The History
The first three editions of La Course were a circuit race on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Marianne Vos (2014), Anna van der Breggen (2015) and Australian Chloe Hosking (2016) took the spoils. The 2017 edition saw a mountain top finish stage at the Col d’Izoard followed by a pursuit race in Marseille, while La Course was run through the high mountains, the race heading into the Alps in 2018. These two editions were won by Annemiek van Vleuten before Marianne Vos won 2019’s hilly circuit race in Pau. Lizzie Deignan upset Vos the next year from an elite group sprinting for the line, the British star becoming just the second non-Dutch winner along with Hoksing in the race's history.
The 2021 race will be the last one, but that news is not negative, rather the race will make way for the new women's Tour de France, named Tour de France Femmes, an 8-stage race that will be staged just after the men's event in 2022.
The Course for 'La Course'
Starting in Brest, the peloton will ride its way out of coastal city, heading over the iconic Pont de l’Iroise. After crossing the bridge the neutral flag will be dropped on what is set to be a challenging 107.4km race.
The category 4 Côte de Trebeolin is the opening challenge of the day and may offer a chance for a strong early breakaway to form on its slopes. At 900m in length and a gradient of 5.1% it isn't exceptionally hard, but with still 100 kilometres to race there may be a little bit of leniency from the peloton to allow a small advantage.
The peloton then tackles some undulating terrain before hitting the final circuit around Landerneau, with the key ascent climbed for the first of four times as the Côte de la Fosse aux Loups (3km at 5.1%). The category 3 climb isn't the hardest, but the opening 500m ramp at 9.4 per cent will test even the best climbers. The repeated ascents will determine how the race progresses, some of the stronger teams will certainly want to see if they can drop Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) or get riders up the road so they won't have to match her prodigious finishing sprint.
After the first completed ascent, there will be 3 laps of the finishing circuit around Landerneau with the finish line coming atop the final summit of the Côte de la Fosse aux Loups.
2021 La Course by Le Tour de France profile Source: ASO
Contenders
Lizzie Deignan is the reigning titleholder and will line up to defend her victory at the head of a strong Trek-Segafredo squad. Last year, she was the fastest rider in a group of six, outsprinting Marianne Vos and Demi Vollering on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.
Australian squad Team BikeExchange brings a strong team to the race. Amanda Spratt and Grace Brown will likely be the leaders, but they'll also have Ane Santesteban coming off her recent second place at Spanish national championships in good form. If recent history in the Women's WorldTour is any indicator, they’ll look to animate the race and they are often keen to send riders up the road. 28-year-old Brown has had a great year thus far with victory at De Panne and third in Flanders and the finishing climb should suit her strengths well.
Marianne Vos is rarely far from the top of a list of favourites at any race she lines up for and she shapes as the key rider here. She'll be the fastest sprinter out of the riders who can hope to get up the final climb and a lot of other teams will likely be trying to avoid coming to a sprint with the three-time world champion of the road race.
SD Worx are coming off a series of powerhouse performances during the spring classics season. They'll bring a strong squad with Anna van der Breggen, Demi Vollering and Chantal van den Broek-Blaak all coming off major wins in some of the hardest races on the women's racing calendar.
Watch all the action from La Course by Le Tour de France from 4.30pm AEST Saturday on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand, just ahead of the beginning of Stage 1 of the men's Tour de France. There will also be daily highlights packages from the Giro Rosa, the major women's stage race key moments on SBS mid-afternoon daily from July 3 to 12.
