Excitement at the reborn Women's Tour de France - it doesn't need to be three weeks long!

At Palais des Congrès, Paris

Yesterday I attended the presentation of the 2022 Tour de France, at the Palais des Congrés at Porte Maillot, Paris. 

It's a pretty big affair with the auditorium being packed out with a couple of thousand people - among them, team riders, sponsors, dignitaries, community cycling groups, and journalists. 

This event always garners excitement - finding out what novelties there will be in the route, but the really noteworthy thing was the unveiling of the route of the inaugural Women's Tour de France. 

Yes, a women's version of the men's 108-year old event will take place next year. As the men finish their race on Champs Elysees on 24th July, the women will begin their event shortly afterwards at the Eiffel Tower.

The race will then consist eight stages, all in the North Eastern part of France, and will have use the infrastructure of the men's event organised by Amaury Sports Organisation, as well as being televised.

After the 82km-race around central Paris, the remaining stages will be around 130km, passing through towns like Meaux, Epernay, Troyes, Bar-le-Duc, with a 175km-stage to Saint Die Des Vosges and finish on the really challenging Superplanche des Belles Filles. 

Auditorium filling up at Palais des Congrès

Although they will only be racing for eight days, the women will have some pretty tough stages. A couple of stages will include steep gravel roads, and a couple of stages will go over the Grande Ballon, the Petit Ballon, and the Ballon d'Alsace - some infamously steep hills in the Vosges regions. 

The stage race will see an exciting end as women have to race up the 20%+ gradients of the Superplanche des Belles Filles, and sprint to the finish line along a 1km uphill stretch of gravel road.

These stages do look exciting, and it will be great to see them getting the scheduled two-hours' TV coverage that was announced, as women contesting for a share of the 250,000-euro (£210k) prize fund.

This is not the first time an ASO-organised women's Tour de France is taking place. This event took place between 1984 and 1989, with the winning woman being pictured on the podium alongside the winning man. The women did not win any prize money, and the event was not televised (though there was print media coverage). However, the event was not financially viable and was difficult to manage logistically.

Much campaigning has been done for a women's ASO-organised event that would get the same coverage, and be on par with the men's event. Since 2014, a one-day race, La Course has taken place during the Tour de France, on the route of one stage of the Tour de France, and that was televised. However, activists were quite dissatisfied with the event and saw it as a token gesture.

When this women's route was revealed, the audience response was positive, with spontaneous applause. The professional women racers I spoke to - Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, Elisa Balsamo, and Evita Muzic - for Cycling News, were glad to have Tour de France and saw the route as correct, and in line with their expectations.

Tour de France Femmes with Zwift 2022 route

Some observers have bemoaned the fact that this so-called Tour of France is only concentrated within one region within Northern France, and is only eight stages long. But it has to be understood that a) women's road racing teams are smaller than men's teams (~13 riders vs. 30 respectively) and so there is less rotation of riders in races. Riders end up doing different types of races back-to-back, where men's teams operate a double roster. So a women's team doesn't have enough riders to compete in three-week stage races; 

b) there are a few stage races taking place within a short time frame - the Women's Tour of Italy, the Women's Tour, and another new stage race in Scandinavia (Battle of the North), so rider well-being needs to be kept in mind when setting out the number of stages in a race (as well as following the UCI rules on the length of races); c) over an eight-stage race it would be impractical to move the whole peloton across large geographic areas of France within an eight-day time frame.

In the last nine years that I have interviewed professional women, I have never met anyone who said they wanted to do a three-week stage race with 200km stages. It seems that these calls have been from activists who are calling out for their ideals of what equality means, independently of what current professional women's peloton actually want.

So I would rather take my lead from the feedback of the professional women racers. For them, the rebirth of a women's Tour de France is a very positive thing, and so I am inclined to agree with that. Of course, there are a few outstanding elements like a lack of a time trial stage. 

Also, the prize money, though significantly higher than other women's races is still a long way behind the 2.3M-euro (£1.9M) fund set aside for the men's Tour de France. This is something that can only really be addressed over time as media organisations gain confidence in televising women's cycle races and viewer numbers increase.

What has been announced is a good start, and I look forward to seeing the race play out next year. As Tour Director Christian Prudhomme says, I like to see it as something that will still be going in 100 year's time.

[I also wrote about the Tour de France reveal for The Times. Link here.]

London gears up for more bike riders

It's official. Bike riding is very much on - even if other activities are off. And many people have been gearing up for it in this glorious weather (excuse the pun). Folks are buying bicycles or digging out their old bikes and taking to the streets up and down the country.

