Featured image courtesy of Tim de Waele/Getty Images
As soon as the Tour de France is over, a new race in France begins- this time it’s the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (for brevity TDFF). This is a huge advance for women’s cycling and the future of the sport.
There have been previous iterations that could be described as a “women’s Tour de France”, such as the Tour de France Féminin in the mid-to-late 1980s or the most recent Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale. Each one has offered a platform for women but has disappeared into the ethers of time.
This time seems different, in part due to the involvement of Zwift as a title sponsor. That, as well as the advertising that has gone into the lead-up to the race gives me cause for optimism. It will be a showcase for women’s cycling and being associated with the Tour de France gives it an automatic assumption of prestige.
There’s a vibe that seems to have occurred naturally of huge excitement around the upcoming race – a cursory glance at social media shows how momentous this occasion is for female cyclists and as a viewer I cannot wait to see the likes of Annemiek van Vleuten, Marianne Vos and Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig put on a masterclass in France.
With the existence of the Giro Donne (the women’s Tour of Italy), there will be comparisons made between the two; currently the Giro represents the blue riband event in women’s road cycling. The TDFF will come close and maybe in time exceed it, and it has one contributory factor that supports it in a big way, namely its placement in the calendar.
The one thing that harmed the coverage of the Giro Donne was that it started the day before the men’s Tour de France, which eviscerates any other headline in the cycling world. If it’s not happening in France then it’s not happening at all at this point in the season. Having the TDFF start on the final day of the men’s Tour gives it that momentum and initial push, and the support and investment that GCN is giving it is almost unprecedented, with them providing their “Breakaway” format to the women’s race as well as the men’s.
It’s certainly being treated as a big deal and it is a huge step forward. We’ve had the main meal of three weeks of Grand Tour action, and the women’s race acts as dessert – but dessert is the best part and the thing I look forward to the most – Bring It On!
