The Tour de France Femmes has only existed since 2022. You could almost think that professional women's cycling is a new achievement, but the TOUR archive proves otherwise. The report from the 2005 Cross World Championships in St. Wedel opens with a double-page photo of Hanka Kupfernagel - one of the best-known faces of women's cycling in Germany at the time; TOUR celebrated her success at her home race: "A Hollywood director could hardly have staged the happy ending at the end of January in a more cinematic way. 'Unbelievable! I was so relieved when I rode through the stadium. It was like in a film', said Hanka Kupfernagel herself as she rode the last few metres on her way to the World Championship title in Sankt Wendel.
After a long dry spell, hard work and overcoming self-doubt, the great success - celebrated with great emotion. At the finish line, the new world champion and her coach and partner Mike Kluge were in each other's arms." 20 years ago, TOUR also published a full-page poster of Judith Arndt in the March issue, who had become road world champion in Verona, Italy, in September 2004.
The race dates for 2005 were printed on the back of the foldable poster - with a separate page for the women's races. The events were spread all over the world and ranged from the Tour of New Zealand to the Tour du Montreal, the Giro d'Italia Feminile, the Route de France Féminine, the Tour du Grand Montréal and the Giro della Toscana. However, not all of these races survived the following years. The new momentum for women's cycling is therefore more like a new start after a dry spell. And there is still room for improvement!
