Benefits of membership

Does women’s cycling really need the Women’s Worldtour?

On the face of it, the UCI Women’s Worldtour has been a big success. In the three years since it was launched, the sport has made tremendous strides. There are more teams, more races and there is more money.

And yet it can be difficult to fathom why teams are so willing to make the financial commitment necessary to be part of a league that, in a sporting sense, has hardly captured the imagination. There is a Women’s Worldtour classification and a leader’s jersey – which as last year’s winner Annemiek van Vleuten has wryly noted carries no prize money – but riders and fans tend to care far more about who wins Liège-bastogne-liège, the Women’s Tour or the Giro than who is wearing the purple jersey of WWT leader.

Most agree that the Tour de France Femmes could change both the perception and reality of WWT membership, making it necessary for any ambitious team to be part of it if only for the guarantee it would bring to be part of the sport’s flagship event.