Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Freewheeling => Racing => Topic started by: giropaul on 14 May, 2021, 08:04:30 am
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A Women’s TdF has been confirmed for 2022.
Details on NU.NL (links don’t seem to be copyable)
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It is like the 1980s all over again.
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Indeed
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/may/11/tour-de-france-organisers-reveal-womens-race-will-be-revived-in-2022
No mention of route or length.
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https://www.letourfemmes.fr/en
Eight stages, starts on July 24th in Paris (presumably immediately after the finish of the Chaps' edition), finishes July 31st at La Planches des Belles Filles. All in the NE of France, so no Alps, Pyranees or Massif Central chiz.
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https://www.letourfemmes.fr/en
Eight stages, starts on July 24th in Paris (presumably immediately after the finish of the Chaps' edition), finishes July 31st at La Planches des Belles Filles. All in the NE of France, so no Alps, Pyranees or Massif Central chiz.
Not a tour de france, but a tour of that corner up there in the top right...
J
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https://www.letourfemmes.fr/en
Eight stages, starts on July 24th in Paris (presumably immediately after the finish of the Chaps' edition), finishes July 31st at La Planches des Belles Filles. All in the NE of France, so no Alps, Pyranees or Massif Central chiz.
Not a tour de france, but a tour of that corner up there in the top right...
J
They were thinking of you; it's not so far to go to cheer them on! Probably closer to you than it is to me.
Next year they could have a start in Nl, cross Belgium and have four days rattling round the Champs! Or simply make it a Netflix "virtual event".
Of course the TdF has never in all its history been a tour de France. There is a real Tour de France, possibly a couple of different routes, but they are in no way associated with the UCI and would undoubtedly appeal far more to you from a participant point of view. 8) 8)
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My above reply was very largely tongue in cheek but it may be closer to the truth than I was thinking. Given that women's pro road cycling (and cyclo-cross) is dominated by Benelux and north europeans it must be a lot easier to find sponsors/interest the spectators with a tour based in the north. It would cost a lot getting a tour to the Alps and the Pyrenées without necessarily a financial return. If Marianne Voss was french rather than dutch the situation might be very different but in the absence of a french household name a TdF féminin is unlikely to compete for tv time or roadside spectators in sufficient numbers in France (no matter how attractive it seems to other nationalities).
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ASO have already said that if it loses money it’ll be in the bin, though I'm not sure how long they’re prepared to fund it until they decide that enough is enough.
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They should have a womens tour of Dubai or Oman then…
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They should have a womens tour of Dubai or Oman then…
A big publicity tour of Holland or Benelux might be a good starting point with the support of Eurosport. Make that work and you're in with a chance of convincing others.
We already have dutch and belgian cyclo-cross with the féminines featuring as well as the male races on french Eurosport. I don't go looking for it but seem to find it regularly anyway. There is a future to be built, just need to find a way of doing it.
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Flanders Classics seem to have been doing a great job with their women's races - timed to hit the interesting/crucial part of the parcours just after the men's race has finished. Coupled with the way the races work with loops (so not a large gap between seeing the racing), the vast majority of the crowd has stayed to watch the women as well. It's made for great TV, good crowds and the usual exciting racing being seen by many more people than before.
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Eurosport have started plugging it in a quiet sort of way (at least the women's racing season, with the TdF included). We had some pre-event banners during the breaks in the snooker the other night. It's a start, hopefully with a continuation to come.
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Stage 1 is before the final stage of the men's edition so no excuses for shit TV coverage will be acceptable.
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Guess what? The TV coverage will be shit, at least in BRITAIN >:( The men's race, as per usual, is getting the full live + highlights treatment but the women's, at least according to ITV4’s webby SCIENCE is only getting the latter.
Bethany (12): Make me happy on my birthday, why doncha?
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Puts it on an even keel with the Vuelta and ahead of the Giro. Not convinced it's entirely a bad thing, I don't think the women's TDF would get many viewers for full live treatment which would then be seen as failing.
I'm also not sure (from my limited experience of the Women's Tour the La Course) that organisers have sussed what to do with the races; seems they are either bunches that fail to even have a daily breakaway, ending in a sprint (without organised leadouts, making it seem more like a kids kickabout) or a mountain stage where the race gets ripped apart from the flag and coverage is of a bunch of solo riders grinding up the slope at their disparate paces.
TV and organisers looking to show highlights is a safe bet for them and a way for them to grow the idea for a year or so.
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The women have been short-changed, though: it's a Tour de France in name only. Apart from the first couple of stages it's all in the Grand Est region, and the last three are in the Vosges and Alsace.
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The women have been short-changed, though: it's a Tour de France in name only. Apart from the first couple of stages it's all in the Grand Est region, and the last three are in the Vosges and Alsace.
Significantly better than what has gone before, and with it being a week long race I don't think long transitions would be welcomed.
Checking the profile of the route, the last 2 days are both classified as mountain stages. That should shake things up a bit.
