COURSE CORRECTION
La Course, the women’s race at the Tour de France, was launched to great fanfare and optimism eight years ago. But has the formula run out of steam?
Launched off the back of hard-fought campaigning by some of the biggest names in women’s cycling, La Course seemed to herald a new era for the sport. The women would be racing along the hallowed avenue of the Champs Élysées before the iconic final stage of the men’s Tour de France – a huge opportunity.
Having been presented with that platform, the women’s peloton did what they always do and made the race a thrilling spectacle. In the second edition, in 2015, what should have been a predictable, open goal for the sprinters was thwarted when Anna van der Breggen time trailed her way to a solo victory.
This period was one of regrowth for women’s cycling following a decade of contraction from the relative boom of the 1980s and 1990s. The 2010s saw the introduction of women’s editions of some of the most iconic Spring Classics, as well as the creation of the UCI Women’s WorldTour — with more than 30 days of racing — to replace the World Cup series of 10, one-day races.
After three years holding the race in Paris, Tour de France organiser ASO looked to be taking the next step with La Course in 2017, turning it into a twoday event — albeit with the second not counting as a UCI race — with a summit finish on one of the most iconic climbs of Le Tour, the Col d’Izoard. It was a welcome change from the Champs Élysées circuit, which had begun to resemble a processional nod to equality, with little to challenge the world-class athletes it invited.
On the first ‘stage’ Annemiek van Vleuten rode away from the rest of the pre-race favourites on the climb in her usual emphatic style, eventually winning by 43 seconds ahead of Lizzie Deignan. The organisers had not factored in the potential for an impressive margin by a rider with time trial capabilities, which rendered the second day — when a small group of qualifying riders were set off individually according to their time the day before — all but pointless.
From 2017 the format seemed to be improving — although it was still only one day — as the organisers took to mirroring one of the tough Tour de France stages. Then, as the 2020 edition was revealed, it seemed like a step
backwards as the race returned to Paris. In the end, the postponement of the Tour due to the pandemic meant the women’s race was also changed, this time to mimic the first stage of the men’s race through Nice.
By way of contrast, the five-stage Women’s Tour was introduced in the same year as La Course and quickly expanded to six stages, with the race around Britain rising to become the esteemed Women’s WorldTour event it is today. Elsewhere, another women’s race held in conjunction with a men’s Grand Tour – the Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta, which is also ASO-owned — was launched in 2015 and has since expanded from a one-day circuit race to a three-day road, time trial and circuit race.
The usual line of defence against criticism of women’s races is that organisers are short on cash – not something that ASO, the wealthiest in the sport, can hide behind. Otherwise, they may point to complex logistics, although for an organisation that owns and runs many high-level events in various sports, that hardly seems feasible. With both these obstacles ruled out, it’s difficult to see how the neglect that La Course has suffered is anything more than the result of a straightforward lack of interest in turning it into something bigger.
Now, in 2021, the optimism of 2014 has wilted. The hopes of the original campaigners surely exceeded a token one-day event in the shadow of the three-week extravaganza of a men’s race. ASO did little to help the image of La Course as an afterthought when — due to local elections in the area — they moved both the date and location of this year’s race while keeping the same stage of the men’s race intact.
A lot is riding on the promised women’s Tour de France billed for 2022 — about which very little information has been made available — but if ASO treat that race with the same apathy as La Course, then it’s unlikely to reach its potential or be worthy of the rapidlyprogressing peloton. If the women’s Tour de France goes ahead, then the hope must be that it plans to make up for lost progress by hosting a stage race of appropriate length and difficulty.
If the race is a success then its potential impact on women’s cycling cannot be underestimated. As much as some might rail against the merits of women’s racing riding on the coattails of the men’s event, there’s no getting away from the fact that the Tour de France brand transcends the sport and in turn attracts a huge audience — plus, crucially, huge sponsorship deals. Achieving a fraction of the casual viewership of the men’s race would have enormous ramifications for the women’s race.
In fact, a women’s Tour de France already took place in 2020 in one form. As events pivoted to online platforms during the pandemic, the women’s peloton raced under the Tour de France brand thanks to Zwift’s strict policy on equality forcing ASO to host a women’s event alongside the men’s. The racing might have been virtual but the significance for the women’s peloton was real.
The Women’s WorldTour has progressed almost beyond recognition since 2014 thanks to increasing professionalism and fairer conditions for the riders. La Course, however, has continued to represent a sideshow to the ‘main event’ – and ASO has done little to harness the potential to showcase women’s racing on one of the biggest sporting platforms in the world. The level within the women’s peloton has grown exponentially since 2014. Unfortunately, La Course has not grown with it.
During the pandemic, the women’s peloton raced under the Tour de France brand thanks to Zwift’s strict policy on equality forcing ASO to host a women’s event