Will Women Race in the Tour de France in 2014?

tour de france crowd — (Image credit: Archive)

The world's most famous bicycle race, the Tour de France, has been around for 100 years and has stuck to its traditional roots since its inception: all male riders. Now, some of the biggest names in women's cycling want a chance at the yellow jersey, and are taking action with an online petition.

While the Tour de France has always been a mens-only race, women had a tour of their own for a period of time. The Tour Feminin was held from 1984 to 2009, but as can often happen with women's sports, the race received scant media coverage and suffered from lack of coverage. Rather than reinstating the Tour Feminin, this petition is asking for the entry of women into the men's race.

The petition has some big name supporters, like Olympic gold medalist Marianne Vos and British Olympian Emma Pooley, the last Tour Feminin winner. Riders and petition organizers claim that allowing women to participate in the race "will also create an equal opportunity to debunk the myths of physical limitations placed on female athletes." Their letter addressed to Tour Director Christian Prudhomme told him it's time that "women are allowed to race in the Tour de France, too." Here at MC, we have to say we agree.

I'm an Associate Editor at the Business of Fashion, where I edit and write stories about the fashion and beauty industries. Previously, I was the brand editor at Adweek, where I was the lead editor for Adweek's brand and retail coverage. Before my switch to business journalism, I was a writer/reporter at PEOPLE.com, where I wrote news posts, galleries and articles for PEOPLE magazine's website. My work has been published on TheAtlantic.com, ELLE.com, MarieClaire.com, PEOPLE.com, GoodHousekeeping.com and in Every Day with Rachael Ray. It has been syndicated by Cosmopolitan.com, TIME.com, TravelandLeisure.com and GoodHousekeeping.com, among other publications. Previously, I've worked at VOGUE.com, ELLE.com, and MarieClaire.com.