“It would’ve been a good route for Lizzie [Deignan],” says Marion Rousse, sitting in the basement room of Leeds City Museum, where she has just announced the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will start in Yorkshire in 2027.
Three seats to the race director’s right, Deignan begins to laugh. “Well, yeah,” the Brit says. “But they did it too late.”
“I was one of the best riders in the world,” Deignan says. “But incredibly jealous of my male colleagues and the opportunities they had to race at home in the Tour de France, and it makes me incredibly proud and grateful that now the women of the UK will have the chance to race here.”
Addressing the media, Rousse spoke of the “fervour” of the British fans. She watched them on her TV, she recalled, when the men’s race started in Leeds in 2014, and expects them to turn up in overwhelming numbers again in July next year.
“I will be jealous,” said Deignan, asked how she’ll feel to be absent from the peloton. “I’d be lying if I said otherwise. But I’m on the other side now, and I will get to appreciate the magic as a fan, which I’ve never got to be able to do before, so I’m looking forward to that.
“I’m now a mother. I will have two daughters by the time the race rolls around, and to be able to experience the magic of the Tour de France with them, but to see ponytails coming out the back of the helmets, is going to be brilliant.”
The UK will host six Tour de France stages next year, split equally between the men’s and women’s races, it was announced on Thursday.
On 2 July, the men will leave Edinburgh, via stage finishes in Carlisle, Liverpool and Cardiff. The race’s travelling circus will then return at the end of the month, 30 July, to welcome the women in Leeds.
“I just think it’s going to be such a moment for the community to come together,” Deignan said. “British fans are brilliant. There’s no downside to this. It’s all positive. I’m really excited just to be here in July and to feel it all.”
Later on Thursday evening, Deignan’s voice rang out from a loudspeaker in Leeds’s Millenium Square, where a lights display beamed onto the city hall. It included a five-minute video, with archive reels from both the men’s and women’s races, and the names of the UK’s host towns and cities for 2027. At the end, both races’ logos shone side by side. A crowd of around 100 people in suits rippled in applause.
Come 30 July 2027, the same spot will count tens of thousands of people – adults and children, dressed in yellow and polka dots. The countdown is on. “We’re ready,” Deignan’s voice filled the square. “Are you?”
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