I recently saw a piece discussing the visibility of women's professional cycling. While the Tour de France Femmes drew large roadside crowds and big viewing figures this year, the conversation often focuses on the sponsors. It is worth noting that the Le Tour Entier campaign, co-founded in 2013 by Kathryn Bertine, Marianne Vos, and Emma Pooley, applied significant pressure for the women's Tour to exist.
It is a powerful reminder of the resilience required to move the sport forward. Beyond the big events, there are still great races to follow, such as the Tour of Britain Women and the UCI Road World Championships Women's Elite Road Race. Even riders like Lucie Fityus, who finished 112th out of 115 finishers, show the incredible grit that makes this sport so compelling.
Does the credit for the Tour de France Femmes' existence belong more to the organizers and sponsors, or to the campaigners who fought for the race?
It has to be the campaigners. Organizers and sponsors usually only move when they see a guaranteed return or enough pressure that they can't ignore it anymore. The fact that people like Bertine, Vos, and Pooley were pushing for this since 2013 shows that the race didn't just happen because the organizers suddenly felt generous. That kind of resilience is exactly what makes the sport so compelling, seeing that same grit in the riders who fight through to the finish, even those at the back of the pack. Without that initial pressure, we might still be waiting for a race with this kind of visibility.
