women and then watch the final ceremony. After the celebrations, we will transport you to either Nancy or Strasbourg Station for a TVG journey back to Paris and our hotel.

You’ll wake up back in Paris and it's your choice to stay and enjoy this lovely city or continue your journey further afield or return home.

After 9 days of riding together, we hope that friendships have been forged, that you had an epic time and we trust you are super fit!

We’ll help you pack up your bike and take you to your departure point - airport or train station and hope to see you soon on another Grand Tours Project.