It was recently the Tour de Yorkshire and in the run up to it I was very excited to read that the women’s race would “…compete over 135km on exactly the same course as the men, who tackle the route later the same day”. Great! Fantastic idea and it makes sense to run one in the morning and one in the afternoon - it’s also a bonus for spectators. But then I realised it was only for Stage Two (the second day), i.e. the women would not feature on the first or final third day and so are still getting a token event even if it is an improvement(!) over past races.
Ok, it is only 2016, perhaps we shouldn’t rush towards equality. At least the women’s event was televised. On a saturday morning as well! I tuned in to watch at 10am on ITV4 and WHERE WAS THE CYCLING?! No where to be seen. “Subject to final changes”. I guess they decided in the end the women’s race wasn’t worth broadcasting.
I went and did some gardening instead in a huff and didn’t watch any more of the TdY at all.
I’m entirely likely to watch the TdF because it is the TdF afterall, but even I’m getting bored of this crap.