www.tourderomandie.ch
Specifically so he can win all 5 stages.Of course the one year they put together an actually-good route is the year that Pogacar is there to make it completely irrelevant.
To be fair, he could have won all stages on last year's route too.Specifically so he can win all 5 stages.
It is completely ridiculous
www.cyclingweekly.com
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'A massive affront to women's cycling' – Paris-Roubaix Femmes to get reduced TV coverage
Less than an hour and a half of women’s race to be shown on TV this Sundaywww.cyclingweekly.com
And to think, they could have kept it on Saturday, and given us full race coverage.
I think we can be quite certain that wouldn't have happened anyway.
The issue is made worse by also moving the junior mens race to Sunday as from last year, now adding the women just creates this rather poor situation.
Make the big boys get up earlier and put them on first.
Now if Zwift offered to sponsor the womens race Pruddy might become interested in changing the timings.
The Junior (men's) race has been on the same day as the Elite Men's race for years.
And I'm pretty sure the U23 (men's) race got moved to the same day in 2024.
Yes the u23 was moved in 24, I recall spectators jumping out of the way at the last moment not realising the race was coming.The Junior (men's) race has been on the same day as the Elite Men's race for years.
And I'm pretty sure the U23 (men's) race got moved to the same day in 2024.
Gent-Wevelgem infamously used to do seven on the same day (including a couple of non-UCI ones) and those weren't point-to-point routes.Yes the u23 was moved in 24, I recall spectators jumping out of the way at the last moment not realising the race was coming.
The issue is there has never been four races on the same day before.
Yes the u23 was moved in 24, I recall spectators jumping out of the way at the last moment not realising the race was coming.
I also just don't see what's wrong about the women's race being on the same day as the men's race?Gent-Wevelgem infamously used to do seven on the same day (including a couple of non-UCI ones) and those weren't point-to-point routes.
The fundamental problem is that it's still very difficult to make women's races (not to mention the U23 and junior ones) profitable, and needing to run the whole logistical operation two days instead of one doesn't help with that (yes, there is the cyclosportive on Saturday, but that isn't subject to the same rules and logistical requirements - for starters, you don't have spectators to deal with). ASO have presumably been running the women's race at a financial loss for the past five years (Gouvenou did mention financial and organisational reasons when explaining the change), there is no reason for the local government to prefer the old arrangement (roads closed for longer, police operations required for longer), and it also requires either more volunteers or volunteers to be available for longer when it's becoming harder to find volunteers pretty much everywhere. That wasn't a sustainable equilibrium.
It's also another warning sign that the ground beneath women's cycling remains very shaky in spite of its growth in the past decade. We already knew the teams were struggling to make ends meet when even some of the bigger ones had to reduce their squad signs to cope with the new WWT regulations, we learned in December that ASO were struggling to make ends meet with women's Roubaix (not as big a deal for ASO, but it should be obvious that smaller organisers have similar issues), and now we're learning that it's having a greater effect on media exposure than already feared. For years, women's cycling was obviously in an upward spiral: I don't think it is anymore, and I also don't feel like it would take that much for things to enter a downward spiral instead.
I also just don't see what's wrong about the women's race being on the same day as the men's race?
It wouldn't be a problem if they could figure out a way to actually give us more coverage than around 90 minutes.
Maybe even broadcast both races at the same time - yes, I know this would require a lot of cameras - when something happens in the men's race; show that, when something happens in the women's race; show that, utilise split-screens when necessary.
To keep it less confusing, they could use colour-coding like they've done for the last few years when showing the U23 and Junior (men's) races together on YouTube.
BTW, are they still doing that? Or will that be one more thing lost by the decision to move the women's race to Sunday?
Split screens are basically illegal in cycling for reasons only Vino knows.It wouldn't be a problem if they could figure out a way to actually give us more coverage than around 90 minutes.
Maybe even broadcast both races at the same time - yes, I know this would require a lot of cameras - when something happens in the men's race; show that, when something happens in the women's race; show that, utilise split-screens when necessary.
To keep it less confusing, they could use colour-coding like they've done for the last few years when showing the U23 and Junior (men's) races together on YouTube.
BTW, are they still doing that? Or will that be one more thing lost by the decision to move the women's race to Sunday?
Split screens are basically illegal in cycling for reasons only Vino knows.
