You can’t escape the tagline of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. It’s everywhere, on casquettes, on musettes, on advertising. It’s simple: “Watch the Femmes”. It’s a neat idea from title sponsors Zwift to encourage people to tune in to what has quickly become the biggest women’s bike race in the world.
I wish it was that easy. Only three of the nine stages of the Tour de France Femmes have been, or will be, broadcast in full: stage one around Lausanne, five from Mâcon to Belleville-en-Beaujolais, and the closing day in Nice. It means for the other six days, fans will have to put up with reduced television coverage. On top of the fact that the race is behind an expensive paywall in the UK and the USA, “Watch the Femmes” seems more like a dream than a reality.
