Emotional interview for the interviewer! Annemiek hopes for a time trial in future years.
View: https://twitter.com/SBSSportau/status/1553842938786025477
View: https://twitter.com/SBSSportau/status/1553842938786025477
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Feel it's big to at least aspire to expand to at least 2 weeks in the not too long term for me at least. Otherwise it feels like the biggest race in name only for women. I think that's more important than harder mountain stages or longer stages.The route and race this year was ok. It wasn't as good as some commentators and journalists have expressed, but I guess the overselling part is always a part of a true Tour de France experience. But the attention the riders got, the growing crowds and television viewers and the whole atmosphere surrounding the race were great. We'll see what happens next year, when it's no longer a sort of first. They were also quite lucky with the weather this year.
The race was backloaded, but it kind of needed to be. Last year's Giro Donne proved that if one rider/team is much better than the others, then the racing won't be that interesting if it's already decided after the first few stages. Although with Van Vleuten's illnes, it could have been different in this case, but you can't really rely on something like that happening again.
I wasn't a fan of the first stage. I would rather have had a copy of the men's stage, although it obviously made it nicer for the crowds. that they got to see them on 12 laps instead of 8 or less. Still there's just always a higher risk of crashes on Champs-Élysées, that I don't see it as an ideal starting point.
Stage 3 was the best of the whole race. We didn't know the winner before the last few hundred meters, even though most of us probably thought we did. Cille's win was both great for her, the fans and for the race, and we also got to see a lot of attacks before the final plus some questionable tactics that we could discuss afterwards.
The gravel stage would have been better, if they had taken out one or both of the last two sections. That would possibly also have meant, that the pace hadn't gone out when the sections ended, because the riders were just happy to have made through them in Marianne Vos' words.
The long stage 5 was a gimmick, and it doesn't really need to be repeated. ASO should rather add 10 km to LBL.
Stage 6 turned out to be too easy, though it's also likely that it would have been ridden differently, had it not been for the very hard day that followed. But had it not been for the crash, Lorena Wiebes would possibly have won 3 stages, and that is a bit too much for my liking, when we've seen that plenty of times before. And she would possibly have won stage 2 as well, had it not been for that sneaky Trek attack.
Stage 6 should also have ended in a win from the breakaway, but hopefully we'll generally get to see some better cooperation in larger breaks during women's races in the future.
Stage 7 went as predicted. Van Vleuten attacked early and gave it her all, and you gotta applaud that. The same goes for Vollering, who died trying., and to some extent Longo Borghini, too. Hopefully Frenh television and ASO can strike a del to show mroe than two/two and half hourse next year, if they put in a similar stage.
Stage 8 was alright. We saw more GC action than during the men's stage (including some coming of age performances + Van Vleuten showing Vingegaard and García how to properly deal with multiple bike changes).
For next year, I wouldn't mind an ITT, just like Van Vleuten, Van Dijk and Reusser. Trine Schmidt has been dreaming of a TTT all week on Danish ES, but I rather not see that.
I would also like to see a mix between stage 2 of this year's Vuelta Challenge and the final stage of the 2020 Giro Rosa, where you have very little flat and multiple climbs of varying lengths, but without very steep gradients. And I would like that stage to have a descent finish. Some of the other stages could have descents in the finals as well.
They tried gravel this year, so perhaps some cobbles could be seen next. It shouldn't be too difficult of course, but just hard enough to drop Wiebesor at least make her work for it.
Van Vleuten is dreaming of Alpe d'Huez, and that would at least be an actually iconic MTF, where female riders have also won in the past. That should probably be a unipuerto stage.
Some riders want more stages, so there'll be some easier days. I understand the argument, but it's also a strength of women's cycling that there's usually more full-on racing, so having more boring stages isn't on my wish-list (AVV doesn't want more stages yet either).
And I still don't want the race to start or finish outside of France. I can perhaps accept Monaco.
Emotional interview for the interviewer! Annemiek hopes for a time trial in future years.
View: https://twitter.com/SBSSportau/status/1553842938786025477
It was fantastic that the icons of the sport won stages and the GC. However, we need more diversity in stage winners - Ideally, I'd have a 13 stage race which has two rest days - So you start at the Champs and end two Sundays later - This will allow you to create more variety in the parcours - I'd aim for 3 sprint stages, 3 high mountain stages, 2 punchy stages and five transitional stages - The transitional stages ideally should be aimed at giving breakaway riders the chance to win a stage - The way the women's peleton ride probably means that 2 of these transitional stages will end up large group finishes - The history of the Giro Donne usually has 2 or three breakaways victories in a stage race - I wouldn't go for an ITT because it would have little influence on the podium finishers in GC - You may argue that you are denying the ITTer's their chance at glory BUT as Reusser showed this style of rider can still win a stage in another way.
