First of all, if you didn’t watch the 9-stage Tour de France Femmes, try and find it. Unlike the men’s version, we didn’t know the winner till the penultimate stage, and it was a very exciting race, especially if you are French. Women’s pro cycling has come a long way since I started tentatively watching it some years ago and watching their Tour feels a lot like watching the guys’ version, i.e. team tactics are similar now (whereas before I struggled to see if there were any) and France TV even has The History and Culture Lady, like the men’s Tour does. It’s the whole shebang, but not dragged out over 3 weeks.

This year had an amazing number of people on the side of the road, too. I’m not sure if it was more than previous years, but the roads were lined with fans and they were many people deep at the Arrivées. There were also 3.16 million TV viewers in France for the Queen Stage, which is an amazing 37% of the people watching TV at that time. Okay, it doesn’t hurt that the French won 4 stages and the overall race, but it’s a great sign.

But you really know you’ve hit the big time when the media invent controversies because they know you want to read more about the sport. The 3 top stories on a certain cycling news website right now are:

1. Is it good or bad that Pauline Ferrand-Prévot lost so much weight for the Tour.
2. Is Demi Vollering really a ‘drama queen’?
3. Why does PFP take home 10 times less prize money than Pog?

No news is bad news, they say, so bring on the controversy!