in brief: tour de france to include women cyclists

Image: : Wikimedia Commons

The International Cycling Union has announced that there will be a female competition as part of this year’s Tour de France.

On 27 July the famous cycling event will host a one day women’s competition, ‘La Course by Le Tour de France’. The event will be an opener just hours before the Tour riders race to finish the three week Tour.

The move makes a significant change for the event, whose 110 year old history has involved exclusively male athletes.

UCI sport director Phillippe Chevallier noted the obstacles for women’s sport, and hopes that the decision will help overcome these difficulties. ‘Women’s races have had financial difficulties- little television exposure, little media fallout and as a result, few sponsors. We are working hard so that will change.’

It comes as a group of world cyclists launched a petition last summer to push for a professional women’s race equivalent to the Tour de France. Road race world champion Marianne Vos has expressed the group’s excitement about the move in a statement ‘The Tour is the pinnacle of professional cycling… (this) could open up a new era for women’s cycling.’