The Thüringen Ladies Tour has put its application in to join the Women’s WorldTour from 2024. The German race has been a long-term race on the women’s calendar, with riders from previous generations like Petra Rossner, Hanka Kupfernagel, Zulfia Zabirova and Nicole Cooke all on the winners’ list. A 2.1 race for most of its existence, with the introduction to women’s cycling of the .Pro level of racing as a second level, the race reached that level in 2021 with a future goal of joining the Women’s WorldTour.
“We wrestled with each other for a long time and weighed the pros and cons. I only want to hold the LOTTO Thüringen Ladies Tour in the future if we have some of the world’s best at the start. No one can guarantee me that without World Tour status. That’s why we submitted the application.
The biggest hurdle was finding a suitable date for 2024. We submitted two proposals.”
Vera Hohlfeld, race director
Last year saw each stage of the race showing live, showing the Thüringen Ladies Tour’s ability to meet the minimum live coverage requirements of being in the Women’s WorldTour, something that RideLondon Classique fell foul of in 2022. The 2024 race will last for 6 days with 6 stages, just as this year’s race. A decision on its Women’s WorldTour status will be made around the time of the World Championship in Glasgow in early-mid August 2023.
“We’ve done our homework. The 2023 tour will clearly be an application for 2024, where we want to present ourselves in the best possible way. We see ourselves well prepared and can implement all the requirements. After that, it’s up to the UCI to judge us.”
Marian Koppe, race director
The 2023 edition of the LOTTO Thüringen Ladies Tour starts this year on May 23rd with a team time trial in Schleiz. The race then heads through Gera (May 24th), Schmölln (May 25th), Gotha (May 26th) and Schmalkalden (May 27th), before reaching Mühlhausen (May 28th) for its final stage. 5 Women’s WorldTour teams are already confirmed as racing – SD Worx, Jayco AlUla, UAE Team ADQ, Fenix-Deceuninck and Canyon SRAM. Last year’s race winner was Alex Manly who also won 4 of the 6 stages.
Main image credit: Arne Mill/T.RF Sportmarketing
