Tour de France Femmes race director Marion Rousse says full flag-to-flag coverage of every stage is being seriously considered, after organisers ASO faced criticism over the limited television coverage on offer at this year’s race.
Just three stages of the 2026 Tour de France Femmes, stages one, five, and nine, are being broadcast from start to finish, a decision made by race organisers ASO and host broadcaster France Télévisions. Every other stage is being afforded between two to three hours of live coverage.
The men’s Tour de France, by comparison, was broadcast in its entirety, a disparity highlighted during Monday’s third stage, when Sigrid Haugset launched what ultimately proved to be a stage-winning attack around seven minutes before the cameras started rolling.
In an Instagram post later that day, TNT Sports host Orla Chennaoui criticised ASO’s approach to the Tour de France Femmes’ presence on television, branding it a “disservice to women’s racing”.
But speaking to reporters, including road.cc, at the start of stage five in Mâcon, race director Marion Rousse insisted that full, live coverage of all nine stages of the women’s Tour is being given “real consideration”.
“What’s certain is that I’ve discussed this at length with France and we’re giving serious consideration to broadcasting all the stages in full in the future because the women deserve it, and because it works well in terms of audience figures,” Rousse, who has served as the Tour Femmes’ race director since its resurrection in 2022, said.
“We’re currently giving it real consideration, which is a step forward. Things are moving in the right direction.”
She continued: “In the very first edition, the question was whether the Tour de France Femmes would work or not. And now, five years on, everyone wants to watch the stages in full. I receive a huge number of messages from cycling enthusiasts who want to watch the stages in full.
“With the men’s Tour, [full start to finish TV coverage] has only been around for a short time, and there were years and years without fully broadcast stages. We needed to get settled in and we didn’t want to rush things, either.”
Asked if a lack of financial resources was to blame for the lack of full coverage, Rousse said: “Of course. Everything’s a question of resources, like the production of the footage. [Full coverage] is a consideration we hadn’t necessarily had in previous years, and one we’re now asking ourselves.
“There’s a real discussion to be had. The starts, middles, and ends of stages are spectacular to watch. Let’s hope we can pull it off.”
Ahead of this year’s Tour, The Cyclists’ Alliance (TCA), the group which represents the women’s peloton, published a statemen arguing that the lack of full live coverage would mean fans will miss “the attacks, the tactics, and the moments that could define the race”.
“For the biggest race in women’s cycling, partial coverage is no longer enough,” TCA wrote. “The demand is undeniable and we are asking for the coverage to catch up.”
5 thoughts on ““The women deserve it”: Tour de France Femmes race director says full TV coverage being given “serious consideration” – but warns about “rushing things””
As always we get half truths.
The number of bikes and cameras needed for the current coverage, is that any different to full coverage? I would say no, it’s the same number of cameras just working for longer. They don’t magically change camera bike riders mid stage so I don’t see that as an extra cost.
Perhaps the helicopter camera for longer is an additional cost.
Commentary – that comes from the broadcaster and not a cost of the organiser.
TV broadcast costs – again minimal for the host, but given we’re in the age of streaming if they are offered the rights owner will likely broadcast them.
So far the tour has been great but missing the key parts of each stage is pretty poor.
The fact it only became normal on the men’s recently is irrelevant – that was the era of broadcast TV not streaming.
It’s 2026, a quarter century through the 21st century! How much more antiquated BS are we going to put up with?
– Equality is non negotiable! Equal pay, equal coverage, equal rights. Hello!
Whatever happened to so-called European civilisation?
Haven’t you heard? It’s been erased. All due to wokery and renewable energy or something.
You missed out DEI…
But at least they’ve extended the coverage for today, the Ventoux stage. Yes, extended by all of 15 minutes!!!