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A women's Tour?
Last Post 10/03/2014 03:34 PM by 79 pmooney. 3 Replies.
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79pmooney

Posts:3189

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10/03/2014 01:38 PM
From VeloNews:   

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/10/news/news-aso-looking-american-sponsor-womens-tour-de-france_348306

and link to : http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-03/tour-de-france-heir-wants-u-s-sponsor-for-women-s-race.html

Sounds like a week long women's Tour could well happen if a US company stepped up to fund it.  Nike?  That would be a real start.  I think ultimately the women should go the full 3 weeks, perhaps on shorter courses like the last 1/2 to 2/3s like they did years afo.  Maybe 3 weeks is too long and it should be 2 weeks.  One week is too short, but it is a start.  Just the last day, laps around the Champs' like this year and next, is a joke.  Still, thank you, Marianne Vos, for putting your weight behind it and getting it started.

Maybe this could pull Inga Thompson back into the racing scene, one of this country's classier racers.  (Probably just dreaming there.  But rebuilding the women's Tour?  Seriously cool and about time!)

Ben
longslowdistance

Posts:2886

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10/03/2014 02:18 PM
I predict it would be as successful as women's pro soccer.
ChinookPass

Posts:809

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10/03/2014 02:27 PM
Hey, that's cool. I hope they pull it off.

Would it run on the same course and same day as the men? Probably good to share resources. I have to say, I'd be hard-pressed to watch two races in a day. But if I was a spectator on the course, more is better!

If it's not on the same day, then it runs into the same problems as other women's races. Low interest, poor course security, low-quality tv coverage. Hard to keep a race going under those circumstances.

It's definitely a chicken-egg thing. Pros need more races and more money to do big races so there can be more and better pros. The men have barely figured it out and most of the time seem to be just scraping by. More power to the sport if the women can figure out a good formula that works.
79pmooney

Posts:3189

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10/03/2014 03:34 PM
They used to run it same day, same course, just starting say 80 miles into the men's course and running it about an hour before the men. So all the course prep is done. The spectators are there (just a little more sober than when the men will come by - probably not all bad!) and on most of the moutain stages, the women get all the climbs. The three week shorter version of Inga Thompson's day wasn't for wimps.

Edit: the really cool think I see happening is ASO welcoming the women.  Yeah, they do not want to foot the bill, but they are saying the door is open if a US sponsor wants to take it on.  And there are US companies with deep pockets who could well be seeing a bigger market for their products.  Nike sponsoring the women's Tour and backing a US team to win it?  Could that pull in a few sales?  Maybe start a run in the US of women's bike sales.  Trek, are you listening?
 
Ben
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