Cycling (Women's Tour de Charente-Maritime): the national elite meets in Saintonge

Nineteen teams, including four foreign teams, will compete starting Saturday, August 2.

W hen Jacky Durand and his entire team created the Tour de Charente-Maritime femmes in 2000, they certainly didn't think their event would be one of the unmissable summer events a quarter of a century later. This weekend of August 2 and 3, 2025, the 25th edition will start in Saintes on Saturday at 10 a.m.

While this competition doesn't compete with the current Women's Tour de France, it remains a great launching pad for young riders who are considering a professional career at some point. To see this, just check out the event's winners list.

Among the winners, we find among others: Aude Biannic, winner in 2011 and French champion in 2018; Maëva Squiban, current member of the UAE team, who won in 2023 and finished second in 2021 after having passed through the Charente-Maritime Cycling team, then led by Jean Christophe Barbotin (the young Breton climber is currently participating in the Tour de France for the second time!); Charlotte Bravard; Séverine Eraud. All have therefore made the reputation of this event which once again should designate a big winner.

And competition will be fierce among the 19 teams involved, including one from Belgium, one from the Netherlands, and one from Spain. Nine teams from Nationale 1, five from Nationale 2, and one from Occitanie will complete the list of contenders to succeed Marjolein Van't Geloof. But the one on whom all eyes will undoubtedly be on remains Noémie Abgrall.

The recent French amateur champion on the Les Herbiers circuit has remained at the top of her game since winning the title. "I'm riding the wave a bit," says the Vendée La Roche Cyclisme member. Following the championship, Abgrall won a French Cup event in Morteau. "I'm no longer under pressure. I won with the jersey on my shoulders!" A professional until last year with the Windspace team, she was unable to renew her contract. This in no way dampens her motivation: "We come to the Tour de Charente-Maritime to achieve something."

Opposite her, we'll be watching Constance Marchand (Abus Sprinter Club Féminin) for sprint finishes, as well as Sarah Poppe, the 2024 French champion. The collective of the Belgian team KDM Pack Women Cycling Team VZW could also make a difference with the Swiss Laura Stern and the Canadian Annabelle Thomas. The first stage will therefore start Saturday morning from Saintes towards Montguyon, where the finish will be judged at the top of a climb to be climbed twice.

The afternoon will be devoted to the 11-kilometer time trial around Montguyon. Finally, on Sunday, the final stage will start from Les Touches-de-Périgny towards Saintes, with six passages on the Cours National.