UCI President David Lapartient acknowledged that the Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) will launch a women's stage race in 2022, but could not confirm whether it will be officially named the women's Tour de France.

"The ASO is confident that it is ready to put this event on the calendar in 2022. This is a very good step for the further development of women's cycling," Lapartiento said in an interview with WielerFlits.

"Whether this race will be called the Tour de France remains to be seen.

ASO is reportedly expected to host an eight-day women's race that will start in Paris the same day the men finish stage 21 of the Tour de France on the Champs-Elysées.

"There is great potential in women's cycling," said ASO's president, Jacques Bourdieu. That's why I have often stressed to the ASO over the last few years that we should organize more women's events, and the new calendar for 2020 gives us the opportunity to put Paris-Roubaix on the calendar, and the ASO also understood that after the coronavirus we had to put out good news." . There was a positive response from all quarters to this "hell of the north" for the girls."

ASO is currently organizing the Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta, and La Course by Le Tour de France. For the first time ever, a women's Paris-Roubaix was added to the UCI's revised Women's World Tour calendar, following the five-month suspension of cycling races due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

La Partiente believes that with the addition of a stage race for women managed by ASO and Paris-Roubaix, along with new teams committed to women's cycling such as Jumbo-Visma, women's cycling is in a good position for future development.

"Besides the Women's Tour and Paris-Roubaix, there was other good news: with SD Worx, a major sponsor is joining the team (Boels Dolmans). KPMG is committed to the Flemish Classics for women. It is also great news that Jumbo Visma will be forming a women's team next year. We are confident that it will be a well-rounded top team, just like the men's team."

The best of the best in women's professional cycling will be on the start line at the Tour de France la Course in Nice on Saturday. The event was launched in 2014 after a successful petition to the ASO to include a women's race alongside the Tour de France.

The ASO was criticized for not offering a women's multi-day race held to the same standards as the men's Tour de France during the seven editions of La Course.

The first women's Tour de France was held in the 1950s, but only once; ASO launched its own women's Tour de France between 1984 and 1989; other versions were held throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, but in 2009 It was reduced to just four stages before officially ending in 2009.

Last July, ASO announced that it was considering the creation of a women's stage race equivalent to the French Grand Tour, but did not specify that it would be a women's Tour de France.

Christian Prudhomme, race director of the Tour de France, later told AFP that women's professional cycling could be a Tour de France as early as 2022. However, ASO stressed that it was "logistically impossible" to hold both men's and women's events at the same time.

Cycling News asked ASO to comment on the apparent decision to launch a women's stage race so that it would not overlap with the men's Tour de France, but was denied comment at this time.

For live coverage of La Course by Le Tour de France, as well as reports, results, galleries, and news after Saturday's race, visit Cycling News.