Tashkent City Women have responded to criticism after several of their riders got dropped and abandoned during the opening stage of the Tour de France Femmes, stating that their presence here alone is a “victory” for cycling.
While the Uzbek team made history as the first central Asian team to start a Tour de France, men’s or women’s, their debut was overshadowed by a dismal display in the Netherlands heat, with more than half their team not being able to live with the WorldTour peloton’s pace on stage 1 into The Hague and leaving the race.
