Zwift announce mens and womens Virtual Tour de France starting Saturday July 4th

Chris Froome, Egan Bernal and Marianne Vos star. Vitual L’Etape du Tour will also be open to all amateur riders

The 2020 Tour de France was orginally scheduled to start on Saturday, June 27, due to COVID19 the race has been rescheduled to start on Saturday August 29th until September 20th.

Racing is still suspended and we are eagerly awaiting the return of WorldTour competition on August 1st with Strade Bianche.

Zwift has announced the first ever virtual Tour de France with classifications for both men and women.

The new online event, which will run over three weekends in July, will feature Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal, Marianne Vos and Chloe Dygert.

As 23 men’s teams and 17 women’s squads will race over six stages, including new virtual recreation's of Mont Ventoux and the iconic Champs Élysées finish in Paris within Zwift.

Amateur riders will be able to ride the L’Etape du Tour mass participation event which has been postponed until September 6th in Nice.

VIDEO: Teaser Virtual Tour de France

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said: “I cannot imagine the month of July without cycling. “Thanks to the virtual Tour de France, which will be widely broadcast on TV, the champions and their fans will fill in the void left by the Tour de France, which will reunite with the public in Nice on 29 August. The Tour Virtuel puts technology to work for passion and the cause of cycling for everyone.”

Racing will start this coming Saturday July 4th and Sunday July 5th, run on the virtual Watopia map.

Stages three, four and five will be held on a new French virtual map designed specifically for the Virtual Tour de France, stage five will be the Queen Stage as riders race to Chalet Reynard on Mont Ventoux.

Stage six, the peloton will take to the Champs-Élysees for a sprint  finish in front of the Arc de Triomphe.

Both the men and women will cover identical stages over the same distances and the same broadcast coverage.

Riders will be awarded the yellow leaders, green sprinters, polka-dot climbers and white young rider jerseys each stage while best overall team will be crowned at the final presentation.

Each stage will also see the ‘Most Aggressive Rider’ award presented, just like the real race.

The Virtual L’Etape du Tour will be held on the same three weekends covering stages on two and three, with 16 sessions being spread over each weekend.

Stages of the Zwift Virtual Tour de France

Saturday 4th July, stage 1: Nice, 36.4 km (4 x 9.1 km, hilly stage)
Sunday 5th July, stage 2: Nice, 29.5 km (682 m of ascent, mountain stage)
Saturday 11th July, stage 3: North-East France, 48 km (flat stage)
Sunday 12th July, stage 4: South-West France, 45.8 km (2 x 22.9 km laps, hilly stage)
Saturday 18th July, stage 5: Mont Ventoux, 22.9 km (finish at Chalet-Reynard, mountain stage)
Sunday 19th July, stage 6: Paris Champs-Elysées, 42.8 km (6 laps of the circuit)
Stages of the Virtual l’Etape du Tour de France
4th and 5th July, Stage 1: Nice, 29.5 km (682 m of ascent, mountain stage)
11th and 12th July, Stage 2: South-West France, 45.8 km (2 x 22.9 km laps, hilly stage)
18th and 19th July, Stage 3: Mont Ventoux, (22.9 km, finishing at the observatory)

Virtual l'Etape du Tour 2020 Schedule:

4-5 July, Stage 1: Nice, 29.5 km mountain stage with 682m climb.

11-12 July, Stage 2: South-West France, 45.8 km rolling hilly stage.

18-19 July, Stage 3: Mont Ventoux, 22.9 km with 1200m climbing.

Find all the details and sign up for the Virtual Etape du Tour here.

2020 Zwift Virtual Tour de France Women's Teams

Alé BTC Ljubljana
Team Arkéa
Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team
CANYON//SRAM Racing
CCC-Liv Team
Ceratizit – WNT Pro Cycling
Drops
FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope
Lotto Soudal Ladies
Parkhotel Valkenburg
Rally Cycling
TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank
Trek-Segafredo Women
TWENTY20 Pro Cycling
Team Sunweb
Valcar Travel & Service

2020 Zwift Virtual Tour de France Men's Teams

AG2R La Mondiale
Arkéa Samsic
Alpecin-Fenix
Astana Pro Team
B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
Team Bahrain McLaren
Bora Hansgrohe
CCC Team
Team Cofidis
Circus-Wanty Gobert
Deceuninck – Quick-Step
EF Education First Pro Cycling
Groupama-FDJ
Israel Start-Up Nation
Team INEOS
Team Jumbo-Visma
Lotto-Soudal
Mitchelton-SCOTT
NTT Pro Cycling
Rally Cycling
Team Sunweb
TOTAL Direct Énergie
Trek-Segafredo