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news
Emma Pooley in the 2012 Olympic time trial (copyright DCMS)Exclusive: Emma Pooley on women’s Tour de France sponsors, money & scheduling
Just how would a women’s Tour de France work if it ran on the same roads and days as a the men’s event? That’s been the main question in forums and comments since Marianne Vos, Emma Pooley, Chrissie Wellington and Kathryn Bertine launched their petition for a women’s Tour de France to Tour supremo Christian Prudhomme last week.
That petition has now has over 16,000 signatures after just a few days.
Road.cc asked Emma Pooley how she and her co-petitioners saw a women’s Tour working if it ran alongside the men’s race.
“We have given a lot of thought as to how a women's TdF alongside the men's race might work,” Pooley said in an email, “though at the moment the main point is just to get the message out to cycling supporters and spectators, and to show that the demand for such a race is there from that side. The details would have to be discussed and finalised later.”
Follow the money
The big question is, where does the money come from? The Tour de France is a business and makes most of its money from sponsors, start and finish towns and VIP spectator packages. To fund a women’s race, more money is going to to have to come from somewhere, either the existing sponsors, or new supporters. But Pooley points out that compared to men’s racing, women’s racing is cheap. The prize money for the overall winner of the Giro Rosa, the biggest women’s race, is just 460 Euros.
“If it's to be the same race then it would have to have the same main sponsors, because the same podium should be used every day either immediately before or immediately after the men,” said Pooley.
The 2012 Olympic road race showed millions that a women's race could be hard-fought and exciting.
“If additional sponsorship were needed to fund the extra costs of the women's race, I think separate jersey sponsors could be recruited. Crucially though, the women's race would also have to be filmed and some of the footage shown live on TV, so that the sponsors get a return for their investment.
“I expect the Tour may claim to be cash-strapped and to need every Euro centime they can get from every sponsor, just for the men's race. But from the perspective of women's cycling, that's simply not true. There's plenty of money there compared to our races, which are run on a shoestring!”
Running the races together
The daily organisation of an extra race would be a big challenge, and there have been suggestions that the women’s stage could be run the day before or after the men’s. That would allow the women’s Tour to take advantage of the men’s race’s local publicity, but it would need an entire extra set of infrastructure. But Pooley says that’s not the idea at all.
“The key request (and, I believe, requirement for a women's event to be successful) from our side is that the men's and women's stages are all run on the same roads, on the same day and with the same stage finish,” she said. “That is the point about benefiting from the spectators and media that are there to watch the men's race anyway, and it also provides extra cycling viewing and entertainment for those spectators.”
Pooley says that while this would have its own logistical challenges, they would be minor compared to the logistics of the Tour as a whole, and add an extra aspect to a race that flashes by in seconds.
“It also saves some some hassle by avoiding closing the roads for another day. The spectators are there to watch a bike race, why not give them two to watch? And since the whole Tour is already a huge logistical challenge, I don't believe that adding another race early before the men would be impossible or detract at all from the Tour - in fact, it would add to it.”
Emma Poole leading the 2012 Olympic women's race
No need for much extra media
Another issue that’s been raised is that of media and especially TV coverage. Again, Pooley sees this as a bonus of running the two races at the same time, rather than an obstacle.
“The extra media commitment would amount to an extra mobile film crew to show the actual action from our race. The whole of the world's cycling media is there, writing stories about the tiniest little snippets of information they can dig up. They must have time to cover a women's race!
“And one of the reasons our races don't recieve much media coverage at the moment is that it's too expensive to send journalists out to women-only races, especially for the media outlets that focus on women's racing. Eg our Giro Rosa / Giro Donne gets great coverage in Italy, but most international cycling media are busy at the Tour and can't send someone to cover the biggest race of our calendar.”
Places to stay
Pooley’s also not asking for female riders to stay in posh hotels (which is a good job as male riders don’t exactly stay at the local Ritz either). According to one source, the race books 1,200 hotel rooms for staff, teams and media. Pooley acknowledged the pressure the race puts on accommodation in host towns, but suggested an alternative for the women’s Tour.
“As to the hotel logistics question: I think this is being exaggerated. At our races we often have 3+ hour transfers after stages. I'm sure this could be resolved. And if they needed to hold a women's race on the cheap for the first year or two, the organisers could try sending teams to stay with host families (as happens in the US for women's teams) or even sponsorship by a camper-van firm! Honestly, I know the men complain about the quality of their accommodation at the Tour but I'm sure I've seen much worse at women's races.”
Sponsor pressure
Ultimately, Pooley wants the demand for a women’s race to come from the sponsors, fuelled by the spectator support reflected in her petition.
“Ideally the pressure for a women's race would also come from the race sponsors: hence the petition of cycling fans and spectators of all kinds, not just female cyclists,” said Pooley. “If sponsors realise that there is a viewing public out there who want to watch the women race too, they'll push the Tour to put it on.
“In an ideal world, a women's race would be held purely for equality, but I realise that the world is not ideal, and that commercial pressures are the only ones that are really effective in professional sport.”
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42 comments
Please, give me something other than the Olympics - one example does not indicate a pattern.
