Which Dutchman will be the first to win the Tour de France, someone from the audience of the Evening Stage theater performance in Hilversum asked last Monday. Annemiek van Vleuten of course, I immediately called back. A burst of laughter rang out, and loud applause. This was an unexpected answer. Because the spectator naturally meant: which Dutch man will be the first to win the Tour?
Organized for a few years VARAguide an evening stage with Mart Smeets. I always get to sit down there, this time together with Michael Boogerd, Rob Harmeling and Niki Terpstra. We talked about the Tour, then and now. Michael, Rob and Niki told about their own experiences. I got questions about the development of women’s cycling. Hardly about women’s race matters, and not at all about my own experiences in the race.
That’s how it always goes, in every talk show, in every interview. I can talk about the men’s race in terms of content, about the women’s race mainly from a contemplative point of view. Oh yes, I am very happy with the rapid expansion of my branch of sport. The growing attention, the bigger prices, the climbing level; it is to die for. Now that the perhaps most beautiful men’s tour ever is nearing its end, my excitement is growing, because the climax is yet to come! Historical. Long awaited. Long for a long time. The Women’s Tour de France!
And yet: there were once Dutch women who wore the yellow jersey. Leontien van Moorsel of course, she even won the final classification twice. But who knows Mieke Havik? She was the very first woman ever to wear the yellow jersey in 1984, when she won the first stage of the first official Tour Féminin.
Journalist Peter Ouwerkerk recalls her entrance on a hotel terrace where he and sports director Peter Post were analyzing the men’s Tour. ‘Peter Post saw her approach, looked at us, shook his head and said: What are we going to experience? A woman in the yellow sweater?!’
Like five-time Tour winner Jacques Anquetil, for example, Peter Post held the view that women do not belong in cyclism. On that same weekend, Ouwerkerk recalls, Anquetil said: ‘Cycling is not for women, they are not made for it. I’d rather see them in a white dress than in black bib shorts. And besides, I love women too much to see them suffer.’
This attempt at a Tour for women was quickly lost. Too little money, too few sponsors, too little prestige. And now look. Women’s cycling and the views on it have taken a giant leap. The ASO, certainly not an organization that sets up something out of charity, has cleverly jumped on that fast-moving train with the Tour de France Femmes.
In the meantime, the women’s peloton continues to explain itself to the sports journal. Where we come from. How fast the development is going. How important that is. I get it, and at the same time it bothers me more and more. Because it just won’t stop. Women’s cycling has been explaining itself like a jammed record, for years.
I hope the women’s Tour is a breaking point in that respect too. Of course I will explain it again with love. As a preview. But after that it can be about the content of the course. About the riders, the tactics. And may ‘Annemiek van Vleuten’ as an answer to which Dutchman wins the Tour first, just be a logical instead of a sharp answer.
Marijn de Vries is a former professional cyclist and journalist.