Kristin Inga Thompson is a retired road bicycle racer. She competed at the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Olympics with the best result of eighth place in 1988. She won silver medals at the world championships in 1987, 1990 and 1991, and placed third at the Tour de France in 1986 and 1989. Nationally she won United States National Road Race Championships in 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991 and 1993.

Various professional women's cycle stage races across France have been held as an equivalent to the Tour de France for women, with the first of these races staged as a one off in 1955. From 1984, a women's Tour de France was staged consistently, although the name of the event changed several times - such as Tour de France Féminin, Tour of the EEC Women, Tour Cycliste Féminin and Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale.