BIG RACES & SMALL DISTANCES

There are three distinct types of Women’s WorldTour races - the one-day Classics, the stage races and the under-90km ‘Crit-like’ races that have caused some controversy.

La Course by Le Tour de France, the Prudential RideLondon Classique, and the Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta are all young sub90km races, and run alongside the much bigger men’s events. They’re controversial because, while they’ve provided opportunities for the women to take part in major men’s races, they’re also unusual lengths that affect the racing style.

Longer than a standard crit (an adrenaline-fuelled dash around a short city course for an hour or less), they’re much shorter than the 120-140km Classics. While Crit racing is a distinct discipline, these three WWT races are the only big races of this distance, so they can’t develop the same culture and specialists.

But all three are in big cities, and despite the limitations, it has been important to see the women get the chance to race on the ChampsÉlysées and the Paseo del Prado - and while they look guaranteed for sprinters on paper, in 2015 Anna van der Breggen tore up the script, and won La Course from a solo breakaway.

In 2017, La Course moves from the final day of the Tour de France to Stage 18, finishing on the Col d’Izoard. But the price is a reduction in length, from 89km to just 66km – a Junior category length. The argument about whether these three races belong in the WorldTour is set to continue.