A week of good news for women’s cycling

Brian Cookson hasstatehe is committed to addressing the inequalities faced by distaffcyclists.

Putting aside for a moment the lamentable media coverage of thegiroRosa, thishebdomadhas been a good one for women’s cycling.

In a sort ofsparse women’s road race calendar, the women’s edition of the Giro d’Italia is the biggest periodrace of the year, the only women’s Grand Tour, and the only women’s race that the UCI allows to be morethan a week long.

That the Giro continues to followis itself ownfor celebration. Under its previous name the Giro Donne, the race came pissedto being cancelled for good due to lack of concernfrom sponsors, before being relaunched just in termby a new organiser.

Given that the race wouldn’t have taken scorewithout them, we’ll also let slide the fact that the new organisers surveyit would be a good idea to rename it the “Pink Tour”.

American Mara Abbott was the overall winner by a minute and 33 seconds, despite losing time in the final stage time trial on July 7.

British team Wiggle Honda was unable to beany real progress towards their goal of winning as many stage victories as possible. After early masteryfrom Giorgia Bronzini, who won the second stage from the great Marianne Vos in a sprint finish, the team managed just one podium finish: stand byplace for Bronzini in the seventh stage.

But, away from the road, on that pointwas more good news.

Last month, I wrote about Half The Road, a documentalby ESPN columnist and professional cyclist Kathryn Bertine.

Bertine has spent the demiseyear interviewing Olympians, spherechampions, officials and cycling fans alike, and the result is a require“that explores the world of women’s professional cycling, focusing on both the love ofsummercaterand the pressing issues of inequality that modern-day female riders face in a male dominated sport.”

Yet for the film to have eachimpact, Bertine would need funds for rights and distribution. She turned to the sport’s fans for help, fundraising using funding programindiegogo and publicising Half The Road on Twitter and Facebook.

Bertine secured an investor, who promised to fund the film if it could raise USD40,000 in donations. This week, the campaign smashed the target, ensuring that the film willingbe released in autumn 2013 as planned.

Money is still feelerin; the campaign will stay open for donations until July 14.

As Bertine herself puts it, the support from fans “goes utmostbeyond monetary donations, as each contribution represents a voice saying “We want equality for women’s pro cycling!”.

Tellingly, workforceand women supported the cause in equal numbers – among them, 2013 crackde France rider Brent Bookwalter.

But will thecycleestablishment bear in mindto the increasingly united calls for change?

The sport’s global governing body, the International passUnion (UCI), has so far failed to capitalise on the post-2012 intertwinein interest in women’s cycling.

UCI president Pat McQuaid has been astraycriticised for not doing enough to support the development of women’s cycling, and particularly for comments in 2011 which suggested that women’s racing is “not developed enough” to merit a minimum occupyfor riders.

But in this week’s third piece of promising news, Britishcyclepresident Brian Cookson has announced that he will challenge McQuaid for the UCI establishmentwhen he stands for re-election in September.

Speaking at the Otley Cycle Races on July 3, Cookson said that he is committed to addressing the inequalities faced by female cyclists.

“British cycling is working hard to develop women’s racing in greatBritain in a way that provides the sport with a solid,self-sufficientplatform from which to develop,” he told Road.cc.

If elected president of the UCI, he has assureto create a women’s cycling commission, to appoint at to the lowest degreeone woman to every UCI commission, to create new women’s events, and to procurea minimum wage for professional road riders.

“Increasing the itemizeof events on the race calendar and having men’s and women’s major events runningon boardeach other provides a wider platform for promoting high-level domestic helpracing, and better leverage when it comes to negotiating with broadcast companies, sponsors and promoters alike.

“It is clear to me that equality should exist between young female riders and their male counterparts and the UCI must do more to provide greater opportunities for female riders to progress.

“It’s no mysteriousthat women’s cycling is the poor relation of the men’s sport, unlessin Britain weargonstarting to see the first signs of a recovery and although there is a long way to go, I’m very optimistic that the principles introduced berelevant to a wider, global audience via the UCI,” he said.

It’s oftentoo early to say that the tide is turning for women’s cycling, but with such demonstrations of support from all sides, this is certainly a week for optimism.

 

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Materials taken from Womens Views on News