Even though the race is almost over and a champion is soon to be crowned, that doesn't mean it's time to pack away the bikes.

In fact, things are just getting started.

Sunday will see the start of the inaugural Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift - the first women's tournament.

This is a very exciting moment for SBS commentator Gracie Elvin, who is a vocal advocate for female cyclists and was co-founder of the first international women's cycling union. Elvin, a two-time national road cycling champion and Rio Olympian, will provide expert analysis and commentary during the race.

"It's quite a historic moment for women's cycling," she said.

"There's been a lot of calls for parity in women's and men's cycling, and since 2014 there's been a one-day race run by the same organisation, La Course, but it never quite evolved into full tour until this year.

"The riders really excited, the fans are really excited and it means so much for women's cycling. The Tour de France is one of the biggest events for men in the world, and people watch it even if they're not cycling fans, so it's really important for women's cycling to have the same exposure."

While the men's event took place over 21 racing days, the women's will be held over a compact eight days.

Elvin thinks this is a great way to wean new viewers into the sport.

"The first day is on the same day as the final stage of the men's Tour de France, when there's always so many people watching," she said. "It's nice that this will roll on from that, and fans won't need to suffer any cycling withdrawals. There's eight more days of watching cycling, eight different stages and potentially eight different winners for each stage.

"I think the Tour de France Femmes is the perfect gateway to get into being a cycling fan because of the shorter timespan. Women's racing is much more dynamic and it's a really exciting sport to watch. I'm really passionate about it and I hope people will tune in not just to see the beautiful scenes from France, but the beautiful racing too."

Elvin is honoured to be part of the SBS crew covering this year's event.

She said the broadcaster always delivered high-quality coverage, and it would be no different for Tour de France Femmes.

"SBS has provided such great coverage of the Tour de France for decades, and just as much effort has been put into the women's tour as the men's this year," Elvin said.

"There will be live coverage, insights from our great commentary team, interviews with riders pre and post stages, and lots of great information to set the scene for proper cycling fans as well as the new fans. I'm really grateful to be a part of the SBS team - it's a dream come true for me. This is a new phase of my career on the other side of racing."

So who should the fans be looking out for? Elvin said there some Aussie faces to keep an eye out for in this inaugural race.

"There's going to be a number of Australian riders at the start line, and they're not just participants, they're real competitors," she sad. "Some to watch are Grace Brown from Melbourne, who will be vying for some stage wins, and Amanda Spratt, who has been building towards this event, and will also potentially see some stage wins. There's a lot of tough competition.

"A lot of eyes will be on the favourites coming out of the Netherlands, they've got the strongest riders across few teams, and in particular an old teammate of mine, Anna van Vleuten."