In a press release today, the Thüringen Ladies Tour has confirmed the dates for its 2023 race. The German 2.Pro race will take place between May 23rd and May 28th 2023, taking in 6 stages around the region of Thüringen in mid-Germany. This year’s race was dominated by the Australia Alexandra Manly, who took 4 stage wins on her way to winning the general classification and the points jersey.
2023 will be the 35th edition of the race which is one of the most popular non-Women’s WorldTour races. It will remain a 2.Pro race in 2023 but Germany’s biggest women’s stage rage has plans after that. The race will try to get itself upgraded to the Women’s WorldTour in 2024. The 2022 race saw extensive live TV coverage, one of the key staples for inclusion in the WWT. The race clashed with the RideLondon Classique race which has just about retained its place in the WWT for next year, despite that, the Thüringen Ladies Tour could still boast a strong line-up.
So the race’s importance is underlined by the quality of riders who have done well there. This year’s winner Manly went on to win a World Championships gold as part of the mixed relay in Wollongong. It also provided a springboard for German talent Ricarda Bauernfeind who finished 5th in the GC and went on to take a pair of medals in the World Championships as well.
“We are very pleased to have achieved the necessary planning security and are going full throttle into further agreements and preparations. The talks with the stage locations are ongoing and the structure of our tour is already set. It still needs some fine tuning, then we can present the course of the route.
In any case, we will again have a route that is both athletically demanding and scenically attractive.
Everyone tells us again and again that our tour is first class. We also want this status officially – that’s why we are aiming for the upgrade for 2024,”
Vera Hohlfeld, tour director
