No Women In Tour De France

[Eden]

The Tour started with 198 riders, and last year there was some discussion about allowing less riders on the course, due to the massive crashes. Today we had another one of those crashes. Frankly, I cannot see a women's field at the same time. it would be nice if a women's field competed on the same course a day earlier.

Unfortunately it takes a *huge* amount of organization to do these races.... an extra day of officials, support and traffic control would probably be too expensive for the organizers.

It might be feasible to send a women's race just after the men, so it would just be a few extra hours.

[Irulan]

Exactly.

Off the top of my head, sports that are not gender-specific for the most part and have a professional component: equestrian, sailing, auto racing, shooting, billiards.

The above listed also have technical aspect, as in , the horse is as much or more of a part of the competition as is the rider. I don't think you can say the same thing about a bike.

[indysteel]

[QUOTE=SadieKate;645591]As Indy said, there is, or at least was a TdF for women.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de...e_F%C3%A9minin/QUOTE]

Cancelled? I didn't know that. What a shame.

[kamikazejane]

Women's stage races have less stages and are much shorter (100km versus 200km per day). Right now, I am following the women's version of the Giro d'Italia, the Giro Donne. It only has 9 stages. Today is stage #8 - I linked to the coverage in a separate thread.

The Tour started with 198 riders, and last year there was some discussion about allowing less riders on the course, due to the massive crashes. Today we had another one of those crashes. Frankly, I cannot see a women's field at the same time. it would be nice if a women's field competed on the same course a day earlier.

Thanks, had no idea about the Giro Donne.

[SadieKate]

The above listed also have technical aspect, as in , the horse is as much or more of a part of the competition as is the rider. I don't think you can say the same thing about a bike.

Yeah, you can take the brawn out of the equation and let the brain and coordination dominate.

[kamikazejane]

[QUOTE=indysteel;645597]

As Indy said, there is, or at least was a TdF for women.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de...e_F%C3%A9minin/QUOTE]

Cancelled? I didn't know that. What a shame.

Yeah I saw that it was cancelled as well. What a bummer.

[SadieKate]

The above listed also have technical aspect, as in , the horse is as much or more of a part of the competition as is the rider. I don't think you can say the same thing about a bike.

And let's not forget the One Fly competition.

http://www.jhonefly.org/

[pll]

Unfortunately it takes a *huge* amount of organization to do these races.... an extra day of officials, support and traffic control would probably be too expensive for the organizers.

It might be feasible to send a women's race just after the men, so it would just be a few extra hours.

I know... and it is also a massive 'tax' on the different cities. The problem is that some stages are really long. I'd love to see more women's races -- hence my advertising of the little coverage the Giro Donne gets.

[indysteel]

To echo one of the things SK said, ultradistance events offer a chance for women to compete alongside men. I spent part of my holiday reading up on Ezster Horanyi, the women who recently finished seventh overall and first among women at this year's Tour Divide.

[TsPoet]

I do think that Canondale's TDF women's group is kinda neet.
http://www.cannondale.com/women#7

[pll]

I do think that Canondale's TDF women's group is kinda neet.
http://www.cannondale.com/women#7

Are you following them? It's kind of fun. For those interested:

• Heidi Swift's blog for Peloton magazine: http://pelotonmagazine.com/Swift/art...0/SwiftARCHIVE
• Kristen Peterson's blog: http://www.kristenpeterson.com/2012/...his-hurts.html
• A twitter list including the 6 team members: https://twitter.com/#!/cynicalprof/revetdf

[gnat23]

They have a few women's races like it. Here is a small non competitive one that is running this year at the same time: http://www.reve.cc/

I've been watching my friend Heidi get ready for this, all the training, panic, and adrenaline that has come with it. She's been writing for Peloton magazine the whole time, which is a new kind of hell: Ride 130 km, THEN be eloquent in prose? Wow.

http://www.pelotonmagazine.com/Wisdo.../Swift-Stage-4

It's not a race, but the women are riding the whole stage the day prior to the men. The miles and emotions are very much real and her stories and tweets have been putting the TdF in quite a different perspective for me.

-- gnat! (GO HEIDI GO!)

[jobob]

She's been writing for Peloton magazine the whole time, which is a new kind of hell: Ride 130 km, THEN be eloquent in prose? Wow.

Wow indeed. That's a fascinating read, thanks pll and gnat!

[Blueberry]

Not pro-only, and not competing against each other, but most major long-distance running races (marathon and longer) have men and women on the same course at the same time. So I can see where it might make sense for men and women to be in the same bike races together.

That's the only sport I can think of, though.

Triathlon also - some of the top women place in the middle of the men (or at least they did when Chrissie was racing....).

[Susan Otcenas]

Not pro-only, and not competing against each other, but most major long-distance running races (marathon and longer) have men and women on the same course at the same time.

Triathlon as well. Males and females compete at the same distances at the same time on the same course. It's one of the reasons I love triathlon. There's no "dumbing down" the distances for the women.

Many ultra-cycling events are the same. Males and females ride the same course, same distance. This is true in competitive events like RAAM and Furnace Creek 508, as well as non-competitive events like randonneuring (Paris-Brest-Paris), etc. That does mean, though, that women participate in much smaller numbers. At PBP last year, there were 5000 starters, just 300 of which were women. 4000 people finished, including just 200 women.

I happen to believe that women are very well suited to endurance events. We may not have the same power as men (and therefore don't keep up when the hammer gets put down), but we can ride or run very consistently for long periods of time. I've done any number of rando rides where I (voluntarily) get shelled off the back in the first 30 miles, only to see many of the same men again 100 miles down the road, gooses cooked.

Thus, I think women could actually survive a race as long as the TdF, but not at the same speeds. And it's the speed, sprints and crashes that get viewers all riled up and excited. Without the same level of excitement, sponsors are not interested. Which is one of the reasons women's pro racing suffers so much. Not enough drama.