By Janina Rosch
The Cyclits Cycling Collective* mission is to empower, encourage and support female cyclists, so there was no doubt that we would celebrate this historical moment.
To make Le Tour de Cyclits a reality, we planned and re-planned routes, researched accommodation and food stops before we finalised our bikepacking route.
Four stages with a total of 500 kilometers and 4,500 meters of elevation (Komoot Collection), including one night in a castle, a stopover in the Champagne, welcome ride with a local cycling crew, cheering day in Paris, an escorting vehicle, equipment and supplies from generous partners. If someone was not on fire at this point already, the IRIS Racing Team Jersey did the job to convince 16 women to jointly go on this journey.
Equipped in the IRIS racing fluro purple and yellow colours we started Le Tour de Cyclits with feelings of joyous excitement at the adventure ahead mixed with the determination of being on a very important mission. Accompanied with many enjoyable moments, motivating cheerings from the sides of the roads and individual challenges like riding 150km in one shot for the first time, conquering the biggest climb and being in the saddle for consecutive days, our grupetto arrived in Paris for the inaugural moment.
Full of pride for ourselves and excitement for Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift we weaved our way through the streets of Paris to cheer for Stage 1. The closer we got to the course, the more vibrant the city’s atmosphere felt. Arriving at an already quite crowded Champs Élysées we were waiting for the start of the race with a lot of awe for the professional cyclists. And finally the Peloton passed with an incredible speed. In between the seconds where we felt the airstream in each round, we were streaming the race on our smartphones, making sure to not miss a single second. While stage one was in the books and Lorena Wiebes was awarded with the first yellow jersey we solidly agreed: We will definitely make Le Tour de Cyclits an annual tradition to celebrate female cycling and racing.
So watch out, plans for 2023 are in the pipeline!
*The Cyclits Cycling Collective is the first female founded biking club in Germany, which is organizing a wide range of events to empower and support female cyclists and to which Iris is personally connected through the Cyclits co-founder and IRIS ambassador Alex.
