Women’s cycling.

I didn’t think much of it
I didn’t think much of it either. But do you not agree it would be unfair to base one’s judgement of the whole sport on watching one race round and round St James’s Park? I have seen Women’s races that are every bit as exciting as the best of the Men’s. I have also seen Men’s Crit’s that were every bit as underwhelming as this one.

Guy – I read your post with
Guy – I read your post with interest. Quite enlightening as to what the barriers are and the issues of of the inertia that seems to prevent Womens sport from being more mainstream

I don’t disagree with any of the comments made, I was just making the relatively straightforward point, in response to the OP, that equality between Mens and Womens cycling is unlikely to ever be fully realised due to the different levels of interest and following that the two have.

The Rumpo Kid wrote:Guy

The Rumpo Kid wrote:

Guy E,
I’m not suggesting that TV ratings are the beginning and end of the reasons for promoting Women’s Sport. It’s just that whenever one says “why isn’t more Women’s Cycling being shown on TV? It’s exciting, shows positive role models, and is good for public health,” the default response is always that TV companies would show it, but there isn’t an audience.

Yes. Sorry – there was no implied criticism in my comments. Just commenting generally:)

The Rumpo Kid wrote:700c

The Rumpo Kid wrote:

700c wrote:

Not sure how much we can conclude from UK viewing figures from one, unique (London Olympic) event -would these same people tune in to watch a Womens TDF? Not sure..

Nor am I. But I would suggest the people who enjoyed seeing Marianne Vos in the Olympics would have tuned in to see her in the Giro Rosa. Perhaps not in the same numbers, but certainly in numbers that would warrant the rescheduling of thirty odd year old episodes of “The Professionals”. As I’ve said before, Raisport already has the footage of the Giro Rosa. How much would they want for it? (Bearing in mind current opinion is that no one wants to see it).

Market research suggests strongly that where women’s sport is well organised and has the world’s top athletes taking part in an event that is properly “packaged” for TV then there is a strong demand amongst sports fans for more – even though the majority of these fans are male. Viewing figures compare well with mens events when this happens. Women also use social media in a highly effective and discriminating manner – much more so than men. The most tweeted about sports event on the planet last year was the women’s soccer world cup . Women will support companies that support their social agendas and social media gives them a strong commercial position to be able to do so by “passing the word” on “good” companies and “bad” companies – TV viewing figures are not the be all and end all. It is just that few people have the balls (pun intended:) to be the first mover to create change . Less than one per cent of commercial sports sponsorship in UK goes into women’s sport which is, quite simply, appalling. This lack of sponsorship and lack of “llet’s make it happen” by big organisations has a damaging effect on the wider female population. They have fewer role models in sport at a time when 80 per cent of British women are not exercising enough to benefit their health and when, within twenty years, three quarters of British women will be overweight or obese. Other than a few well documented exceptions, adolescent females in UK have few (female) role models other than X Factor participants and female pop stars who have to “get their kit off” to get on MTV. Sad isn’t it.

PS IM not always certain, but
PS IM not always certain, but I’m pretty sure most enthusiasts on this very forum are male, most members of cycling clubs are male, most grass roots racing competitors are male, as are most sportive riders.

Ultimately this demographic is going to be reflected in participation gender make up at the pro level, and in the balance of interest between male vs female sports series

stumps wrote:The Rumpo Kid –

stumps wrote:

The Rumpo Kid – could be an increase in viewers due to the images on display ?

Personally i would like to see more womens racing on TV and its got nothing to do with who is racing. I’ve been watching the womens euro football and the skill level on display would embarass some current English premiership players its been that good.

Whatever the reason for a TV audience, it is the audience that itself attracts the money. Let’s face it, TV Companies would show Pro-am turd juggling if they thought they could sell advertising time. So why isn’t more being done to challenge the fallacy that there is no audience for Women’s cycling?

(At the risk of repeating
(At the risk of repeating myself…)
Peak viewing figures for the Olympic Road Race:
Men: 5.7 million
Women: 7.6 million

While I can’t guarantee that such a disparity would be repeated across the board, these figures seem to suggest that viewers find Women’s racing just as entertaining as Men’s, and that it is just as capable of attracting a TV audience, with all the revenue that follows. Yet the UCI chose not to publish the figures from the Women’s Road Race. Why?
The only explanation I can think of is that they imagine increased sponsorship for the Women would in some way be at the expense of the Men’s side of the sport.
Women’s racing doesn’t need positive discrimination or political correctness, just a governing body that publicises its successes.

thebungle wrote:Do you feel

thebungle wrote:

Do you feel the Giro Rosa should have the same level of coverage as the mens race? Is it as exciting to watch? Is there the same depth of talent which made the mens race so exciting this year? Are they descending better than BW?

Ignoring the Giro Rosa for the time being (I have download each 1 hour highlights package of each to watch post TdF).

Lets talk about womens racing in general and does it deserve the same level as coverage as a mens race?

Is it exciting to watch? Obviously you have not watched a womens race. Smaller teams, shorter distance leads to more aggressive racing. I prefer to watch womens racing because it is far more action packed than mens.

Is mens racing exciting? after stage 12 of the TdF not so sure 😉

Talent, Marianne Vos, the highly talented Specialized-Lululemon squad, the upstart Wiggle team packed full of gold medal winning olympians, definitely.

Better than watching BW descending in the rain, watching Hanah Barnes leading with her chin http://www.tourseries.co.uk/4725.php

Katie Compton in the mud (CX) crash in the lead, drop to 2nd spot, get back in the lead, and repeat more than once. It is in flemish, but worth the effort to find the footage