Yes, that thank you to Gracie Elvin was lovely.
I agree that two weeks should be the goal.
Sure most of the strong TTers will be able to win in different ways, but Van Dijk's hand were pretty tied up as a domestique this time. But the lack of ITTs is of course not just a TdFF issue.
The easy way to expand for now would be to increase it to 9 stages by adding either a small TT/prologue either on the saturday using part of the mens course or have a split stage thing on Sunday - so you could have the two races like you had this year in Paris, & once the men have finished have a TT on the course at twilight.
One mountain, cat 1 or HC, and it’s the finish.what is an unipuerto stage anyway?
There's hyperbole in the men's coverage, too. How many times per broadcast does a GCN commentator state that today's racing is completely different than any time in history? At least 5 times per hour. And according to Rob Hatch, the 2020 Giro (men) had 17 Rides of the Century. It's creating excitement for some, prompting the mute button for others. Such is life.
Pretty decent I'd say.View: https://mobile.twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1554187108079869956
Viewership wise, are these numbers good? I don’t really know, though as an American a good comparison to these numbers is NASCAR.
This year’s edition of cycling’s Tour de France pulled in 41.5 million viewers on French public service broadcaster France Télévisions (FTV).
The figure is the biggest Tour de France audience for the network’s main channel since 2011.
Four race stages on FTV exceeded five million viewers, compared to two in 2021. Of that, 6.4 million watched the Briançon-Alpe d’Huez stage, marking the biggest audience for the stage since 2003.
It was quite old school as well. Even the tv coverage - we missed the best bits!It sounds like an exciting weekend of racing! I was off the grid so I didn't see/hear anything until today.
It was quite old school as well. Even the tv coverage - we missed the best bits!
Why do you think they chose now to come in, immediately after the Giro was weakened and is having to re-establish itself? Precisely for the purpose that they would be the most important women's race on the calendar. ASO were only interested in playing if they were going to win, i.e. they were only going to instigate a women's Tour once they were certain it would be the most important race.One interesting thing that was pointed on the Cycling Podcast is that the TdFF had instantly become the most important women’s race on the calendar. The TdF appears to confer prestige and enormous crowds, and the succeed is a solid foundation for increased sponsorship and coverage. It’s also great to see women riders experience such enthusiasm.
Why do you think they chose now to come in, immediately after the Giro was weakened and is having to re-establish itself? Precisely for the purpose that they would be the most important women's race on the calendar. ASO were only interested in playing if they were going to win, i.e. they were only going to instigate a women's Tour once they were certain it would be the most important race.
They were always going to be immediately at a high importance level because it's, you know, the Tour de France, but there was always the concern that if the race didn't immediately succeed or if RCS bailed out the women's Giro by committing to it, the higher level of tradition and history of the Giro may mean the Corsa Rosa wins out in the long run for prestige if riders, teams, fans or all of the above didn't trust ASO to go all in on it - and given previous attempts at a women's Tour, and the way La Course has shifted as a race, that was always a risk. But ,coming in when the Giro's prestige has taken a hit, and having utilised the best calendar spot for casual audience eyes and their far superior resources when it comes to pushing the race in the media and gaining coverage and exposure, meant they were always likely to come out the gate hot here, giving the race the hard sell and pulling out all the stops to ensure that even if the Giro gets full RCS backing, they're behind the 8-ball when it comes to competing with the Tour even with 30 years' more history and tradition.
Again, it's the marginalisation of those who kept women's cycling alive as a passion project through the 'racing in the dark' era, and it's truly bittersweet. It's great to see the big guns of the sport supporting women's cycling and it's far more sustainable and garners far greater exposure and support and helps more women make a living from the sport and improves its professionalism no end, but it's also chewing up and spitting out those who truly cared in favour of the bigger corporations where you're never sure how much of the commitment is genuine interest and how much is ticking a corporate social responsibility box, and stripping the calendar of a lot of the races that had been specifically women's races in favour of a facsimile of the men's calendar.
Peter van den Veen wrote a very interesting article along those lines a few years ago, about being careful what you wish for in the women's calendar, when Amstel Gold returned to the calendar. Thankfully, thus far the fears expressed in that article have not come to fruition and hopefully the winds of change have been blowing for long enough now that the worst case scenario described would be almost impossible, but it does illustrate some of the difficulties of the long-time women's cycling fans have had in trusting the ASOs and RCSs of this world, and a fear of letting go of the crutch of those privateer organisers who didn't have the means but would do everything in their power - and who would be needed to pick up the pieces if the big organisers' interest turns out to be evanescent and fleeting.