News: Worlds best for Women’s Tour

Twelve of the world’s top 15 teams will be among those racing against the three British teams in this year’s Women’s Tour (4–9 October)

News: Worlds best for Women’s Tour

Twelve of the world’s top 15 teams will be among those in action at this year’s Women’s Tour (Monday 4 – Saturday 9 October). Rescheduled from its traditional June calendar position to the COVID-19 pandemic, the race will nonetheless attract an all-star field once again for its seventh edition, with all nine of the top division UCI Women’s WorldTour teams confirmed to race.

Among those are SD Worx, the world’s number one team, and the squads of four of the race’s previous overall winners: Trek-Segafredo (Lizzie Deignan, 2019 champion), Team DSM (Coryn Rivera, 2018 champion), Canyon SRAM Racing (Kasia Niewiadoma, 2017 champion) and Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling (Lisa Brennauer, 2015 winner).

British interest comes in the form of AWOL O’Shea, CAMS-Basso Bikes – both Women’s Tour debutants – and Drops-Le Col s/b TEMPUR. 2021 will mark Drops’ fifth appearance in the event, while the Essex-based CAMS team will be on home soil for the race’s fourth and fifth stages (Shoeburyness to Southend on Thursday 7 October, Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea on Friday 8 October).

The full list of teams competing in the 2021 Women’s Tour is:

AWOL O’Shea (Great Britain)
CAMS-Basso Bikes (Great Britain)
Drops-Le Col s/b TEMPUR. (Great Britain)

Alé BTC Ljubljana (Italy)
Canyon SRAM Racing (Germany)
Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling (Germany)
FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope (France)
Liv Racing (Netherlands)
Movistar Team (Spain)
Parkhotel Valkenburg (Netherlands)
SD Worx (Netherlands)
Team BikeExchange (Australia)
Team DSM (Germany)
Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank (USA)
Trek-Segafredo (USA)
Valcar-Travel & Service (Italy)

Mick Bennett, Women’s Tour race director, said: “After the challenges that the Women’s Tour has faced since the start of 2020, it is extremely uplifting to know that when we finally return in October our passionate fans will again be able to enjoy watching the world’s best teams and riders along the roadside – all for free, too! We’ve designed a route that will make sure the battle for overall glory goes down to the final day. Roll on October!”

Full details of the 2021 Women’s Tour – including stage routes and timetables; SKODA Queen of the Mountains and sprint locations; and competing riders – will be announced shortly.

Stages
Stage one Bicester to Banbury Monday 4 October
Stage two Walsall Tuesday 5 October
Stage three Atherstone individual time trial Wednesday 6 October
Stage four Shoeburyness to Southend Thursday 7 October
Stage five Colchester to Clacton Friday 8 October
Stage six Haverhill to Felixstowe Saturday 9 October

Competing teams
— UCI Women’s World Teams: Alé BTC Ljubljana, Canyon SRAM Racing, FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope, Liv Racing, Movistar Team, SD Worx, Team BikeExchange, Team DSM, Trek-Segafredo
— UCI Women’s Continental Teams: AWOL O’Shea, CAMS-Basso Bikes, Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling, Drops-Le Col s/b TEMPUR., Parkhotel Valkenburg, Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank, Valcar-Travel & Service