'Bigger than sports' - Jumbo-Visma rider Marianne Vos hails historic return of Tour de France Femmes
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Updated 24/07/2022 at 11:11 GMT
Jumbo-Visma rider Marianne Vos has hailed the historic return of the Tour de France Femmes as "a big thing around the world," adding: "It will impact the fans, and the possibility of showing women's cycling across the globe will make a difference." Stream the Tour de France Femmes live and on-demand on discovery+.
Tour de France Femmes 2022: The route for inaugural eight-stage extravaganza
Having played an integral role in bringing the Tour de France Femmes to fruition, Marianne Vos has described the event as “bigger than sports” ahead of Sunday’s Stage 1.
Vos - who has been labelled a “very dark horse” to win Stage 1 by Warner Bros. Discovery cycling expert Iris Slappendel – started a petition in 2013 to revive the Tour de France Femmes.
Regardless of what happens, Sunday will be a very proud day for the Jumbo-Visma rider when the competitors get the first edition of the Tour de France for women since 1989 up and running.
"The Tour de France is bigger than sports,” the Dutch star told Cyclingnews.
“It's a big thing around the world. It will impact the fans, and the possibility of showing women's cycling across the globe will make a difference.
“It has already made a difference since La Course, and we have seen this picked up widely.
“Since we received the news of an eight-day Tour de France, we also saw the media and fans were very much excited to have us racing here.
“Women's cycling has made huge growth over the last ten years. Sometimes you can't push and need time to grow and get everything ready to have this kind of race. I think everyone is excited to get it going.”
Asked why it took so long to welcome the women's peloton back into the Tour de France, over three decades after the last version of the stage race and eight years after the first La Course, Vos said: "It's not easy; logistically and organisation-wise, it has to be the right time. Of course, we can say it has taken too long, but I'm happy it's here."
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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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