Tour de France Femmes

The Tour de France Femmes (French pronunciation: [tuʁ də fʁɑ̃s fam]) is an annual women's cycle stage race around France. It is organised by Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), which also runs the Tour de France. It is part of the UCI Women's World Tour.

Some teams and media have referred to the race as a 'Grand Tour', as it is one of the biggest and longest events on the women's calendar. However, the race does not meet the UCI definition of such an event.

After a one off event in 1955, a corresponding race to the Tour de France for women was held under different names between 1984 and 2009. Over the years, these races struggled with financial difficulties, limited media coverage, sexism, and trademark issues with the organisers of the Tour de France. Following criticism by campaigners and the professional women's peloton, a one/two day race (La Course by Le Tour de France) was held between 2014 and 2021, and Tour de France Femmes staged its first edition in 2022.

The race takes place in July and August after the men's tour, with the 2022–2024 editions of the race featuring eight stages.

All stages are timed to the finish; the riders' times are compounded with their previous stage times. The rider with the lowest cumulative finishing times is the leader of the race and wears the yellow jersey (maillot jaune). While the general classification garners the most attention, there are other contests held within the Tour: the points classification for the sprinters, the mountains classification for the climbers, young rider classification for riders under the age of 23, and the team classification, based on the first three finishers from each team on each stage. Achieving a stage win also provides prestige, often accomplished by a team's sprint specialist or a rider taking part in a breakaway.

Various professional women's cycle stage races across France have been held as corresponding events to the Tour de France for women, with the first of these races staged as a one off in 1955. From 1984, a women's Tour de France was staged consistently, although the name of the event changed several times – such as Tour de France Féminin, Tour of the EEC Women, Tour Cycliste Féminin and Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale. French rider Jeannie Longo won the 1987, 1988 and 1989 editions of the race, gaining fame in the process.

Over the years, these races struggled with financial difficulties, limited media coverage, sexism and trademark issues with the organisers Amaury Sport Organisation (the organisers of the Tour de France). The last of these races took place in 2009, with Emma Pooley joking that the race was "more of a Petite Boucle than Grande."

In 2013, professional cyclists Kathryn Bertine, Marianne Vos and Emma Pooley and professional triathlete Chrissie Wellington formed an activist group called Le Tour Entier (“the whole tour”), to petition ASO to launch a women's Tour de France.