The Australians racing the 2022 Tour de France Femmes

It is the week the cycling world has been looking forward to all year - Le Tour Femmes has arrived!

Team start lists for the 2022 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift have been locked in ahead of Stage 1 action in Paris on July 24, with several Australians, including both our national road race and time trial champions, set to feature in the inaugural eight-stage women's edition of cycling's most prestigious race.

Find out who will be on the start line in Paris below.

Grace Brown (FDJ – SUEZ – Futuroscope)

Over the past few years, St Kilda Cycling Club product Grace Brown has risen through the ranks to be one of Australia's best on the road.

The 30-year-old is a bona fide race winner on the UCI Women's WorldTour (WWT) and came within one second of picking up her first WWT stage race win at The Women's Tour in Great Britain in early June.

The two-time national time trial champion's FDJ – SUEZ – Futuroscope squad will receive plenty of attention as the only WWT French team at the 2022 Le Tour Femmes, with Italian Marta Cavalli the team's designated general classification leader.

Brown has a busy two weeks ahead of her, with her debut appearance at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham set to come just four days after Le Tour Femmes finishes up La Super Planche des Belles Filles on July 31.

Anya Louw (AG Insurance – NXTG Team)

Three weeks ago, Devonport's Anya Louw signed with AG Insurance – NXTG, a Dutch U23 focussed UCI Women's Continental Team.

This Sunday, she will start in the most anticipated race of the year in her debut for the Le Tour Femmes wildcard team – quite the welcome.

The 21-year-old has been quietly chipping away at a professional career over the past two years with ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast, and was finally able to return to Europe in May with the Queensland-based UCI Continental Team.

That opportunity came at the right time for the current U23 Oceania and national time trial champion, with the Tasmanian stating conversations with AG Insurance – NXTG Team had been happening since the beginning of the year.

"Then things settled in place after I arrived in Europe this year," Louw said.

"To be lining up for the TDF Femmes next week is an absolute dream come true!

"I'm prepared to give it my all, and fulfill my role to the best of my ability for my team.

"The women’s peloton is well beyond ready for this race to start."

Rachel Neylan (Cofidis)

Australian veteran Rachel Neylan adds another chapter to her storied career over the next week in France, and she will do it with the full support of her French-based Cofidis team.

The 40-year-old from Sydney will be right at home on the final two mountain-top finishes up Col du Grand Balloon and La Super Planche des Belles Filles.

"The women's Tour de France will certainly be a highlight of the calendar and a tremendous lever for the development and influence of women's cycling," Neylan said in a Cofidis media release.

"There is a lot of expectation around this race and I'm convinced that this event will help to raise the level of the whole peloton.

"It will be special to race it as it is Cofidis' first season and wearing the colours of a French team in this event will be incredible!

"The stages will certainly be very competitive and we will do everything to seize the opportunities each day.

"I really want to give everything to get good results and help my teammates.

"We have an eclectic, mature team that is improving race after race."

Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon//SRAM Racing)

A figure of immense strength and experience in the women's peloton, Adelaide's Tiffany Cromwell will direct a strong Canyon//SRAM Racing squad as their road captain in pursuit of stage wins and a high general classification finish.

The 34-year-old will play a large role in assisting leading Canyon//SRAM duo Kasia Niewiadoma and Pauliena Rooijakkers over the eight stages, and is understandably proud and excited to be part of an historic moment for women's cycling.

"I’ve had a long block of training since The Women’s Tour," Cromwell said in a team media release.

"I also did some course recon during this period, so I know what’s in store for the hardest stages.

"In the last two weeks, things have started to click. My form is strong, and I feel good on the bike and ready to go.

"My goal overall is to have a strong tour. My main role will be team support and road captain.

"We have an incredibly strong team for the race, especially for the demanding and climb-heavy stages.

"I know the last two stages aren’t suited to me, but everything up until then, I believe I can go deep into the final of the stages.

"I aim to be there for my teammates to help set us up for stage victories or the overall and of course, if there are opportunities along the way on the non-GC days, I’ll be willing to put my hand up if it fits with the team plan."

Nicole Frain (Parkhotel Valkenburg Cycling Team)

Our national road race champion Nicole Frain will be in Paris this Sunday for the Le Tour Femmes depart in her new Parkhotel Valkenburg colours – with a splash of green and gold of course.

The 2022 elite women’s national road race champion was unveiled as a new signing for the Dutch UCI Women’s Continental Team earlier this month on an 18-month contract, in a mid-season transfer from Australian UCI Women’s Continental Team Roxsolt Liv SRAM.

