Armitstead on the issues facing women's cycling

Lizzie Armitstead

In an interview with Cycling News, Olympic silver medalist Lizzie Armitstead has hit out at "sexism and inequality" in cycling. That inequality exists is beyond doubt - it's common knowledge that many women even at the top level receive no salary at all while their male counterparts are paid a guaranteed minimum wage and the prizes awarded to race winners in women's cycling are, quite frankly, laughable compared to those in the majority of men's races. Many people will say that Armitstead is wrong in linking this to sexism and insist it's due to the harsh realities faced by the sport resulting from the simple fact that there is far less money in women's cycling. However, what the article doesn't make immediately clear is that she isn't saying that race organisers and UCI officials are overtly sexist (some of them may well be sexist, of course, but few of them would allow themselves to be seen as such) - she's saying that women's cycling's problems stem from a more deeply-rooted sexism, a belief in society that athletic competition between females can never be as exciting as athletic competition between men, and that the resulting smaller audience is why women's cycling doesn't get the attention it deserves. This  is a point of view that may not necessarily be correct; but it's a valid one shared by many and the UCI, as the body responsible for developing competitive cycling, has a duty to explore it.

Armitstead believes that one possible solution would be "forcing ProTour teams to have a women's team." That is certainly an option, and seems a good one at first - many people also support the idea of forcing race organisers to hold women's races alongside their men's events. But would it work? Would teams devote the time, money and media to their female riders as they do to their men?

When whether Team Sky should sponsor a women's team, Armitstead hits the nail on the head - "I think Team Sky is missing an opportunity," she says. That is the real answer: persuading, rather than forcing, teams that it is in their interest to have a women's team. That way, they'll give them the backing they deserve. Force them to run women's teams and they'll do so resentfully, fielding athletes who have been given the cheapest minimum of coaching, riding bikes that are only a fraction of the value and quality that the men on the team ride. Result: in the eyes of the public, who in many cases will not understand the underlying issues, female cyclists appear less talented and less competitive than the men. Sky have had plenty of opportunity to put together a women's team and have a budget more than high enough to run several; it seems clear, therefore, that they have no interest in doing so (note that they do sponsor female track cyclists - who enjoy a higher public profile than female road cyclists).

So, how can they be persuaded that women's teams will bring them more glory and, crucially, more sponsors? The riders themselves are already doing all they can - they ride to their limits, even if they've had to work a forty-hour week in order to be able to afford to be at the races in which they compete, and they raise the issues facing their sport whenever they can, just as Armitstead is doing. There are a few team officials and managers doing a superb job too - Stefan Wyman, owner of Britain's Matrix-Prendas, is a glowing example and has recently written a series of informative articles on the subject (the latest of which can be found here); so to is Karl Lima, manager of the Hitec Products-Mistral Home - both have fought for many years to get a fair deal for the athletes on their own teams and in women's cycling in general. Rabobank is another admirable case and provides excellent support for its highly successful women's team.

"The race with the Dutch girl and the English girl" -
Armitstead and Vos follow Olga Zabelinskaya

It seems, then, that it's up to fans. We can do a very great deal to save and improve the sport we love, especially right now - it's notable that people who have previously had no interest in cycling at all suddenly know the names Marianne Vos and Lizzie Armitstead because of the Women's Road Race at the Olympics (or at the very least are talking about "the race with the Dutch girl and the English girl" - hey, it's a start). We can help to make sure they keep talking about it - all we need to do is tell anyone who will listen why women's cycling is as great and as fascinating a sport as it is, write blogs about it, Tweet anything we find about it, share our knowledge and enthusiasm, go to races and encourage others to do so too. That way, we pass on the love to new fans and increase the audience, which in turn makes women's cycling far more tempting to potential sponsors - and it's their money that will persuade the teams and race organisers to make space for the women.

Idiocy at the Olympics does women's cycling no favours

So here we are, a week after a British rider won the world's greatest race and with cycling enjoying more popularity than ever before in Britain - and there's a major, international race going on courtesy of the Olympics. Great. Loads of people will be watching.

Which means loads of people will have just heard Chris Boardman's idiotic and destructive suggestion that the reason Jeannie Longo is still taking part in - and winning - races at the age of 54 must mean that women's cycling isn't as competitive as the men's.

Anyone who has ever watched a women's bike race will know that this is about as wrong as it's possible to be - so it's a pity that absolute morons come out with such utter tripe and discourage people who haven't seen a women's race before from doing so. It's precisely because of the smaller audiences, caused by this sort of thing, that women's cycling has difficulties in attracting sponsors and teams exist of annual budgets that wouldn't even cover the cost of the mood lighting on Sky's team buses.

