Wildfires threaten Tour de France Femmes queen stage to Mont Ventoux

The Tour de France was affected several times by the wildfires in France. The final stage was particularly impacted because there were not enough emergency services available to support the race. Now, the Tour de France Femmes is also coming under pressure. Most notably, the race’s most important stage—the queen stage to Mont Ventoux—is facing uncertainty.

Major wildfires are burning in several parts of France. On the west coast, near Bordeaux, 250,000 people had to be evacuated. A fire in the south covered an area roughly the size of the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog, although the blaze in the Var department has since been brought under control. Nevertheless, the fires are having a major impact across the country, just days before the Tour de France Femmes is due to begin.

The opening stage will take place on Saturday, August 1, with the first two stages being held in Switzerland. The race will then cross the border into France, where the riders will face, among other challenges, an important individual time trial. Stage 7 is expected to be decisive in shaping the general classification, with Mont Ventoux serving as the race’s ultimate test. However, the wildfires are now threatening that crucial stage.

There are concerns that the wildfires could spread towards the route scheduled for Friday, August 7. “At a time when forested areas are particularly vulnerable to the risk of fire, and given that the original Tour de France Femmes route passes through the Dentelles de Montmirail mountain range, the prefecture has asked the organisers to consider an alternative route that avoids this area,” the authorities said on the Vaucluse website.

What would the stage look like under the proposed alternative? Mont Ventoux would remain the final climb of the day, but the authorities hope that the Col de Suzette and the Col de la Madeleine can be removed from the route. Those two climbs were intended to soften up the riders before the Giant of Provence during the final 50 kilometres. Malaucène would also be bypassed, with the peloton instead heading south on a shortened course.