‘The Tour de France Femmes is different to any other races’ - Rachel Hedderman

PARIS FRANCE JULY 24 Sanne Cant of Belgium and Team PlanturPura Christina Schweinberger of Austria and Team PlanturPura Elisa Balsamo of Italy and Team Trek Segafredo Eugenia Bujak of Slovenia and UAE Team ADQ Audrey CordonRagot of France and Team Trek Segafredo Margarita Victoria Garcia Caellas of Spain and UAE Team ADQ Nicole Frain of Australia and Team Parkhotel Valkenburg Frances Janse Van Rensburg of South Africa and Team Stade Rochelais Charente Maritime Petra Stiasny of Switzerland and Team Roland Cogeas EdelweissIsraelPremier Tech and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig of Denmark Team Fdj Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope and The Peloton prior to the 1st Tour de France Femmes 2022 Stage 1 a 817km stage from Paris Tour Eiffel to Paris Champslyses TDFF UCIWWT on July 24 2022 in Paris France Photo by Dario BelingheriGetty Images
Stage 1 of Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift began in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower (Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)

The scale and the importance of the inaugural Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is undeniable and ‘you’re not going to fool anybody’ otherwise, says Rachel Hedderman.

Speaking in Paris on the morning of the race, the EF Education-TIBCO-SVB director-turned-manager underlined that it would be hard to convince her riders that this was just another race in the face of the huge fanfare in Paris.

Assistant Features Editor

Matilda is an NCTJ-qualified journalist based in the UK who joined Cyclingnews in March 2025. Prior to that, she worked as the Racing News Editor at GCN, and extensively as a freelancer contributing to Cyclingnews, Cycling Weekly, Velo, Rouleur, Escape Collective, Red Bull and more. She has reported from many of the biggest events on the calendar, including the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France Femmes, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. She has particular experience and expertise in women's cycling, and women's sport in general. She is a graduate of modern languages and sports journalism.

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