No surgery for Vos, will race Giro Donne

Marianne Vos will not need surgery to repair the broken collarbone she suffered at the Parkhotel Valkenberg and has already returned to training, her Rabobank team have revealed.

The Dutchwoman, who finished the race in second place despite obvious pain, was fortunate enough to sustain a "good break," with a simple fracture that will heal rapidly on it own, doctors at the Meander Medisch Centrum in Amersfoort said last Friday; a prognosis since confirmed by the Centre's Dr. van Olden after further tests were carried out.

Image credit: Rabosport

Vos, who celebrated her 25th birthday two weeks ago and is widely considered the best rider of her generation, also revealed that she will make her comeback at the Giro Donne - the last Grand Tour of women's cycling and due to start on the 29th of July, fans had worried she might miss it in order to concentrate on the Olympics. "My participation in London is in no doubt whatsoever," she said , "but it now looks like I'll be able to ride at the Giro Donne too. It's my next planned race and an excellent course with a view to the Olympics. In the Giro, I can gain hardness and rate rhythm. There you go - that what I'll now be focusing on."

Meanwhile, she does not plan to defend her National Road Race Championship title as the race will be held on the 23rd of June. "That's a little bit too soon," she explained. When you're Marianne Vos, missing out on a National Championship isn't a problem - you can always win it next year instead.

In other women's cycling news Brainwash, the Dutch and Belgian hairdressing chain, has announced that it will no longer be the main sponsor of its three-woman cyclo cross team. The riders will go to the Rabobank Off Road Squad, where Brainwash will become secondary sponsor - more details from Podium Cafe.

Martine Bras will ride at the Olympics

(image credit: Dolmans-Boels Cycling Team)

Martine Bras is no stranger to the loftiest heights of a successful cycling career - after all, she won her first National Championship title when she was ten years old - but now she's about to climb one step higher: she will represent her native Netherlands in the London Olympic Games.

Now aged 33, Martine had perhaps her best season to date in 2011with top ten results in several of the most prestigious races in women's cycling, a win at the UCI 1.2 Halle-Buizingen and an excellent Stage 3 victory at the Tour Féminin en Limousin.

The rider, currently with Dolmans-Boels, is brimming with confidence: "I shouldn't be underestimated on the London course," she says, "with many twists and turns and sloping streets, it suits me." However, like all good riders she hasn't forgotten that the cycling world has its own major events: "I'm still targeting the Limburg World Championships, which 2012 a challenging year for myself and for the team. It gives me the motivation to give everything I've got again this season."

Hansen heading for Olympic success

Natasha Hansen is well-accustomed to meteoric climbs into the stratosphere: at 22 years old, she's the youngest air traffic controller in New Zealand - but the rapid ascent of her cycling career is so remarkable it probably took even her by surprise.

Like many female cyclists, Hansen began cycling as part of a fitness training program for another sport; having been selected for a netball team whilst she was still at school. Nature took its course and she fell in love with the bike, spending more and more time riding before deciding to concentrate on the sport when she finished the World Junior Keirin Championship in fifth place and then, in 2007, won the National Junior Sprint Championship. Then, two years later, she gave the sport up - partly because of her country's lack of a Women's Sprint Olympic Program and partly to concentrate on her air traffic control exams, a wise decision in this world where even top female cyclists are exceedingly unlikely to make a decent living wage even if they perform as well (or better) than their male counterparts.

Fortunately, she was tempted back and in 2010 she won the National Sprint Championship and took silver medals in the 500m and Team Sprints, all at Elite level - great news for her, even better news for women's cycling in New Zealand as it proved sufficient to persuade the National Federation that it was about time it allocated some funds to go towards putting a women's sprint team together for the 2016 Olympics. That's not enough for Hansen and her team mate Katie Schofield, though - they were eyeing the London Games, and if they can continue making the improvements they've shown over the last two years at this weekend's National Track Championships there's a very real chance they'll be there.

"I know that in six months we will make massive gains and I truly believe we have the potential to medal also. If we continue on the path we are going on, there's no reason why we can't," Hansen says. Afterburners on!

Vos only Dutch rider to formally qualify for Olympics

Marianne Vos is - remarkably, considering the excellent performances of the Dutch women over the last year - the only female rider from the Netherlands to have gained sufficient points in the UCI World Rankings to formally qualify for this year's Olympics says Wielerland.nl. Vos has 1734.92 points - more than 600 in advance of second place Swedish star Emma Johansson and over a thousand more than the next best Dutch rider Annemiek Van Vleuten.