Volta á França feminina 09

British cyclist wins the Tour de France

OK, maybe the headline was a bit confusing since the men's Tour de France starts in about two weeks but never-the-less true.

Emma Pooley of the U.K has won the 'women's Tour de France' more formally known as the "Grande Boucle" by 22 seconds over team-mate Christiane Soeder of Austria and Marianne Vos of Holland in the four-stage race.

According to the U.K.'s Guardian:

"The 27-year-old from London won the individual time-trial on day one and triumphed in stage three by 20 seconds on Saturday, before consolidating her position with a fifth-place finish in yesterday's final stage to follow up Cooke's triumphs in 2006 and 2007."

According to Wikipedia:

"The Grande Boucle, formerly known as the Tour Cycliste Feminin, or simply Tour Feminin, is one of the Grand Tours of women's cycle races in the world. The term "Grande Boucle" itself means "Great Loop" in English and was called thus because the race was held as a series of individual stages which, together, took a circuitous course around France.

In spite of all the troubles, the Grande Boucle, during its run, was one of the premier events each year in women's cycle racing and the list of winners and medalists reads like a Who's Who in women's cycle racing. To win or even be awarded a medal in the event was considered a stellar achievement, one which would grace any rider's resume.

In 2004, the race could not be held because of organisational difficulties. It returned in 2005 and 2006 in a smaller format. The previous tours were often 10 to 15 stages long, while the recent races had only five stages, and stayed in one region of France. The race was also rated much lower by the UCI, and consequently had a reduced field of competitors. In 2008, the race was up to six days and seven stages, but in 2009 the race will be just four days long due to organisational difficulties (a planned race start in Britain fell through).