Tour de France: No Women Ever?

[Tom Keats]

In article <[email protected]>,
Ryan Cousineau <[email protected]> writes:

> are allowed universally, and start to routinely dominate women's racing. What then, three classes
> of racing?

I dunno. But all sides of the issue seem to be so maddeningly technically arguable. I think it
really opens a Pandora's can o' worms.

cheers, Tom

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[Tomp]

In a word: Biology.

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:

> Watching all those gorgeous hunks on the TV a few nights ago for the Centennary Start-Off of the
> Tour de France, I was bemused by the realization that I had never heard of a female participant in
> this famous race.
>
> Is it true that the race has never included women? and if so, does anyone have any idea why? I
> would have thought that cycling was a particularly gender-egalitarian sport: there's nothing about
> it that's visibly macho, either iconographically or anatomically. And ambitious sportswomen have
> made a point of infiltrating all the "bastion sports" to compete with men - one thinks of some of
> those sinewy tennis-women or those America Cup captainesses. On a media-and-advertizing level, I
> recently heard that women's events, or events including women, draw as

> championesses. And I would have thought that the Tour was most assimilable to a Marathon Run,
> where female participants start off with the men and where you often have a first male and a first
> female finisher.
>
> My mind flashes back to a feature I saw in last month's WIRED magazine, about cool new products.
> There was a vignette on a racing-bike that had only just been issued in a version designed for
> women. The author reflected on a vicious circle whereby there was no "market" for women's
> competitive cycling and so no bicycles were being made for female contestants. Could that be all?
>
> Not that I'm getting any smarmy ideas.... %°>
>
> Elisa Roselli Paris, France

--

Tp

-------- __o ----- -\<. ------ __o --- ( ) / ( ) ---- -\<. ----------------- ( ) / ( )
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Freedom is not free; Free men are not equal; Equal men are not free.

 

[Scott]

In rock climbing, women are starting to climb as hard as the best men, really. These climbs involve
power and endurance. One climb in particular by Lynn Hill--"The Nose" of El Capitan in Yosemite
climbed all free, no falls, in one day--has yet to be repeated despite tries by the best male
climbers from around the world. Not many people know about Hill, but she is one of the greatest
athletes EVER, regardless of gender.

Scott

 

[Ryan Cousineau]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (Scott) wrote:

> In rock climbing, women are starting to climb as hard as the best men, really. These climbs
> involve power and endurance. One climb in particular by Lynn Hill--"The Nose" of El Capitan in
> Yosemite climbed all free, no falls, in one day--has yet to be repeated despite tries by the best
> male climbers from around the world. Not many people know about Hill, but she is one of the
> greatest athletes EVER, regardless of gender.

I don't know enough about rock climbing to compare its power requirements to cycling, but what I do
know invites the idea that beyond the basic level of fitness required to do a rock climb, it is a
sport much more about tactics and agility than raw strength.

In road cycling, there really are no technically impossible courses for any rider. I could probably
push myself up any climb in the Tour, given a triple, and with enough training, virtually everyone
in this group probably has the inherent athleticism to ride the Tour route.

The hard part is being competitive. Bike racing runs against the clock and the other riders, and
virtually anyone in this group who managed to start the Tour would be dropped and time-barred after
the first stage.

The fierce levels of sustained aerobic exertion are what make elite cycling inaccessible to
virtually any women. Lynn Hill probably is a great athlete, and I admire not only her achievements,
but also disciplines that let men and women compete on largely equal footing. But road cycling is
not one of those, and it is right and proper that there is an active women's racing circuit filled
with many women who are very talented cyclists competing on their own terms.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

 

[Chris Phillipo]

> I don't know enough about rock climbing to compare its power requirements to cycling, but what I
> do know invites the idea that beyond the basic level of fitness required to do a rock climb, it is
> a sport much more about tactics and agility than raw strength.
>

Being light wieght doesn't hurt either.

> In road cycling, there really are no technically impossible courses for any rider. I could
> probably push myself up any climb in the Tour, given a triple, and with enough training, virtually
> everyone in this group probably has the inherent athleticism to ride the Tour route.
>
> The hard part is being competitive. Bike racing runs against the clock and the other riders, and
> virtually anyone in this group who managed to start the Tour would be dropped and time-barred
> after the first stage.
>
> The fierce levels of sustained aerobic exertion are what make elite cycling inaccessible to
> virtually any women. Lynn Hill probably is a great athlete, and I admire not only her
> achievements, but also disciplines that let men and women compete on largely equal footing. But
> road cycling is not one of those, and it is right and proper that there is an active women's
> racing circuit filled with many women who are very talented cyclists competing on their own terms.
>

The biggest barrier to anyone who wants to compete in the Tour is not being invited.

--
_________________________
Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia http://www.ramsays-online.com

 

[Jmk]

The female version of the Tour was cancelled this year. I think that UCI prohibits men and women
from competing in the same event. That might be one reason for it.

Drew Cutter wrote:
> Their use to be a female version of the Tour . Not sure how long ago. I'm not aware of any
> significant number of women who can compete in the road , mountain stages and time trials at the
> same level as men. I disagree on the anatomically part. Sprinters and time trialist require huge
> upper leg muscle (not too good for the mountains). Women sports are not drawing the sponsor and tv
> coverage that people once thought. (basketball , soccer comes to mind). Mountain biking might be
> the only area that women might compete. Eco-challenge is another area that women are able to
> compete at the same level.

 

[David Reuteler]

Ryan Cousineau <[email protected]> wrote:
: and virtually anyone in this group who managed to start the Tour would be dropped and time-barred
: after the first stage.

fabrizio, ryan. it took 2 or 3.
--
david reuteler [email protected]

 

[Elisa Francesca]

Hunrobe wrote:

> That's why there are tests for steroids. They aren't looking for abnormally high levels of
> estrogen. ;-)
>

Heh, good point.

Elisa Roselli Paris, France

 

[Elisa Francesca]

consideration!

just like male ones.

I suppose legislation and rules would have to evlove to keep up with these new cases.

Elisa Roselli Paris, France

Ryan Cousineau wrote:

> IAw ****. The problem with tranny pros is that it just isn't fair. Michelle or Michael, s/he has a
> man's physique trapped in a transvestite body. It's pretty unfair competition for all those women
> who started life as women.
>
> I think that at the International level Michelle is not welcome in the women's races. You want to
> race, fine, go race in the men's race, just don't go playing stupid games like being a pro-quality
> "female" racer. It belies the whole purpose of a women's race.
>

> are allowed universally, and start to routinely dominate women's racing. What then, three classes
> of racing?

 

[Archer]

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...

> consideration!
>

> just like male ones.

Not as the term is usually used. Anabolic steriods used for performance enhancement are mostly
chemically related to testosterone, not estrogen. I don't think estrogen would ever be classified as
a performance enhancing drug (at least not in athletic events <Grin>).

....

--
David Kerber An optimist says "Good morning, Lord." While a pessimist says "Good Lord,
it's morning".

Remove the ns_ from the address before e-mailing.

 

[Salmoneous]

> The fierce levels of sustained aerobic exertion are what make elite cycling inaccessible to
> virtually any women.

Physiologically, isn't it an issue of mussle strength rather than sustained aerobic exertion?

 

[Pat]

x-no-archive:yes

> The fierce levels of sustained aerobic exertion are what make elite
> > cycling inaccessible to virtually any women.

>
> Physiologically, isn't it an issue of mussle strength rather than sustained aerobic exertion?
"salmoneous"

I wondered about that, too, because women regularly swim the English Channel and that takes
sustained aerobic exertion. Women are also good at Ultra-marathons.

Pat in TX