La Course by le Tour de France

[hfer07]

I wish in the coming years La Course can expands to at least a 4 day event, instead of the silly Criterium" around the Champs d'Elysses. At this point, Women's cycling has evolved so much to be left with this "tryout" - I mean- In the 80's it was a "female Tour de France" FFS....

 

[Spiff2]

I wish in the coming years La Course can expands to at least a 4 day event, instead of the silly Criterium" around the Champs d'Elysses. At this point, Women's cycling has evolved so much to be left with this "tryout" - I mean- In the 80's it was a "female Tour de France" FFS....

I hope so, too.

Why doesn't the UCI lift the limit on distance and how many stages a women's race can have? It is just ridiculous to have that in place and then argue that women are not strong enough (well, if your races are 100km or 40min , you train for 100km or 40min). Allow race organizers to experiment. Also, in many races (spring classics, Giro Rosa), there are TV cameras capturing the action. Since it supposedly does not make sponsors money, why isn't the footage freely available? The UCI should release the complete footage of the spring classics, which it owns, instead of 10 min of often poorly edited videos. They could get a sense of potential viewership. Personally, I'd pay to see better coverage of the Giro Rosa or the Tour of Britain, much like I pay to see the TdF.

Anyway, more exposure should lead to better sponsorship for teams and a deeper field.

 

[Catwhoorg]

NBCSports had maybe 10 seconds of race footage that I saw.

Had an extended segment of a chat with Shelley Olds, wasn't even really an interview just a cosy little chat, but just the final sprint as actual race coverage.

Very Poor coverage to my mind.

 

[Catwhoorg]

I wish in the coming years La Course can expands to at least a 4 day event, instead of the silly Criterium" around the Champs d'Elysses. At this point, Women's cycling has evolved so much to be left with this "tryout" - I mean- In the 80's it was a "female Tour de France" FFS....

Start the Saturday before. Get a full 9 day mini Tour. Make a requirement fro broadcast rights to have a 30min/1hour highlights show immediately before or after the mens race summary on the evening.

 

[purcell]

Of course this was not broadcast in my market. Does anyone know if there was coverage that may find it's way to youtube??

 

[Spiff2]

Of course this was not broadcast in my market. Does anyone know if there was coverage that may find it's way to youtube??

Unfortunately, NBC relegated coverage in the US to its Universal Sports arm, which is not carried by all cable providers. SBS from Australia has extended highlights:
http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/14425
(watch with the Hola extension in Chrome)

 

[42x16ss]

I hope so, too.

Why doesn't the UCI lift the limit on distance and how many stages a women's race can have? It is just ridiculous to have that in place and then argue that women are not strong enough (well, if your races are 100km or 40min , you train for 100km or 40min). Allow race organizers to experiment.

I actually like the length of the women's races in general. Having the stages at around 80-130km encourages and rewards attacking, positive riding which is much more common than in the men's races (Rabo blocking at this years Giro was an exception)

Also, in many races (spring classics, Giro Rosa), there are TV cameras capturing the action. Since it supposedly does not make sponsors money, why isn't the footage freely available? The UCI should release the complete footage of the spring classics, which it owns, instead of 10 min of often poorly edited videos. They could get a sense of potential viewership. Personally, I'd pay to see better coverage of the Giro Rosa or the Tour of Britain, much like I pay to see the TdF.

Anyway, more exposure should lead to better sponsorship for teams and a deeper field.

Agreed. I don't understand why the men's and women's coverage isn't just rolled into one neat package where possible. Surely doing this would get some awareness amongst more casual cycling fans.

Ideally I'd like to see a return to the Women's TdF of the 80's, with the women covering around 1/2 to 2/3's of the men's stages for the last 10-12 days, leaving maybe 2 hours earlier. Then instead of watching Ji Cheng and Lars Bak spending two hours deciding how far the break should be allowed to go, we can have some action. If anyone is worried about what's going on, just have some brief updates during the women's race if anything noteworthy happens. The fans on the roadside would appreciate it too - rather than waiting 5 hours to briefly see the peloton, they can get double the action.

 

[Gogojv]

On youtube there is a 2 min on bike video of Vos winning.

 

[Spiff2]

On youtube there is a 2 min on bike video of Vos winning.

