THERE can be little doubt that 2012 was an amazing year for cycling.

Bradley Wiggins winning the Tour de France, Olympic gold for many including Dani King.

And this year another Briton, Chris Froome, has pedalled into the history books, winning the 100th Tour de France.

For a century this has been a men-only race. (The Tour Féminin was a seperate race with stages scattered across France). But four top cyclists have launched a petition calling on the organisers of the Tour de France to add a women’s race to the event next year.

The campaign was launched by Britain’s Olympic medallist and World Champion Emma Pooley, fellow Brit World Ironman triathlon champion Chrissie Wellington and champion cyclists Kathryn Bertine and Marianne Vos.

It has gained more than 85,000 signatures and increasing global media attention.

And Hampshire Olympic gold medal cyclist Dani King has thrown her support behind the campaign.

Dani won a gold medal in the velodrome at the London 2012 Olympics but this year she has been developing her road racing, combining training hard on the track for next year’s Commonwealth Games and the 2016 Olympics in Rio with joining Wiggle Honda, a new women’s team.

Dani says she would love to be on the starting line for the 101st Tour de France.

“I’d love to do it,” says the 22-year-old from Hamble.

“I think it would be really exciting to have a women’s Tour de France and we can prove our racing is just as exciting as the men’s.”

Although there are women’s tours, Dani says that as the Tour de France is so well known it is important that the race is opened up to women.

“If you ask people on the street what the most famous bike race is I think they’d all say the Tour de France so for there to be a women’s Tour de France would be brilliant for women’s road cycling.”

She thinks that it would be best for women to cycle shorter stages than the men, starting from further along the stage earlier in the day than the men’s race, with the same finishing line.

Dani thinks a women’s Tour de France would encourage more women to take up racing as well as making it easier for female cyclists to get sponsorship if the women’s race was televised.

She also believes it would be an important step in closing the disparity between men’s and women’s road racing.

“With track racing men and women do all of the races and it’s all televised so there’s no difference between men and women whatsoever but on the road, mostly we don’t do the same races as men.

“There are a few which women and men both do, like the Tour of Flanders, which are done on the same day.

They’re big classic races, so it’s proved it can happen.

“I hope it will catch up because I know from being part of Wiggle Honda how hard riders like Lizzie (Armistead) work and it would be nice for them to get the recognition.”

At the moment Dani’s primary focus is on track cycling but she has been developing her road racing career.

“I’ve started racing for Wiggle Honda this year and I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s such a professional set up and I was third in the National Championships and have got quite a few good results on the road with not much preparation because obviously I’ve been on the track.”

Daily Echo:

Dani King celebrates winning the women's elite race at the Milk Race through Nottingham

She believes that there is an appetite for more women’s road races to be held and televised and says she is delighted that next year there will be a televised women’s road race in this country – the Tour of Britain – which she hopes to compete in.

“The women’s Olympic road race proved that women’s cycling is just as exciting to watch as the men’s,” she says.

“I’d absolutely love to ride in the Tour of Britain and I’m really excited that it’s happening. It’s a fantastic thing for women’s cycling.”

Dani says she was very pleased with the response from her Twitter followers when she tweeted her support of the petition.

“It was really positive and people agreed that there should be a women’s Tour de France and saying how exciting women’s road racing is.”

She adds that she is delighted that the petition has had so many signatures and media attention and hopes that that snowballs.

“I hope it gets people talking and gets the ball rolling to have a women’s Tour de France.

“If there’s one next year, I’d definitely like to be on the starting line.”

 

Daily Echo:

VIV Mackay from Romsey is a Breeze Champion – a British Cycling ambassador to encourage more women to take up cycling – and runs a cycling group, the Romsey Hares and Tortoises.

She believe that a women’s Tour de France would give a huge boost to women’s cycling at a grass roots level.

“If there was a women’s Tour de France it would raise the profile of women on bikes which is needed – it is an overly male pursuit,” says the 64-year-old.

“And even for people like me, watching events like the Tour de France energises me to get on my bike.

“I said to myself, ‘why should there be a women’s Tour de France’ and I thought ‘blooming hell, why shouldn’t there be one?’. We have a women’s Wimbledon final, women in the velodrome at the Olympics – why should the Tour de France be such an exception?

“As well as raising the profile of women on bikes it would also help tackle the issue that women tend to be more worried about the perceived danger of cycling.

“Seeing women coming down those alpine passes at great speed or having to cycle through the crowds would help women realise ‘I can do that too’.”

She adds that having celebrity female cyclists such as Victoria Pendleton helps give women positive role models to encourage them to cycle – and having women compete in big name events like the Tour de France is the way cycling celebrities are created.

Viv believes that seeing women being successful at an elite level has a huge impact on grass roots cycling, from encouraging more women to take up the sport to increasing the amount of funding at all levels of the sport.

“A women’s Tour de France would bring more money into the sport for women and that trickles down.”