The event, which finishes in Italy, celebrates a landmark edition this year, while the women’s version launched last year is already well established.
This year, the Tour de l’Avenir celebrates its 60th edition (1), and to mark the occasion, it is in the prestigious setting of the grand salon of the Hôtel des Invalides, at the invitation of Daniel Baal and Claude Koestner, respectively Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of CIC, major partner and sponsor of the yellow jersey of this genuine “Tour de France des jeunes” (under-23s), that the event organized by Alpes Vélo with the support of the Tour de France and the Union Cycliste Internationale, was presented on Tuesday May 21 in Paris.
The men’s version will be held from August 18 to 24, while the second edition of the women’s Tour de l’Avenir, launched last year, will run concurrently over four days. There’s no doubt that the women’s Tour de l’Avenir is already playing the same role as a talent-spotter that the men’s Tour de l’Avenir has played since the 1960s, propelling many a great champion from Felice Gimondi, Joop Zoetemelk, Greg LeMond and Miguel Indurain to Egan Bernal, Tadej Pogacar and perhaps last year’s winner, Mexico’s Isaac Del Toro.
The “sixtieth”, which starts in Sarrebourg where the prologue will be held, is characterized by its location on the Italian side of the Alps, in the Piedmont region and on the territory of the Metropolitan City of Turin. It is also “100% mountain”, with several massifs crossed at varying degrees of difficulty: Vosges, Jura, Savoie in the Haute-Tarentaise – Vanoise area, before switching to Italy with a finale at the summit of the grandiose Colle delle Finestre, an 18-kilometer ascent of which the last eight are unpaved!
The young women, who will compete in an uphill prologue in La Rosière at the end of the day on Wednesday May 21, after the arrival of the boys’ stage in the resort, will experience a very compact second edition over four days, with the last two “Piedmont” stages identical in every respect to the itinerary of the men’s Tour de l’Avenir.
Le Maillot jaune des deux courses sera parrainé par le CIC et les autres maillots de leaders sont également soutenus par des partenaires communs aux deux épreuves : Biofoul pour le vert du classement par points, Alden pour le maillot à pois de meilleur grimpeur, la Haute-Tarentaise – Vanoise pour le blanc de meilleur jeune (19 et 20 ans).
Présentés par Bernard Hinault, parrain des épreuves, les Tours de l’Avenir, sont réservé chez les dames comme chez les hommes aux espoirs de moins de 23 ans, et la course masculine compte pour la Coupe des Nations UCI U23.
(1) L’épreuve a été créée en 1961 mais n’a pas été organisée en 1970, 1975, 1991 et 2020.
