In 2009, professional cyclist
Kathryn Bertine was frustrated why there was no official 'Women's
Tour de France'. She wrote to the organisers of the race –
Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) – with a business plan on how such a race could be created. No response was received. Subsequently, Bertine became an activist for women's cycling, and formed the activist group Le Tour Entier (“the whole tour”) with fellow cyclists
Marianne Vos and
Emma Pooley and triathlete
Chrissie Wellington. The headline of the petition stated "After a century, it is finally time to allow women to ride their Tour de France as well". The group received substantial media coverage, with over 100,000 signatures received. In October 2013, the group met with ASO to work out how a women's race could be included in the Tour. This was sent to the governing body of cycling –
Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), as well as to race organisers. The manifesto called for: Organised by ASO, La Course was welcomed by the professional peloton, media and campaigners, with Le Tour Entier praised for being the "catalyst" behind the push for the race. The
race was won by founding member
Marianne Vos. However, La Course did not expand beyond a one day race in subsequent years, and Bertine continued to express disappointment that it had not evolved into a multi day stage race. The professional peloton criticised the lack of difficulty of La Course, with former cyclist & commentator
Joanna Rowsell stating that "We need mountain climbs, flat stages, time trials and a Champs-Elysees finish". Following discussions between the UCI, teams and race organisers, the
UCI Women's World Tour was launched in 2016 – with a substantial increase in the number of race days, media coverage and minimum prize money. The World Tour included multi day races, unlike the previous
UCI Women's Road World Cup. Several men's
UCI World Tour events also now stage a women's race on the same day or weekend – such as
Liège–Bastogne–Liège Femmes (first edition in 2017) and
Paris–Roubaix Femmes (first edition in 2021). Several
UCI WorldTeams now have female squads, including
Movistar (launched 2017),
Trek–Segafredo (launched 2018) and
Jumbo–Visma (launched 2020). Average age rules for teams were also removed. In 2020, a minimum wage for riders was introduced, with some riders stating their income has doubled or even tripled. In 2021, ASO announced that the
Tour de France Femmes would be held over 8 days in July 2022. Bertine did caution that the women's race would be significantly shorter than the men's race, with less prize money and TV coverage. The first edition of the race took place in July 2022, to praise from the public, media, teams and riders. The race was met with large crowds and high TV viewership. Activism in the professional peloton continues, with
The Cyclists' Alliance (a union representing the female peloton) pushing for greater live TV coverage, greater prize money and longer races. == References ==