BeSpoke at the Tour: Why is there no women's version of the Tour?.

Tour organisers Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) relented to Le Tour Entier's lobbying in 2014 by introducing La Course and Yann Le Moenner, the company's chief executive, said in March that the growing profile of women's cycling meant it 'will definitely deserve a dedicated' equivalent of the Tour and 'the sooner the better.'īut what is the view from the world of women's cycling? What would a women's Tour look like? And will finance always be an issue? 'The very top of the sport is where sexism is still strongest and that's what needs to be dismantled.'

'They probably don't even see it as sexism, but you could also say that it's just very lazy. 'It should be a five to 10-day race minimum by now,' she told BBC Sport. It will only run as a single mountain stage this summer, having been a two-day event last year and held on the Champs-Elysees before the final stage of the men's race in its previous three outings since it began in 2014.īertine, who helped found campaign group Le Tour Entier to press the case for a women's Tour, describes that as 'throwing women a token'.

The Road Less Taken by Kathryn Bertine