Women’s Fitness editor Sarah Sellens headed to France this summer to complete two stages of the TdFFaZ one day before the pro riders…
Words: Sarah Sellens
Women’s sport is having a moment – or to be more accurate, a year of moments. The Lionesses took home the Euro 2025 title in July, whilst the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 tournament brought in the biggest Women’s Euro crowd ever (a total of 657,291 spectators). At the time of writing, the women’s England rugby team, the Red Roses, had just claimed the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. And now four years into the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, this year’s race had more riders (154 across 22 teams), more stages (two flat stages, three hilly, two medium and two mountain stages), and more coverage than the years before (including an 89 per cent increase in live streaming from 2024).
It’s the stuff of my childhood dreams. And while I’ll more-than-happily fly the flag for all of women’s sport, from grassroots to professional levels, it’s the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (TdFFaZ) that really whet my appetite – and that’s because I got to cycle a couple of the stages this summer, getting a true feel for what a feat of power and endurance the event really is.
A unique opportunity, The Route, a Cure Leukaemia charity event, gives a team of amateur cyclists the chance to ride all nine stages of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (TdFFaZ) one day before the pros. Starting in Brest, Northwest France, and finishing in Châtel in the Alps, cycling all nine stages covers 1,165km and 18,000m of elevation. It’s an epic challenge, but more importantly, it’s one that raises vital funds for the TdFFaZ’s UK charity partner, Cure Leukaemia.
I completed stages 1 (85k, 1047m elevation, 3 hours 15-minutes of cycling time) and 2 (120k, 1510m elevation, 5 hours and 8 minutes of cycling time), and by all accounts, these were deemed to be the somewhat flatter stages of the race. The reality of it? My quads felt the climbs of Day 1’s shorter route from Vannes to Plumelec, and by day 2, my legs and I were somewhat relieved not to be doing another seven stages. But mostly, I was impressed by the determination and grit of the ladies who finished all nine stages, including the three epic mountain climbs.
Vannes to Plumelec
Having arrived too late for the group’s warm-up ride the day before, I started Stage 1 feeling fresh and breezy, as we cycled in one big group across the moderately undulating terrain. The pace was gentle and the conversation was flowing, and I considered how nice it was to be cycling with a group of strong women. But my training, and my ability to keep up a conversation, were soon put to the test when we hit the first climb, a 40m punchy little number in Arradon. That really set the tone for the day: according to my Garmin Edge 1050, there were a total of 12 climbs ranging from 505m to 2.54k in length.
The best, and certainly toughest, climbs (in fact, in my opinion, the toughest section across both stages I cycled) were on the final Plumelec circuit, which featured the Côte de Cadoudal, a 1.7k climb at 6.2 per cent. We rode it three gruelling times and my heart rate reached its daily high of 173bpm. But it was all worth it to power up the final climb and turn towards the TdFFaZ finishing arch, which was set up for the pros to cycle through the next day. That stage took me three hours and 15 minutes. To put that in perspective, Marianne Vos won it the next day in a rather speedy time of one hour and 53 minutes. Impressive.
Stage 2: Brest to Quimper
Stage 2 was always going to be the most difficult of the weekend. With more elevation and distance than the day before, and being done on already weary legs, I knew I’d have to tap into my mental fortitude if I was to complete the 120k.
The climbs began almost straight away with a 98m climb in Plougastel-Daoulas, and I found myself counting down the climbs left to clock as we rode up each feat (‘one of 25’, ‘two of 25’, all the way to ‘25 of 25’ – phew!). There was rain, too: the chill I felt going down some of the declines gave me a real appreciation for how smart the rest of the team, and the pros, would have to be with their kit, fuel and strategy during the Alp stages that loomed ahead.
We finished Stage 2 with a two-time hilly circuit in Quimper, which ended with a very spicy 94m climb on a 5.7 per cent gradient along the Côte du Chemin de Trohéir. There was no finishing arch on this day – it was still in Plumelec awaiting the pros – but the satisfaction of finishing a challenging ride was enough for me.
It’s your turn!
Click here to find out more about The Route or to join the 2026 team. To donate to Cure Leukaemia, click here.
Cycling for a cause
At its heart, The Route is all about raising money for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift’s official UK charity partner, Cure Leukaemia. Here, we speak to two of this year’s riders to find out what the challenge has meant to them.
‘I rode in my Mum’s memory’
Text-message support from home helped Rory Campbell ride The Route in memory of those close to her
‘I signed up to The Route because it was a bit of a bucket list item: as a cyclist, the opportunity to actually ride the route of the TdFFaZ was crazy to pass up. The other reason was that my family has been decimated by cancer. Both my parents and both my aunts died from the horrible disease. My mum passed three years ago after a very brief battle with gall bladder cancer, and I rode in her memory.
‘I enlisted the help of coach Peter Georgi, who really focused me on distance and speed, and it really helped to have someone to hold me accountable. I trained for about 7-8 months with him, and I know that the training and interactions with Peter were definitely one of the reasons I was successful.
‘It was a once in a lifetime ride! The women I rode with were so awesome. We were a team; a group of women supporting each other, helping each other and genuinely caring about each other. The support groups were just beyond amazing – the photographers, the videographers, the mechanics, the coaching, the vans that followed, the food. Everyone was so helpful and really went above and beyond for the riders. I made a comment one day that I loved gummy bears, and the next day we had a whole bag of them!
‘My high was the Madeleine [the Col de la Madeleine climb on the penultimate stage]. It was three hours of uphill, and tough uphill, climbing. I’m not a climber, but everyone was cheering us on and keeping us moving. I had an entire group of family and friends back home who were continuously texting me, and that made the ride possible for me.’
‘I did 9-12 hours of training a week’
Angela Mills-Bannon trained hard for The Route 2025 to raise funds for a cause that’s close to her heart
‘My friend’s son passed away from AML [acute myeloid leukaemia] in 2016. In 2022, another close friend’s son was diagnosed with AML, which led to me and a group of friends cycling the London 2 Paris event to fundraise for Cure Leukaemia. When the charity launched The Route, I thought it was a challenge I wanted to do for a cause that’s really important to me: to help treat children with blood cancer.
‘I had already been working with a cycling coach (Michelle Sharland) since completing London 2 Paris in 2023. She designed a training programme for me, which basically involved 3-4 short rides in the week and one long ride at the weekend. I averaged about 9-12 hours of training a week over 10 months. I would’ve trained more but I work full-time as a lawyer and have two young kids, so there was a lot of plate spinning!
‘I really thought outside of the box and was creative in my fundraising events, which included a fancy dress cycling hill climb competition on a Strava segment, a corporate networking event, and my main event was an evening meal with guest speakers from inspirational women including an Olympic rowing Silver medalist (Miriam Luke MBE). I was so lucky that Amy Hudson (from Amy Cycling Adventures) helped me to host it!
‘The Route was everything a challenge should be and I experienced every single emotion, from sheer elation, to being completely mentally and physically broken. The fundraising and the cause meant so much to me and the days that we rode for my friends’ children were particularly emotional. I think I cried more in those nine days than in the last nine years!’
Click here to find out more about The Route or to join the 2026 team. To donate to Cure Leukaemia, click here.
