La Course of the Tour de France has announced a new route for the Women's World Tour event in Nice on August 29. The event was moved from the July 19 circuit race along the Champs-Elysées in Paris and rescheduled with the Tour de France after a major calendar change due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Event organizer ASO has designed a 96-km road race that includes two climbs over the Côte de Limiese with a mass sprint expected in Nice; ASO has published a route map and time schedule (opens in new tab) on the event website. The race will be held in conjunction with the opening stage of the Tour de France.

"The course looks really fast and right up my alley," said 2016 La Course by Le Tour de France winner Chloe Hosking about the new route in a Rally Cycling press release. The U.S. team was one of 23 teams invited to participate.

Larry Cycling said in the press release that the route suited team captain Hosking. 'I am so excited to join my teammates and show the world what we got!' she said.

The new route starts on the Mediterranean coast of Nice and heads north to the Côte de Limier, a Category 3 just 8km into the race. The women's race will continue north to Castagniers before heading south for a 50km circuit. After crossing the start-finish line in Nice, there will be a second climb over the Côte de Limier at 56.5 km. The women will then head back towards Nice, where they will compete in a sprint on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.

Hosking said in a recent press release that her 2016 victory in La Course was one of the highlights of her career. 'Winning on the Champs-Elysées was an incredible feeling. It's the pinnacle of our sport and I can't wait to try again."

The Women's World Tour was won by Liane Lippert (Sunweb) at the Cadel Evan Great Ocean Road Race in Australia in February.

The UCI released its revised late season calendar and Women's World Tour in May, and while some events had already been cancelled, 15 of the original 22 events were retained: four stage races and 11, including the first ever women's Paris-Roubaix one-day races included.

However, UCI President David Lapartient said that due to the potential difficulties of holding the race in Paris, the move to Nice was discussed with the ASO as part of the calendar revision meeting.

La Course by Tour de France was established by ASO in 2014 as a circuit race to be held on the Champs-Elysées on the last day of the Tour de France. The sprinter-friendly format has seen Marianne Vos, Anna van der Breggen, and Hosking win the first three editions. Organizers moved to a two-day experimental competition in 2017, which was won by Annemiek van Fruten. The current world champion also won the 2018 one-day edition in Le Grand-Bornand. Vos won his second La Course title last year in Pau's one-day circuit race.