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I've done most of the cols in the last 3 stages. There are a couple of decent cols there and of course the horrible Super Planche des Belles Filles.
They'll be taking over one of my favourite roads on Friday. Maybe there'll be fewer tooth-shattering bumps next time I take it.
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Guess what? The TV coverage will be shit, at least in BRITAIN >:( The men's race, as per usual, is getting the full live + highlights treatment but the women's, at least according to ITV4’s webby SCIENCE is only getting the latter.
Bethany (12): Make me happy on my birthday, why doncha?
Fr2-3 seem to be pushing it (as also Eurosport, I believe). If the afternoons heat up and I stick inside infront of the telly I'll see if they keep their word. Marion Rousse being a tv presenter on the men's race and course director of the women's one there's a chance that she will have been able to be persuasive
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Guess what? The TV coverage will be shit, at least in BRITAIN >:( The men's race, as per usual, is getting the full live + highlights treatment but the women's, at least according to ITV4’s webby SCIENCE is only getting the latter.
Bethany (12): Make me happy on my birthday, why doncha?
Fr2-3 seem to be pushing it (as also Eurosport, I believe). If the afternoons heat up and I stick inside infront of the telly I'll see if they keep their word. Marion Rousse being a tv presenter on the men's race and course director of the women's one there's a chance that she will have been able to be persuasive
Sadly either I misunderstood ITV's webby SCIENCE earlier or it was lying, because TV's Gary Imlach confirmed yesterday that they’re not showing it at all chiz.
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And on the off chance I checked Quest, in case they were carrying the GCN coverage, but no such luck. It would seem to be GCN, Eurosport, or Discovery+ (which can be had via Amazon Prime for £7 a month). Sadly, ICBA to set up then cancel a Discovery+ subscription just for the week.
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Live on Fr3 at the moment. Peloton all grouped except those chasing to get back on after a chute at the back of the peloton. Attack going as I type. Another rider on the deck. 26kms to finish!
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Two more mass chutes in the peloton. Might be losing one or two riders although no-one out so far. Attack has 40" lead, sorry I am not catching any names.
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Live on Eurosport, but coverage didn't start until about 90km to go.
Lots of crashes. Looking like it'll be an exciting finish.
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Great finish. :)
Terrible commentary!
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Marianne Voss wins stage and takes yellow jersey. I missed it! Fr3 coverage continuing with interviews, analyses etc. Their commentary en course seemed quite good, much the same team as for the men's tour.
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Great finish. :)
Terrible commentary!
Agreed. The commentator that, erm, Eurosport and GC, ah, N, employ for the women's, eh, races is absolut-erm- ly hope-ah-less. ::-)
And, missing out the, erm, pauses. a typical few seconds sounds like, "mariannevoskasianiewiadomacecliieuttrupludwiggracebrownelisalongoborghinielisabalsamo..." :facepalm:
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I gave up on Eurosport/GCN on the men's tour. The commentary is plain awful much of the time. Kirby is just not as funny as he thinks he is. Kelly spends most of his slots stating the bleedin' obvious, and then you have the live moto links from Bradley (nothing proved) Wiggins. And the GCN crew think they're are making cycling "cool" ::-)
ITV4 ls just leagues ahead. Gary Imlach (whom I've had the pleasure of chatting with about cycling) has a deep interest in and passion for the sport, way beyond the Eurosport presenters, and David Millar actually gives you meaningful insights into how the pro peloton operate and is enthusiastic without waffling. It's a shame they don't cover more events.
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As an aside, Toontra (I agree with your assessment and have thoroughly enjoyed ITV's tour), have you read Gary's book about his dad, was a pro-footballer in my youth? GI is obviously a born communicator, although I think he could could try saying "we'll take a break" as a separate sentence, next year!
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Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig is just the best interviewee by far. I'd like to see Ineos try to media train her :-)
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This one?
https://twitter.com/i/status/1551941120992632834 (https://twitter.com/i/status/1551941120992632834)
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See also https://youtu.be/zZmDwC6EJ7Q (https://youtu.be/zZmDwC6EJ7Q)
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Or this
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0cL26UrU8SI
Or this
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VkbyFDrF9kM
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AVV is just astonishing.
I loved the way that in her interview afterwards she was very clear that she wasn't criticising her competitors, just explaining why her experience means that volume is something that she can do.
I thought it curious that Elisa Longo Borghini spent so long riding on her own only a minute ahead of the group with Niewiadoma- it felt like she was burning her matches and was going to get caught (Vollering is different because she climbed so well with AVV that she was many minutes ahead).
I guess this is why so many powerful teams seemed to be stage hunting in the first few days instead of trying to put time into AVV - this was always possible.
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Finally caught up with this.
That final stage was brutal compared to rolling along drinking champagne. And that final few metres, where the media moto lost traction and ended up dropping it, was insane. Shame they didn't finish in Paris, but that was a great finale.