‘Watch the Femmes!’ goes the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift slogan. It’s everywhere, on hats, on musettes, on advertising hoardings. And people do; in fact, this year, more people than ever watched the Tour, on the roadside and at home. It’s happening. In just four editions, the race has changed so much from La Course, an event tacked onto the men’s equivalent to something in its own right. People no longer need to be told to watch the Femmes – they already are.
France TV, the host broadcaster, published figures this week showing that they had an average audience of 2.7 million viewers per stage, an increase of more than 500,000 each day last year, which meant a 31.6% TV audience share. The final stage, won by Pauline Ferrand-Prévot in Châtel had an average audience of 4.4 million, peaking at 7.7 million. People are watching the femmes.
The roadsides looked similarly packed with fans, with the Grand Départ in Brittany and the final two Alpine stages particularly popular, with bars emptied and attention switched on for the best riders in the world. These fans don’t need to be told to watch women’s racing; they already are, and they are loving it. They aren’t even there for the publicity caravan as much as they would be for the men’s race, given its reduced size. There’s less free stuff to attract the crowds, so the racing does it instead.
Adam Becket
News editor at Cycling Weekly, Adam brings his weekly opinion on the goings on at the upper echelons of our sport. This piece is part of The Leadout, a newsletter series from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. As ever, email adam.becket@futurenet.com - should you wish to add anything, or suggest a topic.
It helps, with all this, that France has its first winner of the Tour de France Femmes after four editions, Ferrand-Prévot, already an icon after her road, cyclo-cross and mountain biking exploits, adding yet another trophy to her cabinet. A second Demi Vollering win would not have had the same impact.
Ferrand-Prévot is not isolated though, French women’s cycling is close to a boom moment, with Maëva Squiban winning two stage wins this year, and the young Breton joining Ferrand-Prévot, Juliette Labous, Cédrine Kerbaol and Évita Muzic as French stars of the peloton. The Netherlands might still be on top, but France is up there as a powerful cycling country, much more so with its female stars than its men.
I was watching the Femmes last week, when I could, given it is behind a paywall on TNT Sports in the UK, and also when I was allowed to, given the lack of full and complete coverage of the race. The men’s Tour can be watched – subscription and adverts permitting – from kilometre 0 to the very end, but the Femmes cannot, meaning that much of the action is not shown to the TV viewer. It’s the same story with the highlights.
The result is, as much as we want to watch the Femmes, it’s not always available, and difficult. I want to be able to watch every minute of action, even if not a lot is happening, it’s part of the beauty of Grand Tour racing. Perhaps this is in the plan for the future, as the race continues to grow, it’s just a shame it isn’t here now.
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Things happen early in races, breaks are created, attacks are put in, like Anna van der Breggen’s on stage nine this year, and incidents happen. Not seeing them means you can’t understand the whole picture of the race, something which feels all the more crucial in the nascent world of the Tour de France Femmes.
This always seems to be the story for women’s racing, which is electric and enthralling, that it gets treated as an afterthought when it comes to TV broadcasting and the schedules, the same is true of many of the Classics and other races, but the Tour should be at the forefront of doing something different.
I know, from next year, the men’s Tour will be just as behind a paywall in the UK. I’m still heartbroken about this, but I’m also annoyed that I really wanted to watch the Femmes this year, and couldn’t see all of it.
We don’t need to be told to watch the Femmes now, we already are. Just give us the tools to do so.
This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.
Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling, he's happy. Before joining CW in 2021 he spent two years writing for Procycling. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds.
Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to riding bikes.
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