Why is La Course so short?

[KneesUp]

Squeezed in I suspect - closing roads is expensive, and the marketing opportunities for the womens race are, I presume, less lucrative. Probably partly because it's treated as an afterthought.

 

[mjr]

Squeezed in I suspect - closing roads is expensive, and the marketing opportunities for the womens race are, I presume, less lucrative. Probably partly because it's treated as an afterthought.

I agree and suspicions are probably all we're going to get. It would be politically damaging for ASO to say they don't respect women's racing, even though that's what I think after a scandalous four editions of the women's La Course - there was only one edition of the men's La Course and then they restarted Le Tour masculin.

Today I'm watching La Course live and Le Tour on highlights only. I hope enough people do to blip the viewing figures.

 

[Crackle]

The whole format this year is odd but and it's a big but, at least it's an expansion from the crit on the last day and perhaps it might lead to bigger things. I'm enjoying watching them ride the big mtns anyway.

 

[Crackle]

Spoiler

Great attack by van Vleuten

 

[KneesUp]

Mod edit: Spoiler tag added

Careful - no spoilers. Some of us are at work

 

[Crackle]

Careful - no spoilers. Some of us are at work

Getting me threads muxed ip

 

[Bimble]

No worries - spoiler tag added.

 

[mjr]

AFAIK the UCI stage race limits for women are 160k per stage and an average of 140. That's just an aside as this isn't a stage race.
I'd guess it comes down to money.

Isn't it two stages? Or a stage and as Lizzie Deignan just called it, a "thing"

Well done itv giving Sarah Connolly the commentary (assuming that was them and not the ASO world feed) but why can't she pick one way of saying "Deignan" and stick to it? Other than that, she seemed a bit nervous and probably reading a script at the start but soon settled into it well.

Maybe itv or sweetspot could hire her to cover some of the televised men's races too, if she's willing - she's better than certain male commentators IMO.

 

[roadrash]

lizzie geignan said in her post race interview that things were moving in the right direction but needs to be better organised.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

The 'thing' on Sat is going to be bizarre.

 

[smutchin]

The 'thing' on Sat is going to be bizarre.

The start is going to be carnage, with riders setting off at intervals of less than 10 seconds.

And with such a short course, presumably no one outside the current top 3-5 on GC will be in with a chance of overhauling the race leader even if they wait for each other and ride it as a team TT.

Bonkers.

 

[smutchin]

And another thing: will they be allowed to ride TT bikes or will they be on road bikes?

 

[Crackle]

And another thing: will they be allowed to ride TT bikes or will they be on road bikes?

Road bikes I think, because they'll end up in a bunch so TT bikes would be a liability.

 

[roadrash]

The whole "thing" sounds like a liability