Tour de l'Avenir (English: Tour of the Future) is a French road bicycle racing stage race, which started in 1961[1] as a race similar to the Tour de France and over much of the same course but for amateurs and for semi-professionals known as independents. Felice Gimondi, Joop Zoetemelk, Greg LeMond, Miguel Induráin, Laurent Fignon, Egan Bernal, and Tadej Pogačar won the Tour de l'Avenir and went on to win 16 Tours de France, with an additional 10 podium placings between them.

Tour de l'Avenir
Race details
DateAugust (men)
September (women)
RegionFrance
English nameTour of the Future
Local name(s)Tour de l'Avenir (in French)
DisciplineRoad
CompetitionUCI Nations Cup
TypeStage race
OrganiserAlpes Vélo
Race directorPhilippe Colliou
Web sitetourdelavenir.com Edit this at Wikidata
History (men)
First edition1961 (1961)
Editions60 (as of 2024)
First winner Guido De Rosso (ITA)
Most wins Serguei Soukhoroutchenkov (URS) (2 wins)
Most recent Joseph Blackmore (GBR)
History (women)
First edition2023 (2023)
First winner Shirin van Anrooij (NED)
Most recent Marion Bunel (FRA)

The race was created in 1961 by Jacques Marchand, the editor of L'Équipe,[2] to attract teams from the Soviet Union and other communist nations that had no professional riders to enter the Tour de France.

Until 1967, it took place earlier the same day as some of the stages of the Tour de France and shared the latter part of each stage's route, but moved to September and a separate course from 1968 onwards.[3] It became the Grand Prix de l'Avenir in 1970, the Trophée Peugeot de l'Avenir from 1972 to 1979 and the Tour de la Communauté Européenne from 1986 to 1990. It was restricted to amateurs from 1961 to 1980, before opening to professionals in 1981. After 1992, it was open to all riders who were less than 25 years old.[2]

Since 2007 it is for riders aged 18 to 22 inclusive, and is held part of the UCI Nations Cup.[4][5] National teams take part in the race rather than trade teams.

Women

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From 2023, a women's edition of the race (Tour de l'Avenir Femmes) was held following the men, taking place over 5 days.[6] As with the men's race, national teams take part in the race.[7]

Winners

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Year Country Rider Team
1961   Italy Guido De Rosso
1962   Spain Antonio Gómez del Moral
1963   France André Zimmermann
1964   Italy Felice Gimondi
1965   Spain Mariano Díaz
1966   Italy Mino Denti
1967   France Christian Robini
1968   France Jean-Pierre Boulard
1969   Netherlands Joop Zoetemelk
1970   France Marcel Duchemin
1971   France Régis Ovion
1972   Netherlands Fedor den Hertog
1973   Italy Gianbattista Baronchelli
1974   Spain Enrique Martinez Heredia
1975 No race
1976   Sweden Sven-Åke Nilsson
1977   Belgium Eddy Schepers
1978   Soviet Union Serguei Soukhoroutchenkov
1979   Soviet Union Serguei Soukhoroutchenkov
1980   Colombia Alfonso Florez
1981   France Pascal Simon Peugeot–Esso–Michelin
1982   United States Greg LeMond Renault–Elf
1983   East Germany Olaf Ludwig East Germany (national team)
1984   France Charly Mottet Renault–Elf
1985   Colombia Martín Ramírez Café de Colombia–Varta–Mavic
1986   Spain Miguel Induráin Reynolds
1987   France Marc Madiot Système U
1988   France Laurent Fignon Système U
1989   France Pascal Lino RMO
1990   Belgium Johan Bruyneel Lotto–Superclub
1991 No race
1992   France Hervé Garel RMO–Onet
1993   France Thomas Davy Castorama
1994   Spain Ángel Casero Banesto
1995   France Emmanuel Magnien Castorama
1996   Spain David Etxebarría ONCE
1997   France Laurent Roux TVM–Farm Frites
1998   France Christophe Rinero Cofidis
1999   Spain Unai Osa Banesto
2000   Spain Iker Flores Euskaltel–Euskadi
2001   Russia Denis Menchov iBanesto.com
2002   Russia Evgeni Petrov Mapei–Quick-Step
2003   Spain Egoi Martínez Euskaltel–Euskadi
2004   France Sylvain Calzati R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover
2005   Denmark Lars Bak Team CSC
2006   Spain Moisés Dueñas Agritubel
2007   Netherlands Bauke Mollema Rabobank Continental Team
2008   Belgium Jan Bakelants Belgium (national team)
2009   France Romain Sicard France (national team)
2010   Colombia Nairo Quintana Colombia (national team)
2011   Colombia Esteban Chaves Colombia (national team)
2012   France Warren Barguil France (national team)
2013   Spain Rubén Fernández Spain (national team)
2014   Colombia Miguel Ángel López Colombia (national team)
2015   Spain Marc Soler Spain (national team)
2016   France David Gaudu France (national team)
2017   Colombia Egan Bernal Colombia (national team)
2018   Slovenia Tadej Pogačar Slovenia (national team)
2019   Norway Tobias Foss Norway (national team)
2020 No race due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021   Norway Tobias Halland Johannessen Norway (national team)
2022   Belgium Cian Uijtdebroeks Belgium (national team)
2023   Mexico Isaac del Toro Mexico (national team)
2024   Great Britain Joseph Blackmore Great Britain (national team)

Women

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Year Country Rider Team
2023   Netherlands Shirin van Anrooij The Netherlands (national team)
2024   France Marion Bunel France (national team)

References

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  1. ^ [1] Archived November 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b "le RDV des fans de cyclisme, vélo, velo, cycling, cyclo, piste, VTT". Velo-club.net. Archived from the original on 2007-10-21. Retrieved 2013-07-15.
  3. ^ "Tour de l'Avenir". Éditions Larousse. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  4. ^ Tour de l'Avenir: Un Costaricain premier leader
  5. ^ "Tour de l'Avenir Sortir43.com Haute Loire". Sortir43.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-19. Retrieved 2013-07-15.
  6. ^ "Accueil". Tour de l'Avenir Femmes (in French). Retrieved 2024-04-07.
  7. ^ Costa, Andrea (2023-07-17). "Le Tour de l'Avenir aussi au féminin". Tour de l'Avenir 2023 (in French). Retrieved 2023-07-24.
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