Ok, so there’s no women’s Tour de France, and we all know that coverage of women’s racing is frankly pants, but that doesn’t stop it from being hugely exciting, arguably even more so than men’s.
The public is slowly waking up to the fact that women can actually play sports pretty well – *cough* cricket *cough* – while we in the cycling community have been in the know for a while.
The likes of Marianne Vos and Anna van der Breggen are considered among the best cyclists across the whole sport, not just in the women’s peloton.
Here are five reasons why women’s cycling comes out on top:
Shorter races
Did you watch last year’s Tour de France? If so, you’ll recall without fondness the number of long, flat and – did I mention – long stages, nearly all of which were won by the dominant Marcel Kittel after his team controlled the peloton at Sunday club ride pace.
Women’s races are typically up to two thirds of the length of the men’s equivalent races, nearly always running hours before or on the same weekend, so the need for energy preservation is less. From a spectator’s perspective,
women’s racing provides much more gripping viewing with shots firing from km0 with perhaps an hour’s lull in the middle as opposed to the several to be expected in men’s racing.
More aggressive racing
With shorter races and fewer stages come more sparse opportunities to take the win, especially for the smaller teams. Every team wants a representative in the breakaway in women’s racing, not least for the chance to provide sponsors with visibility, however slight.
This means that the opening kilometres of women’s pro racing can be exciting, thrilling and dangerous. What’s more, the level and type of rider in the women’s peloton is far more standardised given the structure of the calendar.
Women’s racing is characterised by one-day races and stage races resembling collections of classics-style stages, so the racing is perhaps less predictable than with their male counterparts.
All for one, one for all
There is a fierce sense of teamwork in the women’s peloton. The teams are far smaller than men’s, but there will still be multiple leaders.
Take Boels-Dolmans, for instance, which has a line-up stacked with potential winners, and yet they are a solid team unit gladly working in support of each other. What’s more, we all know that there is a shocking disparity in terms of prize money between men’s and women’s racing, which sucks, but also means you can follow women’s cycling confident in the knowledge that these women are the epitome of passion, riding almost exclusively for the joy of the ride.
Multi-disciplinarians
One of the greatest things about women’s cycling is that the season isn’t over when they leave the road. Some of our favourite riders just won’t stop competing; extending their seasons into cyclocross, mountain biking and track racing. Marianne Vos is a famous multi-disciplinarian, as is 25-year- old French rider Pauline Ferrand-Prévot who has more World Champion titles across three separate disciplines than many, men or women, could ever dream of.
This multi-discipline approach is more widespread in the women’s peloton than the men’s and no doubt improves the quality of handling and racing across the whole season.
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Nicer kits
Well, duh. Maybe it’s not difficult to improve on some of the kits to (dis)grace the men’s peloton, but the women’s teams achieve it in spades.
Cylance Pro Cycling present a smart and subtle green and black kit to go with their Cannondale race machines, while Canyon//SRAM once again go all out with their unique multi-coloured Rapha livery.
Speaking of colour, Boels-Dolmans stick with the familiar orange but strip it back a bit, keeping it simple with some white flashes and coloured strands in keeping with sponsor branding. We think you’ll agree though that the winners for the second year running are Trek-Drops who keep the vertical pastel stripes, but swap the black base for a deep mulberry, which looks just stunning in the bright Australian sun.
Feeling inspired by the strength and thrill of women’s cycling?
Take a look at some of the women’s bikes that will help you upgrade your riding, across all disciplines, from great to sensational.
