This is the Pacific zone version of Vive Les Femmes. Points and GC do not count, although stage finishes do. The Europe-zone event has more riders and also counts towards the classifications. Since turnout has been much lower for these events, there will be plenty of bots (40) to keep you company along the way if you want. Today is a stage for the puncheurs. Starting near Villeneuve, we climb and descend a loop in Vertus, then head northward for the first sprint of the day, then a GPM out of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger We then enter the finishing circuit, first passing the 2nd intermediate sprint, then climbing past the finish line in Épernay, then looping north for the feared climb of Côte de Mutigny (GPM) made famous by Julian Alaphilippe in 2019. There's then another climb near the finish leading to a final short loop back to the finishing climb. This stage honors French cyclist Jeannie Longo, who had an incredible career spanning 5 decades. In her latter years she was most famous for her time trial, but she was also a great climber and stage racer.