Marianne Vos has welcomed the changes to La Course, telling Cyclingnews that, although she would like to see a multi-stage format in the future, the move from the Champs Elysées to the Col d'Izoard is a step in the right direction that keeps the race "new and fresh".
Vos was the winner of the inaugural edition of the one-day race in 2014, set-up by organisers of the Tour de France to take place ahead of the arrival of the men's race in Paris. A three-year pilot was agreed for that criterium-style format and, with women's cycling growing in stature, many hoped for multiple stages from 2017 onwards to create, in effect, a mini women's Tour de France.
At the presentation of the route for the 2017 Tour de France, it was announced that La Course will remain a one-day event but, instead of a sprint on the Champs Elysées, will centre on the mighty Col d'Izoard climb in the Alps, with riders covering a truncated version of stage 18 of the 2017 Tour.
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"The Champs Elysées is not new anymore, and the attention from the media and the fans gets less, because it's not new and we've been there and done that," explained Vos.
"It’s still a one-day race but it finishes on the Izoard so it’s something new again and will get some attention, so if we look at that point then it's a good step. Hopefully a step to getting not only a mountaintop finish but maybe also a time trial and a sprint finish – then you'll have the different elements of the Tour de France and you have more of a Tour de France feeling. But this is a step."
While the best riders in the men's and women's peloton will tackle one of the Tour's mythical climbs – described by Jacques Goddet as “a harrowing trial that establishes the line between difficult and terrifying” – on the same day, La Course will only comprise 67 kilometres, compared 178 for the men. Furthermore, the women won’t go all the way to the lunar landscapes of the summit of the Izoard, instead covering just 10km and finishing four kilometres shy of the men’s finish line.
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