SBS from Australia had a 15 min recap. Visit the link under "Tour de France" in steep hill.tv (at the bottom of coverage for stage 21).

 

[Spiff2]

I actually like the length of the women's races in general. Having the stages at around 80-130km encourages and rewards attacking, positive riding which is much more common than in the men's races (Rabo blocking at this years Giro was an exception)



Agreed. I don't understand why the men's and women's coverage isn't just rolled into one neat package where possible. Surely doing this would get some awareness amongst more casual cycling fans.

Ideally I'd like to see a return to the Women's TdF of the 80's, with the women covering around 1/2 to 2/3's of the men's stages for the last 10-12 days, leaving maybe 2 hours earlier. Then instead of watching Ji Cheng and Lars Bak spending two hours deciding how far the break should be allowed to go, we can have some action. If anyone is worried about what's going on, just have some brief updates during the women's race if anything noteworthy happens. The fans on the roadside would appreciate it too - rather than waiting 5 hours to briefly see the peloton, they can get double the action.

I generally agree with you. I like the length of women's races and feel like the men's races are often too long and there are 100km of a procession. However, I think the limits should be lifted and race organizers allowed to experiment. The different lengths can be used as an excuse for increased logistics of having a women's race, so maybe lifting the limit might allow an organizer to experiment with the same route for both a women's and a men's race. Wishful thinking, I know, but perhaps the market can find the sweet spot for race length without an artificial limit.

On other news, Emma Pooley is retiring. I, for one, will miss seeing her in races... she spins so fast when she climbs I would love to know the gearing that she uses.

 

[Arnout]

The ~200km length for men races ensures cycling is an endurance sports. Want to watch sprints? Go to the track.

 

[Spiff2]

The ~200km length for men races ensures cycling is an endurance sports. Want to watch sprints? Go to the track.

Whatever suits you. Everybody is entitled to their opinion and I happen to think 100km before the race really starts (whether it is a mountain stage or a stage with a sprint finish) is not racing. The only fun part to watch is when it's windy and teams attempt to break up the peloton.

 

[Akuryo]

The ~200km length for men races ensures cycling is an endurance sports. Want to watch sprints? Go to the track.

I get your point but does anyone really watch 5 hours of Carlton Kirby or Phil and Paul talking about castles along the road while nothing is happening for 197 of 200km on a completely flat stage?!

 

[escheator]

I get your point but does anyone really watch 5 hours of Carlton Kirby or Phil and Paul talking about castles along the road while nothing is happening for 197 of 200km on a completely flat stage?!

I'm fine with not whole race being broadcasted on TV, but that first part, fill-in that is usually not interesting for watching, is indeed necessary to make races endurance events - it pays off later in the race.

 

[escheator]

Ideally I'd like to see a return to the Women's TdF of the 80's, with the women covering around 1/2 to 2/3's of the men's stages for the last 10-12 days, leaving maybe 2 hours earlier. Then instead of watching Ji Cheng and Lars Bak spending two hours deciding how far the break should be allowed to go, we can have some action. If anyone is worried about what's going on, just have some brief updates during the women's race if anything noteworthy happens. The fans on the roadside would appreciate it too - rather than waiting 5 hours to briefly see the peloton, they can get double the action.

+∞
This would be a great setup!

Why should women's races be so much shorter? Women are not that much worse in regards of endurance. The difference in other sports is not that big, for example in ironmans there is ~10% difference between best results

 

[Netserk]

Whatever suits you. Everybody is entitled to their opinion and I happen to think 100km before the race really starts (whether it is a mountain stage or a stage with a sprint finish) is not racing. The only fun part to watch is when it's windy and teams attempt to break up the peloton.

How often do you watch those 100km? If you don't watch them, what's the problem?

 

[Arnout]

I get your point but does anyone really watch 5 hours of Carlton Kirby or Phil and Paul talking about castles along the road while nothing is happening for 197 of 200km on a completely flat stage?!

I usually have my TV on in the background if I'm home. Watch some pretty castles once in a while, hear a bit of commentary without ever really noticing the repeating ad infinitum because I only devote like 10% of my attention to that noise. Unless something happens or the race nears the last 30km (last 1km in case its a sprint finish), then I start actively watching.