Key points:
 The sixth edition of La Course by Le Tour de France will be held in Pau on Friday, 19 July, just a few hours before the Tour de France stage 13 time trial takes place on the same course.
 La Course’s first ever foray into hilly terrain will make it an even more thrilling and suspenseful race, with punchers, climbers and sprinters in with a shot at getting their hands on the trophy. The riders will have to complete five laps of the circuit for a total of 121 kilometres.

Stars of women’s cycling have confirmed their participation with just three days to go until the sixth edition of La Course by le Tour de France. Although the hegemon of the last decade, Marianne Vos, stands out as the big favourite to win in Pau, the race looks more open than ever. CCC Liv’s Dutch rider is back after skipping last year’s edition with her sights set on what would be her second triumph in La Course by le Tour, five years after taking the inaugural edition on the Champs-Élysées. World champion Anna van der Breggen (2015) and American Chloe Hosking (2017) are another two former winners on the start line. Two-time winner Annemiek van Vleuten, on the other hand, is currently racing in the Giro Rosa and will decide whether to take part in the coming days. For now, Mitchelton–Scott has pencilled in the Dutch rider as a substitute. At any rate, the team from Down Under has a plan B in the shape of Aussie Amanda Spratt, who finished sixth last year. Other big names on the start line include the British 2015 world champion, Lizzie Deignan, the third-placed rider in the 2017 La Course by le Tour, Elisa Longo Borghini from Italy, and Amstel Gold Race winner Katarzyna Niewiadoma from Poland. The home girls are outsiders but eager to surprise, with riders such as Juliette Labous (Sunweb), Audrey-Cordon Ragot (Trek–Segafredo), who finished sixth in the Amstel Gold Race, and Aude Biannic (Movistar), who is in her element in circuit races. The French FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope outfit will be banking on Aussie veteran Shara Gillow (fifth in 2017) as well as the home-grown talent of 20-year-old Evita Muzic and 19-year-old Jade Wiel, who will be taking part in her first race in the French champion’s jersey. Charente-Maritime Women Cycling is the other French team invited to La Course. A total of 21 six-woman teams will start the race in Pau in the morning of Friday, 19 July.
All information about La Course by Le Tour de France on www.lacoursebyletourdefrance.com/en/
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