Why are there no Female in the Tour de France?

Question

Is it sex discrimination?

Answer 1

Bob Roll answered this question with (not a direct quote but essentially "because women are too smart to put themselves through this he**".

But essentially what others said.

1) sponsorship, there is less money in womens pro cycling. So in that sense there is sexism.

2) There IS a womens tour, the Tour de Feminine, as well as a womens "versions" of Giro de Italia and Vuelta. In the US the HP Classic has mens and womens race. Yes they are either fewer stages or shorter length or both but essentially the same sport.

3) Multi day tours are not the ONLY cycle racing check out the Sea Otter classic for example it has; stage races, one day events, cross, downhill, MTB, 24 hour endurance events, criterium and more .... every bike race but track events and triathlon.

All of these are run in both mens and womens categories. So we can't compete in TdF? Plenty of racing left to do.

4) Bike racing is all about strength to weight ratio. So elite women athletes will have lower strength to weight ratio than most of their male peers except maybe Jan Ulrich in his beer and bratworst days. Even CAT 4 women racers will ride the legs off any of the men posting to this forum. However....we gain an advantage in endurance. Womens bodies have an easier time accessing fuel. So the longer the race....advantage women.

In races such as RAAM (Race Across America) solo women and women only teams have owned records and/or been right up there with men.

Answer 2

The women have their own "Tour"s... Much shorter though. No intermingling of the sexes. I'm sure that would make the blind testing for performance enhancing drugs (testosterone, et al) a bit difficult. "Excuse me miss, but how many X & Y chromosomes do you have?"

I couldn't imagine a bunch of women wanting to take a nature break in the middle of a stage in a male peleton with the helicopter over head and cameras running.. This is read: "Can we stop at the side of the road, I gotta pee". The neutral service car would have to be a portapotty. :-)

Answer 3

No sexism at all, but women could not withstand that pace. They are not strong enough to do so, and the resulting drop in body fat would tend to mess up their "plumbing" dramatically.

That's just how men & women are made. Like for like, an athletic female cannot match the strength of an athletic male. That's not sexism, that's biology.

I'll acknowledge that there are women out there that can kick my butt hands down, but at the elite level of pro cycling there's no comparison.

Answer 4

Women and men are different. Why don't women play pro football with men? Because it wouldn't be fair to the women. Male cyclists are stronger and faster than women. That's just the plain truth of it. I know that women can do everything men can, and vice versa, but there are some things that men do better. Like cycling. There are also things that women do better. Like raising children.

Answer 5

It's a men's event. No sex discrimination, and no female would ever stand a chance to win. Women cyclists have their events and men cyclists have theirs.

Answer 6

Do you really think a woman has a chance going against men. She could not even compete with Lance Armstrong and he has been retired for two seasons

Answer 7

there isn't a female fast enough yet to ride with the pro teams.

Answer 8

Maybe the question should be why is there not a womens TdF.

Answer 9

If theres one good enough out there I don't see why not.

Answer 10

It is illegal. Even more so than doping.