The French Cycling Federation has released details of the 2022 French Cup for Women competition. The Cup will be open to French UCI teams and also French riders who are members of non-French UCI teams. The non-UCI level of teams in N1 will receive invites and be able to score points as well. Those teams won’t be obligated to race each event, unlike the UCI teams.
The 8 races on the race calendar are all established races and should be familiar to fans of women’s cycling. The GP de Chambery will kick things off in mid-April ahead of a month’s break to Morbihan weekend. The Classique Morbihan is on Saturday 13th May and the GP du Morbihan on Sunday 14th May. These pair of races were re-scheduled in 2021 to be almost the last races of the year due to COVID restrictions earlier in the season.
After a 3-month break, La Perigord Ladies is the next race in mid-August. La Perigord was one of the first races to take place after the 2020 COVID lockdown and usually produces exciting races. La Picto-Charentaise takes place the same weekend as the battle for the classification should begin to take shape by this point. The formerly two-stage race of Kreiz Breizh Elites will take place over one day in 2022 and have closer ties to the Women’s WorldTour GP de Plouay race.
The 2022 Coupe de France Femmes finishes with 2 races in the middle of September. La Choralis Fourmies on 11th September and the GP International d’Isbergues – Pas de Calais. The latter race, in particular, has been a sprinter’s dream in the last few years. Chloe Hosking took the win there in 2020 and youngster Charlotte Kool won in 2021.
The French Cycling Federation hopes that this iteration of the French Cup will increase the opportunities for French women to race at international level races and also help improve France’s UCI ranking. This ranking has direct impacts on the number of participants for country teams at international events like the Olympics and World Championships.
2022 French Coupe de France Femmes Calendar
- 17/04 – Grand Prix Féminin de Chambéry (1.1)
- 13/05 – La Classique Morbihan (1.1)
- 14/05 – Grand Prix du Morbihan Women (1.1)
- 13/08 – La Périgord Ladies (1.2)
- 14/08 – La Picto-Charentaise (1.2)
- 25/08 – Kreiz Breizh Elites Féminin (1.1)
- 11/09 – La Choralis Fourmies Féminine (1.2)
- 18/09 – Grand Prix International d’Isbergues- Pas de Calais Feminine (1.2)
