Women's Tour 2021: Route, riders and all you need to know

Women’s Tour 2021: Key information

Dates: Monday 4th October to Saturday 9th October 2021  
Start: Bicester, Oxfordshire  
Finish: Felixstowe, Suffolk  
Stages: Six  
UK television coverage: Live on Eurosport and GCN, hour-long highlights of every stage will be shown on ITV4 each evening  
Website: womenstour.co.uk

Women's Tour 2021: Route and stages

A whole 842 days after Lizzie Deignan won the last Women's Tour in 2019, the race returns in Oxfordshire with this year's opening stage going north from Bicester's Market Square to Banbury.

Following that, the Tour goes to Walsall for the first time as it becomes the third area, after Stoke-on-Trent and Chesterfield, to host a stage's start and finish.

More history is made on Stage 3 with the Women's Tour's first ever time-trial, a ten-mile route around Atherstone in north Warwickshire. This should be the first time-trial after the World Championships in Flanders so a fresh rainbow jersey could be in attendance.

Stage 4 takes us east to Southend-on-Sea in Essex with the race starting in Shoeburyness and finishing just down the coastline in Westcliff-on-Sea.

The only way is Essex it seems as Stage 5 begins in Colchester for the first time, with an agreement already in place for the town to host the 2022 Grand Depart. This stage will finish on the coast in Clacton, which saw Marianne Vos and Jolien D'Hoore taking victories on the promenade in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Details of the final stage were initially revealed in January 2020 before you-know-what happened so it will be a long time coming when the peloton finally sets off in Suffolk, heading from Haverhill to the sea at Felixstowe where a winner will be crowned.

Stage 1, Monday 4th October: Bicester to Banbury, 147.6km

Stage winner: Marta Bastianelli (Alé BTC Ljubljana); GC leader: Marta Bastianelli (Alé BTC Ljubkana)

Stage 2, Tuesday 5th October: Walsall to Walsall, 102.2km

Stage winner: Amy Pieters (SD Worx); GC leader: Clara Copponi (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope)

Stage 3, Wednesday. 6th October: Atherstone to Atherstone, 16km, ITT

Stage winner: Demi Vollering (SD Worx); GC leader: Demi Vollering (SD Worx)

Stage 4, Thursday 7th October: Shoeburyness to Southend-on-Sea, 117.5km

Stage winner: Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM); GC leader: Demi Vollering (SD Worx)

Stage 5, Friday 8th October: Colchester to Clacton-on-Sea, 95.5km

Stage 6, Saturday 9th October: Haverhill to Felixstowe, 155km

Women's Tour 2021: start list

WorldTeams

Alé BTC Ljubljana (ITA)

Marta Bastianelli
Eugenia Bujak
Maaike Boogaard
Sophie Wright

Canyon Sram (GER)

Alice Barnes
Hannah Barnes
Elise Chabbey
Ella Harris

FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope (FRA)

Eugénie Duval
Clara Coppini
Maëlle Grossetête
Victorie Guilman
Évita Muzic
Jade Wiel

Liv Racing (NED)

Sofia Bertizzolo
Alison Jackson
Jeanne Korevaar
Evy Kuijpers
Soraya Paladin

Movistar (ESP)

Sheyla Gutiérrez
Aude Biannic
Alicia González
Jelena Erić
Lourdes Oyarbide
Gloria Rodríguez

SD Worx (NED)

Amy Pieters
Chantal van den Broek-Blaak
Elena Cecchini
Christine Majerus
Anna Shackley
Demi Vollering

Team BikeExchange (AUS)

Sarah Roy
Teniel Campbell
Jessica Allen
Janneke Ensing
Ane Santesteban

Team DSM (GER)

Lorena Wiebes
Pfeiffer Georgi
Megan Jastrab
Leah Kirchmann
Juliette Labous
Liane Lippert

Trek-Segafredo (USA)

Lizzie Deignan
Audrey Cordon-Ragot
Chloe Hosking
Elisa Longo Borghini
Trixi Worrack

Continental Teams

AWOL O'Shea (GBR)

Hannah Bayes
Olivia Bent
Connie Hayes
Alice Lethbridge
Phoebe Martin
Francesca Morgans-Slader

CAMS-Tifosi (GBR)

Hayley Simmonds
Emma Edwards
Jessica Finney
Natalie Grinczer
Katie Scott
Becky Storrie

Drops-Le Col (GBR)

Joss Lowden
Anna Christian
Dani Christmas
April Tacey
Alice Towers
Marholein Van 't Geloof

Parkhotel Valkenburg (NED)

Mischa Bredewold
Femke Gerritse
Pien Limpens
Femke Markus
Amber van der Hulst
Kirstie van Haaften

Team Coop-Hitec Products (NOR)

Josie Nelson
Caroline Andersson
Pernille Feldmann
Ingvild Gaskjenn
Emma Boogaard
Mari Hole Mohr

Team TIBCO - SVB (USA)

Lauren Stephens
Tanja Erath
Veronica Ewers
Nicole Frain
Nina Kessler
Abi Smith

Valcar-Travel & Service (ITA)

Elisa Balsamo
Chiara Consonni
Ilaria Sanguineti
Elena Pirrone
Margaux Vigie