Movistar rider Marlen Reusser has called out the uneven naming of the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes as “weird”, suggesting it highlights an inequality between the sexes.
The time trial world champion and former yellow jersey wearer attended the 2027 races' route presentation in Paris on Thursday, where all the stages were unveiled.
Asked afterwards how she found the ceremony, she told the media: “It’s a nice event. What I’m a bit disappointed [by] still is that it’s the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes. Where is the Tour de France Hommes? Like, this is weird to me. I don’t understand this.”
In French, 'femmes' translates as women, and 'hommes' as men.
Reusser also said she found the attention given to both races during the presentation to be disproportionate. “We have two nice race directors, but I don’t feel like they’re on the same level. It’s more the men’s director [on stage] that also has next to him the women’s,” she said.
“I think the Tour is doing so great, showing that there is not only men’s sport. We speak a lot about it, but we just should do it more. I wish these little steps to come when we speak about the presentation and the whole thing.”
On stage during the ceremony, women’s race director Marion Rousse praised the fact that both events will enjoy three-day Grand Départs in the same country for the first time next year, something she said was a “good message of equality”.
Rousse later responded to Reusser’s comments, saying it was “not really the case” that the ceremony portrayed the women’s race as less important. “Obviously the men's presentation is going to be longer because there are 21 stages against nine,” she said.
Cycling Weekly asked men’s race director Christian Prudhomme for his response to Reusser's comments about the put Reusser’s comments about the unequal race names. “The Tour de France is a major race that has been running since 1903. The Tour is the Tour, and we’re absolutely delighted that there’s another race: the Tour de France Femmes,” he said.
“The Tour, in fact, is a single event in two parts. We don’t talk about the men’s Roland Garros and the women’s Roland Garros – we just talk about Roland Garros. For us, the only issue is that we can’t run both events at the same time. It’s impossible. It’s not like a tennis match where you play to the right and then to the left.
“When I launched the [Tour de France Femmes] five years ago with Marion Rousse, I said, ‘Long live the Tour. Long live the Tours.’ I was actually wrong – she’s competitive. I don’t hold it against her – because in fact, it’s the Tour. The strength of this event, the women’s event, is the Tour de France. And the Tour de France Femmes is good for women’s sport. Above all, it’s good for the Tour, full stop.”
The men’s race will begin in Edinburgh on 2 July next year, four weeks before the women’s starts in Leeds on 30 July. Discover all the stages with our route guides.