The opportunity to race full-time in Europe is a deserved opportunity for the 29-year-old, who has continued to log consistent, front-of-field results with Roxsolt Liv SRAM in the past two months across Europe.

The revelation Frain would jump straight into the most anticipated women’s race of the year in Tour de France Femmes was a shock, but the Tasmanian always had it as a goal in the back of her mind over the past month to drive her on.

“I didn’t expect to get a start in it, knowing that I’m coming on late into a team of really strong girls,” Frain said.

“But I knew it was a chance especially after I raced strong at Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour, so I kept training with that goal in mind until they made the team selection - so I was pretty happy to get the call to say I was starting that’s for sure.

“I got to start the first Paris-Roubaix last year (with TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank) also so I know I’m super lucky with these opportunities and hope I can race well and just learn a lot through the process.

“Plus, doing so in the national champion kit - it’s really special.”

Amanda Spratt (Team BikeExchange – Jayco)

One of the leading women of Australian cycling over the past decade, Amanda Spratt will be a rider to watch when the parcours start heading upwards.

The 34-year-old is synonymous with Australian cycling fans as a three-time national road race champion, a two-time Giro d'Italia Donne podium finisher, and a silver and bronze medallist at the elite women's UCI Road World Championships in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Spratt was thrust into a much different lead-in to the Le Tour Femmes than originally planned due to contracting COVID earlier this month at the 2022 Giro d'Italia Donne and is likely to target stages later in the week.

"There is so much excitement building before the start of Tour de France Femmes," Spratt said in a team media release.

"It really feels like an amazing moment is coming for our sport and it’s just going to be such a special day standing on the Champs Élysées and starting our Tour de France. In this moment so many of us will begin living out a childhood dream!

"Obviously I had to stop the Giro because of COVID when I was in a really high GC place and the form was the best it’s been.

"Unfortunately, it knocked me out good so I had 11 days where I couldn’t train – I’ve just started again now.

"This of course has had a big impact on what my original goals were at Tour de France, so I will just take it day by day and hope to ride into it and be the best support possible for my team.

"Nonetheless, we have a really strong team. I’m looking forward to supporting Kristen and seeing what she can do as our GC leader.

"Alex has been stepping up in every race so I think she can surprise some people as well. I think we can look for opportunities in every stage and we will be ready to fight every day!”

Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Team BikeExchange – Jayco)

A neo-pro glistening with potential, Ruby Roseman-Gannon is one of several young Australian women leading the charge of the next generation breaking through at the top level.

The 23-year-old was nigh on unstoppable in the 2021 AusCycling National Road Series for ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast, which started with a third-place GC finish at the Santos Festival of Cycling.

The Victorian's growing list of achievements had Team BikeExchange-Jayco come calling, with Roseman-Gannon winning from the get-go at the 2022 edition of the Santos Festival of Cycling and the 2022 AusCycling Federation University Criterium National Championship.

The good form has continued over in Europe where she has been logging top-20 finishes for fun.

Roseman-Gannon enters Le Tour Femmes has a major asset for the flatter stages as either the protected sprinter or in service of Alexandra Manly.

Like Spratt, Roseman-Gannon also suffered a hiccup leading into Le Tour Femmes, crashing in Andorra last month while training when her chain derailed while out of the saddle.

The result was four of her front teeth knocked out and a deep laceration above her lip, however, this has not stopped the Brunswick Cycling Club product from starting the biggest race of the year.

Roseman-Gannon will head straight to the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games following Le Tour Femmes to compete in the road race.

Alexandra Manly (Team BikeExchange – Jayco)

An Australian coming in hot to Le Tour Femmes, Alexandra Manly will be right in the mix on the flat stage finishes and intermediate sprints in pursuit of the points classification (green jersey).

The 26-year-old registered four stage victories and the overall win at the recent Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour in late May, and came very close to grabbing a stage win at The Women's Tour in June, ultimately finishing fourth overall.

2022 is take two for Manly's professional road career, with her first stint from 2015 to 2019 with GreenEDGE Cycling.

In 2019, the Kalgoorlie-born Manly fully committed to the track after several years in the Australian Cycling Team program in the successful pursuit of a spot at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Manly returned to the squad this year alongside best friend Georgia Baker and Roseman-Gannon.

Manly is a two-time world champion on the track, taking double honours at the 2019 UCI Track World Championships in the team pursuit and points race.

She too will compete at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games in the road race following Le Tour Femmes.

Main picture: The Women's Tour