Wow.
The Tour de France is happening on Zwift.
“It has been rescheduled to run from August 29-September 20. For the virtual Tour de France, Zwift is set to build new race routes, including one in Nice for the opening stage and another in Paris to mimic the traditional finale of the Tour de France on the cobbled circuit of the Champs Elysées,” according to Cycling News. For more details see here.
And double wow, there’s also a women’s tour.
There are no details yet except that there will be both a men’s and a women’s race.
Regular blog readers know that the absence of a women’s tour has been bothering me for many years. In my optimistic moods I hope the Zwift race goes so well that we have an in real life version next year. In my grumpier moods I think that it’s only now that the Tour has been moved to the virtual world that there’s room for women. Like many of us, in these strange times, I’m moving pretty quickly between hope and optimism and grumpiness and despair for all things. I guess this is no different.
Here’s some of my past thoughts on the need for the Tour de France to include women riders:
From 2016: The Tour de France and “Where are the women?”
Also from 2016: The Tour de France or the Men’s Tour
The question is also frequently raised in the cycling press.
See Why Is There No Women’s Tour de France? and
Tour de France organisers ‘seriously working on’ women’s stage race
Here’s one campaign to get a women’s tour:
Okay. Back to this year, to racing in the middle of a global pandemic. That’s only going to happen on Zwift.
What’s racing look like on Zwift? Here’s some footage from the Tour for All.
And the Zwift Classics:
