TOUR DE FRANCE FEMMES: SUCCESSFUL FEMALE TEAM PLAYERS AND PIONEERS IN THE SADDLE

Within a fraction of a second, speed, sweat and struggle explode into jubilation, triumph and tears of joy behind the finish line. Driven by talent and passion, 15 World Teams and seven UCI Women's Continental Teams, with a total of 154 female athletes, are competing in this year's Tour de France Femmes. Among them are the riders from CANYON//SRAM Racing Team with last year's third-place finisher, Kasia Niewiadoma, the Canyon athletes from FENIX-Deceuninck Cycling Team, as well as the Canyon athletes from Movistar Team Women with last year's winner Annemiek van Vleuten.

From July 23 to 30, the teams are competing in eight stages and 956 tough racing kilometers on their high-speed racing bikes. After a break of more than 30 years, the legendary women's tour is back in the international women's cycling scene for the second time this year, showcasing female pioneers who are writing cycling history, setting an example for future generations and giving women's cycling more visibility.

Alison Jones also has personal memories of the Tour de France Femmes: In 1991, she herself competed for Team Canada in the French classic. "Eddy Merckx, one of the most successful cycling legends ever, was in Erfurt at the time and presented our team with a rose when finishing first in the prologue. Over the following days, we fought hard on to the next tough stages. Some people were at the track cheering. I don't remember any media coverage from that time."

"The 2022 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift has brought an incredible amount of hard-fought and well-deserved attention to women's cycling," knows Beth Duryea, Co-founder and Marketing Manager of World Team CANYON//SRAM Racing. A recent report published by ZWIFT on the 2022 Tour de France Femmes confirms the largest international coverage and impact ever measured for a women's cycling race: Broadcast to 190 countries and 5 continents with more than 23 million avid cycling fans along the route. Social media posts, reach and engagement for the top 5 women's cycling races increased more than 300 percent in 2022 compared to 2021, thanks to the Tour de France Femmes.

On a global scale, however, a cycling gender gap can still be observed. This means that in a large number of countries, significantly more men than women get on bicycles and use them as a means of transport or sports equipment. A few northern European countries – including Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands – are the exception: Here, roughly the same number of women as men ride bicycles. In many other countries, however, significantly fewer women than men use bicycles. The reasons for this are complex: Next to general road safety, acquisition costs and, in some countries, the division of roles between women and men and concerns about urban violence, also play a role.

Still, the history of the bicycle is also a history of the emancipation of women: In her book "Revolutions. How Women Changed the World on Two Wheels" author Hannah Ross describes how women experienced freedom and independence through the bicycle and became pioneers of their time.

The Tour de France Femmes puts female race cyclists and sports in the spotlight. This is an important step – although, as in other sports, media and public attention lags behind the male races and could be significantly expanded. In women's cycling, just as in the bike industry, there is still work to be done. This view is also shared by Alison Jones, who, as a passionate cyclist and Canyon Chief Operations Officer, has arrived in the bike industry: "Cycling as well as the bike industry and other industries benefit from more women in leadership positions. I'm excited to see how women will continue to shake up bike racing and the bike industry."

Images from left to right:

• Alison Jones, Canyon COO - Copyright: Canyon Bicycles
• Beth Duryea, CANYON//SRAM Racing - Copyright: Beth Duryea / Tino Pohlmann
• Hannah Ross, author - Copyright: Hannah Ross

Image galery (above): Copyright - Canyon Bicycles