Canyon-SRAM's new Tour kit launches ten-year push to bring 1,000 women to cycling events each year

Canyon-SRAM's new Tour kit launches ten-year push to bring 1,000 women to cycling events each year

We Femmes will begin with free, no-drop rides before moving into a wider programme shaped by participant feedback and annual public reports.

By Peter Stuart · · 3 min read

Canyon-SRAM will debut a special We Femmes kit at the Tour de France Femmes on Saturday, launching a ten-year participation campaign built around free rides and personal invitations.

Announced by Canyon on Tuesday, the programme commits the company to bringing at least 1,000 women annually to We Femmes rides and events for the next decade. SRAM, Zwift and clothing supplier Ryzon are also backing the initiative.

The campaign is organised around one instruction: “If you ride, bring a woman who doesn’t.” Existing cyclists are asked to invite someone who has yet to start, with the intention that new participants can repeat the process the following year.

Every We Femmes ride will be free, open and run under a no-drop policy, meaning the group will wait for slower participants. The first programme will accompany the Tour in August with rides, watch parties, workshops and designated cheering areas.

Canyon says it will release annual reports covering attendance and meaningful engagement, with each report due before the Tour de France Femmes.

Cycling team members in colorful performance jerseys pose with arms crossed at an event

Tour launch followed by autumn feedback

The new kit will first appear during the Tour's Grand Départ in Lausanne on August 1. The nine-stage race continues through Switzerland and France before finishing in Nice on August 9, with Mont Ventoux providing the summit finish on stage seven.

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM), the 2024 Tour winner, will lead the team's general classification challenge. The seven-rider roster also includes Soraya Paladin, Chiara Consonni and Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka, alongside Tour debutants Zoe Bäckstedt, Antonia Niedermaier and Rosa Klöser. The campaign comes ten years after Canyon-SRAM was established as an independent women's programme rather than an extension of a men's team.

Its development work has included Canyon-SRAM Generation, which created additional routes into professional racing, and training programmes built around female riders' needs.

Two cyclists in matching patterned kits ride close together during a road race sprint.

The Ryzon-made jersey will also be sold publicly in women's sizes XS to XL and men's sizes XS to XXL, priced at €130. Canyon-SRAM Generation riders will wear the design alongside the WorldTour team.

Following the Tour launch, Canyon-SRAM riders will lead We Femmes events in selected European cities during autumn 2026. Focus groups and open sessions will collect feedback, which Canyon says it intends to publish, including criticism of the programme.

The next expansion is scheduled for 2027, when We Femmes plans to establish rider networks, local chapters and collaborations to reach women who do not currently identify with cycling. Event details will initially be published through Canyon Road and Canyon-SRAM's social channels.

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Peter

Peter Stuart

Editor

Peter is the editor of Velora and oversees Velora’s editorial strategy and content standards, bringing nearly 20 years of cycling journalism to the site. He was editor of Cyclingnews from 2022, introducing its digital membership strategy and expanding its content pillars. Before that he was digital editor at Cyclist, and then Rouleur. Before joining Cyclist in 2012, he completed freelance work for titles including The Times and The Telegraph. He has reported from Grand Tours and WorldTour races, and previously represented Great Britain as a rower.