Megan Armitage only Irish rider with shot at Tour de France Femmes start

Megan Armitage, who missed out on Tour de France Femmes last year after a training crash, is the only Irish rider in with a chance of riding the race this season after the wild card invites were confirmed by ASO.

The Irish woman’s team, EF Education-Cannondale, is one of the five teams to be issued with invites, alongside Arkea-B&B Hotels, St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93, Lotto Dstny Ladies, and Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi.

Those teams will line up on the start line in Rotterdam on August 12th with the 15 World Tour teams in the women’s pro peloton and with the two top-ranked Continental teams from last year – Cofidis and Tashkent City Women – who automatically qualify.

This year’s event, which is the third edition of the race’s new incarnation, will culminate with a big finish on Alpe d’Huez after eight days of racing.

Armitage was selected to ride the Tour by Arkéa Pro Cycling Team last year after winning a stage and the overall in Vuelta Extremadura Féminas (2.2), which came on the back of other very strong performances in the first half of the season.

However, just days before the race was due to start she suffered a training crash and as she had a suspected concussion she was forced out of the event, in what was a huge blow.

She signed a three-year deal with EF Education-Cannondale over the winter and that US-registered squad is a stronger outfit than Arkéa Pro Cycling Team last year, meaning tougher competition for places at this year’s Tour.

Armitage rode very well in the early season races for her new team before suffering a bad crash in UAE Tour in February. And though she was able to remount and continue in the race, that was a nasty incident.

While she has since gone on to compete in a series of one-day races in Belgium and Italy. Her last outing was a month ago at Gent-Wevelgem, where she was a non-finisher.

However, she will hopefully have time to try and get herself into the reckoning for Tour de France selection as she would be the first Irish woman to ever ride the race.