From obscurity to a World stage

There is a lot of litterature avaliable about the men's side of the sport. Beautiful descriptions about heroic efforts. But what about the ladies? What did they achieve on their bicycle and how did they establish their circuit? With the information that is avaliable, we make an overview of all the key events & moments that brought the sport to the level that it reached today. From the obscurity in the 1950s till the floorishing sport in the 2020s. Seven decades of women's cycling compromised in one overview.

Early Days

The oldest results that we seem to be able to trace back on the internet are those from the Tour de France in 1955, that was won by Millie Robinson. There is evidence that there were other women's races before too, but it's even harder to find results back from them, if not impossible. The first Worldchampionships for women were organised 3 years later, in Reims, France. 

There wouldn't be a next Tour de France till the 1980s, so it takes a few decades till we can find other noticeable races with archived results. The earliest avaliable results that have been found are coming from the Trofeo Binda (1974) and the Coors Classic (1975). This leaves many decades almost completely undocumented and a lot of mysteries till today.

First big iniatives

In the 1980s we see the first consecutive efforts to yearly organize big races for women. Both the Giro d'Italia & Tour de France get a yearly edition and in the latter one, the female overall winner can even share the podium with the victor of the men's race. Over the Atlantic, the Coors Classic in the USA keeps attracting big names in the sport. The legendary Jeannie Longo crosses the Ocean and wins the races for 3 years in a row. 

In 1998, the UCI organizes an international competition for women for the first time. The Womens' World Cup consists of a series of one day races spread over the globe. From New Zealand till in Canada. Apart from the Fleche Wallonne, most races are quite flat and not really challenging for the peloton that only has a few pros at the time. 

Further growth

In the 2000s, new iniatives come on the calendar and the World Cup gets more represantive for the sport. More challenging races like the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race and GP Plouay join the World Cup. The strong classic riders receive more chances to stand out on parcours that suit them. Over the decade there is also a slow increase of media attention (although not always for sportive reasons), and more female riders get interviewed for the press and summaries of women's races get aired occasionally on TV. 

Media explosion

Through the late 2010s, there is more & more serious media attention for the sport. More races receive live broadcasting and prominent men's races like Liège-Bastogne-Liège & La Vuelta finally get a female equivalent. Newspapers start to write about the races, and riders get a place under the spotlight finally solely because of their results and not anymore also occasionally just by their pretty appearance. 

The full live broadcast of women's cyclocross races also make that riders who combine both disciplines also keep getting visibility during the Winter time and the general plublic can get to know the riders for longer than just in the handful races that are broadcasted live during the road season.

Strive for emancipation

Women and men are paid the same salary for the same job in the general job market, but in cycling, this was far from the case. Many participants in the biggest World Tour races were still amateurs in the early 2020s who still had to combine their sport with another job outside cycling. Through the decade, more measures get implemented to make the sport more liveable for it's contestants. 

The minimum salary gets introduced, World Tour teams need to meet more professional conditions and the races also start to increase their prize money. After 70 years, finally hundreds of women are able to live from cycling, something that was set for the men already more then 50 years before. With half of the decade still ahead of us, we can look forward to further professionalisation, financial stability and increased media attention for these female heroes on two wheels.