Many businesses have suffered during this coronavirus crisis, but bike shops have remained buoyant with some having their busiest period ever, especially as they were on the list of essential shops that could remain open.

With such quiet roads, people have taken the opportunity to cycle around unhindered with their families. Even my brother was able to go out riding with his seven-year old daughter on the roads near his home without any problem.

Now that people are steadily resuming work, the government is strongly encouraging us to cycle, in order to ease the strain on public transport and maintain social distancing. Extra pop-up lanes have been constructed too.

I think this is great, and it has been one of the few glimmers of light in what has otherwise been a rather grim period.

I must say, though that despite the efforts being made by local councils to erect pop-up lanes there are still people who want to complain about the government not doing enough for cyclists in the UK.

Central Paris, near Chatelet and Rivoli

People have a tendency to post photos of cycle lanes in other countries and then automatically claim that their system is better than what exists in our country - then proceed to slam the government.

Personally, I find that kind of talk quite tiresome. Firstly, from my experience of cycling around cities around Europe and beyond, most major cities don't have a cycling infrastructure that is so much better than what you find in London.

I have been doing conversation exchanges with folks in France, Spain and Italy recently and one thing I have found interesting is that every one of these folks - based in Paris, Toulouse, Valencia, Madrid, Milan, Verona, Bari, Florence, Brussels have all said that they do not enjoy cycling around their cities because it is too dangerous. Only one woman, based in Lyon said that she would be happy to ride around her city.

Bridge going to Saint-Michel

Interestingly, I have recently seen photos people have post on Twitter, showing these great cycling plans and lanes in Brussels and in Milan - and yes, you've guessed it - they dismissed London's efforts as comparatively poor!

I wrote an article earlier this year in which I compared the achievements of London mayor Sadiq Khan, with those of his counterpart in Paris, Anne Hidalgo. Both mayors were up for re-election this year (until COVID-19 halted the process).

Where Khan had realised around 90% of his plans for London, Hidalgo had only achieved 60%. Yet people began to rave about her plans to make Paris a 100% cycling city by 2024 with every street in Paris being cycle friendly. I am always sceptical about politicians announcing ambitious plans for the future - especially when they have fallen short with their pledges in the current manifesto. (Where have I heard that before?!)

As someone who uses a bicycle as my mode of transport whenever I visit Paris, I have found my experience of cycling around the French capital to be quite pleasant. Who wouldn't enjoy pedaling down the traffic-free path along the River Seine in the shadows of Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and the Louvre? But that's just the equivalent of someone going along the cycle superhighway on the Embankment in London, with the Eye, the South Bank, and the Palace of Westminster opposite.

Cycle path along the River Seine near Chatelet

Meanwhile in Paris I get dumped off this lovely path along the River Seine and find myself on Place de la Concorde ready to start the fun and games of getting across that big square, when there's no specific cycle lane.

It's even more fun riding up the world's most famous avenue, Champs Elysees, and mixing it with all the traffic. Fortunately there are so many sets of traffic lights to stop at that vehicles can't really pick up any speed, so it's not so intimidating.

The merry-go-round continues at the Arc de Triomphe roundabout with its 12 - yes 12 exits. You are on the right (as is the case in Europe) and you need to turn left to get to the Eiffel Tower. Try negotiating that when there is no system. It's just every man, woman, and their dog for themselves and you just have to wing it and grow a few extra pairs of eyes - and balls!

Birdcage Walk, near Buckingham Palace

Back in London, the nearest we have to that is Hyde Park Corner, which is a comparatively dull, uneventful affair as you are guided safely across the round through Wellington Arch via a set of pedestrian/cycle/horse crossings.

Of course, you can always jazz things up if you choose to ride your bike around that roundabout. No doubt there are people who do so, and then complain that London roads aren't set up to accommodate cyclists! But the vast majority of people use the available cycling facility.

Then with cycle lanes through Hyde Park, and now Park Lane, and cycle paths going back towards Buckingham Palace, with dedicated cycle traffic lights cyclists have a perfectly safe and trouble-free passage across the most famous parts of Central London.

I just randomly chose Paris as the comparator, but if I substituted Paris for other cities (apart from Copenhagen and Amsterdam) similar issues would be noted. But I think you get my point, dear reader. My point is that riding through the centre of other major cities is pleasant enough, but the issues there are not so different from what is London. In fact, in few ways, London fares better.

Cycling through Central Paris at rush hour

So, I am reluctant to knock the cycling facilities in London, as I feel that they are quite good, and furthermore the Mayor of London has a lot more to juggle compared with other cities.

Sadiq Khan has a surface area to manage that is in some cases five times the size of other major European cities. Furthermore, with permission needing to be granted from each of the 33 boroughs that make up London, it makes the planning and decision-making process much more complicated than other City Councils that just deal with local government in that city alone, and maybe central government.

These factors definitely have a bearing on the way things are done, and I think that all things considered we haven't done so badly. So in these times of coronavirus I would prefer to celebrate what is being done for cycling rather than criticize it.

Cycle superhighway on Blackfriars Bridge

Related posts
Lockdown brings out large number of cyclists

Cycle route: South London to Westminster and Chelsea

Cyclists of Paris

Festive 500 - Park Life Tour: East and Central London

Paris en vélo! Arrivée réelle

In search of lost time

Perhaps I should have returned to Beauvais, but I preferred a Western approach entry into Paris. If I had wanted to get a glimpse of the England football team at their base in Chantilly, pass the Stade de France at St Denis, or see the start town of the final stage of the Tour de France, Beauvais would been convenient. But I favoured the upmarket route via the Roland Garros tennis stadium, Parc des Princes football ground and the various horse-racing courses around the Bois de Boulogne.

Vernon

My destination was Vernon, a neighbouring village to Giverny, the home of Claude Monet. Most people arrive at this town as the gateway to Giverny but it is worth exploring Vernon before visiting Monet's house and garden. A bike hire shop right outside the station means that you can do a mini tour of the meandering streets before heading to the Claude Monet village.

There are some beautiful 11th century buildings from the time of the Norman Conquest, and Vernon has its own Notre Dame Cathedral, as well as many medieval buildings, with wood carvings in the architecture. It is a real not-so-hidden gem!

Giverny was lovely, too. Beautiful stone buildings that were converted into art galleries, pretty gardens and tea rooms, and other lived-in cottages. This town was certainly more touristic than Vernon, and that made it slightly difficult to ride my bike through the crowds of folks who had travelled from far and wide. It was a relief to get back onto the open road and ride unimpeded.

Giverny

Discovering the Vexin and Île-de-France

Today was a lovely day to be out on a bike ride, and as such, there was a real feelgood factor riding through the various quaint villages in the Vexin area. It was just as well that the villages had something worth looking at, for the terrain was a little bit challenging. It wasn't the Alps, but the roads in this area are by no means pan flat!

But what you gain in height you also gain in lovely views - such as a spectacular vista over the River Seine snaking through the forest below while I was cresting a road surrounded by rocky outcrops at La Roche Guyon.

On this sunny Sunday afternoon I rolled through many deserted country lanes. It was possible to stop at the side of the road by the arable fields for a sandwich or a nap, and be completely undisturbed. I didn't do that though, as Paris was tantalisingly close and I was really looking forward to reaching the heart of the city.

Bridge to the Bois de Boulogne with Eiffel Tower poking through

In fact, at this point Paris is frustratingly close. I kept getting views of either the La Défense skyline at Poissy and Le Pecq, or of the Eiffel Tower when in St Cloud, but there were still lots of obstacles to get over first - hills, bridges, woodland, unwanted propositions on the pedestrian bridge to the Bois de Boulogne. And someone even had the cheek to set up a fun-fair on my road through the St Germain-en-Laye forest!

But after passing through the lovely, leafy western Parisian suburbs of St Germain, La Celle St Cloud, St Cloud, and Auteuil, I finally entered the city of Paris via the Porte de la Muette, where I was immediately in Trocadero and greeted by the sight of the Eiffel Tower, resplendent in its home on the Champ de Mars. This is one of my favourite views - notwithstanding the football fan park underneath!

Shortly after that, my route took me to the centre of Paris - the Charles de Gaulle Etoile roundabout - with the Arc de Triomphe in the middle of the chaos of this 12-point star! Lovely.

Finally arrived! Loving being at Etoile

As France were playing a football match that evening the roads were unusually quiet, which meant I had a very straightforward ride through the city centre.

I whizzed around the Etoile junction, endured the bumpiest ride down the cobbles of the Champs Elysées, while still enjoying the thrill of riding down one of the most famous avenues in the world!

This was the climax of my ride, and I really wanted to soak in the moment. The rest of my jaunt was by no means anti-climactic though. I still had Place de la Concorde, the Pyramides of the Louvre Museum, the luxurious shops of rue St Honoré, the Left Bank, and Notre Dame to behold.

Yes, I was in Paris, and I had ridden my bike there. My bike-riding wanderlust around the Parisian region was satiated (at least for now), and I was happy!


My ride into Paris from Vernon according to Strava


Related Posts

Paris en vélo! C'est parti!

Paris en vélo! Arrivée fictive