Tour de France Femmes 2022 - Opinion: A historic day we’ve waited a long time for as inaugural race begins
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Updated 24/07/2022 at 19:43 GMT
On Sunday, Lorena Wiebes became not the first woman to win a stage of the Tour de France, but the first in 33 years. It has been an era absent of equality of opportunity for female riders to compete on the greatest stage, in front of the biggest audiences, and compete for the most valued prize in cycling. That era is now over, as a new one begins.
Stage 1 highlights: Wiebes beats Vos in Champs-Elysees drag race
Thirty-three years is a long time without a women’s edition of the Tour de France.
It is so long, in fact, that although officially Sunday's run around Paris marked a resumption, a continuation of sorts, it was rightly treated as something entirely new.
It’s almost certainly true that none of the 144 riders who took the start of the Tour de France Femmes remember Dutch star Monique Knol’s sprint victory in 1989 across, give or take a few hundred metres, the same finish line as Lorena Wiebes. Only 23 of them had even been born.
That Knol’s immediate successor should come from the same country is, in a way, apt, but that a women’s Tour de France is back cannot make up for the fact that it was gone for so long.
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‘Let’s go racing!’ – Historic moment as Tour de France Femmes gets underway
It’s not that women’s bike racing was invisible or devoid of interest in that time, or that it has not grown and professionalised.
It’s that several generations of female riders were deprived of the opportunity to compete in their own version of the only bike race a sizable chunk of the general public have heard of.
Eurosport’s Dani King made the point most succinctly during Sunday's broadcast: “When you tell people you’re a professional cyclist they always ask if you’ve ridden the Tour de France.”
Which is why it matters that, as of today, 144 more women - including poor Alana Castrique (Cofidis) who crashed out with injury, and Petra Stiasny (Roland Cogeas Edelweiss Squad) who finished outside the time limit - can say they have.
It’s about equality of opportunity, and what we witnessed was 144 professionals absolutely seizing it.
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'I never thought of being part of the Tour de France' - Vos on inaugural TDF Femmes
Figuratively, as well as literally, this was just the start.
The first stage was as far from the dry ceremonial procession that completes the men’s edition as it’s possible to get. Nor was it the 'La Course by the Tour de France' criterium that took place on the same circuit for three years, just under a decade ago.
It was a proper bike race, with proper crowds, with several very proper things at stake.
To fight for, not play, was the first of eight of each jersey - yellow, green, polka dots and white - which will be awarded between now and next Sunday.
Everyone watching saw how much it meant to the riders who claimed them. Not just Wiebes (DSM), who took the first two of those by winning the stage, but also Wiebes’ former lead-out rider Femke Markus (Parkhotel Valkenburg), who broke out once from the bunch and second time from the break. When Markus crossed the line at the nominal Queen of the Mountains point, she punched the air with the delight of a stage winner.
And not forgetting mighty Maaike van der Duin (Le Col-Wahoo), whose superb sprint for sixth place means she will wear white tomorrow, as the leader of the young riders’ competition.
Seven stages, and so much promise, lies ahead in the next week. There will be something for everyone. Do not look away.
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‘Mouths agape!’ – Wiebes wins on Champs-Elysees
In fact, you must do more than remain watching, consuming passively - you must engage.
With the race, online and via social media - click on everything TDFF-related; listen to podcasts, boost their numbera; with the sponsors: Strava your Zwift session via your Wahoo computer; treat yourself to a replica Le Col jersey; book a last-minute trip to France and play the FDJ lottery while you’re there. Tell your friends and family to tune in.
Or as our very own Orla Chennaoui puts it: "Watch. Shout about the coverage. Consume news coverage. Feed the algorithms, add to the data. Show the demand is there. This is our time."
This should begin an uninterrupted run of 100 editions of the Tour de France Femmes, and that is how we make sure it does.
The Tour de France Femmes should be allowed to grow and improve; it should be honed and tweaked over the years to come.
But it should never be allowed to go back.
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Stream the Tour de France Femmes live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.
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