Viewing figures for the TdF highlights on ITV 4 average at around 500,000, with Wiggins victory attracting 2m viewers on ITV1. Both these are significantly lower than the figures you quote above - demonstrating my point that the Olympics cannot be considered in the same context despite your repeated claim that it is 'comparable'.
Consider also that a simultaneous women's race may increase overall viewing figures but 'split' the viewership, resulting in lower audiences at different times for the separate coverage. This would be less attractive to broadcasters when trying to sell advertising space.
My post was about a scenario with Vos clear on her own with the men 20k behind.
But anyway, if Vos and Armistead were neck and neck with 2k to go would you concentrate on them or would you cut to the mens peleton?
If you don't want the choice as a producer or viewer then the ladies either start a lot earlier or on a different day altogether.
Would you agree now that a mens/womens TdF would be nigh on impossible to run?
FWIW I think an entirely separate, shorter race is the way forward, give them a chance to develop, if the interest is there then it will develop and lets be honest, if there is money to be made someone will spot the opportunity.
But lets not kid ourselves that they can simply slot into the mens race, that to me smacks of positive discrimination and does no-one any favours.
Blimey, there's some sexist tripe on here.
A few points before I jet off to the Alpe...
I didn't say the TdF was comparable to the Olympics, I said it was more comparable to the games than to other cycle races.
I certainly would not expect a Women's TdF to get 7.6 Million every day, nor would I expect it to get more of an audience than the Men. I do however think it would attract a healthy audience. It isn't the size of the audiences that is important so much that they seem to demonstrate Women's cycling is not lagging miles behind Men's in terms of interest.
Sorry I keep quoting the Olympic figures. I would compare the Giro and Giro Rosa, but the latter wasn't on television. And if "one example does not indicate a pattern," is extrapolating from two year old Wimbledon audiences an accurate way of gaugeing an interest in Women's cycling?
And, give a Man his due. Wiggo's audience was 2.6 Million on ITV1, with another Million watching the simulcast.
Is it a trick question? I'd stick with Vos and Armitstead.
Nice, I've just got a sweaty 15 miles home to look forward to...
I deliberately didn't quote more recent figures for Wimbledon , as the disparity would be even worse - 17million for Murray's final the other week. Mark Cavendish wouldn't get figures like that if he took on the Champs Elysee stark bollock naked.......
My point, which I either made badly or you chose to ignore was that if there were two simultaneous races within the one broadcast, just how on earth would you choose between the two?
I have to say I've never 'met' a more fervent advocate of women's cycling, may I ask why that is?
Errr, how about a similar way to how they choose between the bits when a mens race splits into two or three parts?
I'm hoping thebungle isn't a TV director...
That's all part of the one 'story', by trying to broadcast the mens and womens at the same time it would be two separate 'stories'.
Anyway, I think we're starting to argue over a point which is unlikely to happen.
I hope womens cycling does develop and gets the recognition it deserves, I personally think that trying to shoehorn it into the mens calender is not the way to go about it.
It would help the sport if mens and womens races could happen on the same day if logistically possible. Then the current mens sponsorship could pay for the bulk of the setup costs while the womens sponsorship catches up. The current mens sponsors would also be seen supporting both groups.
" There is some SEXIST tripe in here " , a truer statement , yet to be found !
Each day the TDF runs the " Cadets " over the first 25+km of the daily course , they then jump in their transport to a point 25km from the " Arrivee " for a Sprint finish !
Daily the Gendarmerie have the Whole route closed for several hours so that the " Publicity Caravan " & VIPs can drive carefree down the route . Big money drops into ASO Coffers for this privelege .
Champion Supermarkets , now taken over by CarreFours " Sponsors " the Mountain Polka dot Jersey , do ALL they can to capitalise on the " Publicity " , that " Le Tour " generates , both In Store & in the Media . TDF is a big draw for ALL their Stores throughout Europe . Women SPEND the family Budget , so if they smell an opportunity , and 43500+ signed on so far , will ensure that they decide to INvestigate , what is in it for them !
Much of the Basic Infrastructure is in place for the Men's Event , all that would be needed is to institute a REVISION of some of the UCI Rules & Regs ! 250km stages may be shortened by starting the Womens Race at a " Sprint Point " along the route , where there is already fixed cameras & Time keeping Equipment . Since the women will be racing 50km + stages , all the Ad banners & hordings would be put in place a tad earlier than currently . Instead of swilling in the Depart Village , any Journo worth their Salt would make the effort to visit the Men Racers at their Pullmans one day ,And the Womens Start line the next day , perhaps even visit both.
Women Racers starting further down the Day's route would mean that their Accomodation would be less likely to clash with the needs of the mens Teams .
UCI has access to many more Officials than are required at the TDF , so all that will be needed are the vehicles to move them around . This applies to the " Guard Republican " also , since they will act as the Mobile Escort . As regards the TV Motorbikes & TV Helicopters , there may be a question of scheduling their efforts and the resulting sleeping accomodation !
WHAT IS NEEDED is for Chris Prudhomme , to smell the Roses ( Money Ops ), but like JM Leblanc , he may be prejudiced towards the EASY life ?
There are many Former & Current Women Racers who know how to make a Womens TDF work , all they need is the ASO to get it's head out of the sand and create the environment where ALL Parties have a WIN WIN solution !
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