Female Cyclists Take on “La Course”

Here’s an annoying fact: The Union Cycliste Internationale (the sport of cycling’s international committee) won’t let women participate in the Tour de France (a 21-day event) because women aren’t allowed to be in a cycling competition longer than 10 days.

Why, you ask? It’s the same reason that it took women’s ski jumping over 100 years to make it to the Olympics: sexism…and an inability to understand basic human biology.

However, there’s been a small breakthrough this year: For the first time ever, “La Course”, which many hoped would be the female equivalent of the Tour de France, got the official backing of the Tour’s administration.

Does La Course have many setbacks? Of course. The ride is tiny compared to the gargantuan Tour, and it’s basically a bunch of loops around Paris. But is it better than nothing? Absolutely.

Even cooler: La Course took place on the last day of the Tour, which meant spectators were out and viewing the best females in the sport rocking it as hard as the men.

It’s official: La Course is on.

Cover image courtesy of Shutterstock.

By Lily Herman on July 28, 2014
Lily is the Managing Editor at HelloFlo, where she oversees all editorial and social media operations for the brand. In addition to her work at HF, she's co-founder and CEO of The Prospect, the largest student-run college access organization in the world. Her work has been featured on TIME, Forbes, Newsweek, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Mashable, USA TODAY and Lifehacker. You can perpetually find her on Twitter.