Tour de France Féminin
The Grande Boucle Féminine or Grande Boucle Féminine International, was a cycling stage race of women in France. It was called until 1997 Tour Cycliste Feminin and is the counterpart of the Tour de France of the men who is often called the Grande Boucle. Since 1998, the term tour organizers may no longer use because of trademark issues. Nevertheless, the names Tour de France Feminin, as well as in German-speaking Tour de France the women are in the public more familiar.
History
The race is since 1984 on time and to separate from the Tour de France the men fought, but aimed at the design and with a circumference of ten to fifteen stages originally one of the men's tour comparable special position within the women's sports. After the inaugural tournament in 1984, the Tour Cycliste Feminin was five years dominated by the exceptional athletes Jeannie Longo and Maria Canin, each made up the top two positions among themselves. The women's tour did not reach the targeted attention permanently and in 1990 and 1991 and 2004 was not held due to legal disputes and sponsors deficiency. Between 2005 and 2009 the race with a reduced program, and only four to seven stages took place.