“I want to ride the Tour de France Femmes,” each rider wrote in her application to join our 2026 squad. This universal, aspirational goal is something to celebrate. It’s a lofty target, but one that wasn’t realistically imaginable five or six years ago.
As women’s professional sport continues to grow and attract commercial support, the amateur cycling team’s role in helping athletes reach these dreams is still important but the best way to progress can be far from clear. A purposeful and structured approach to managing athlete pathways should go a long way to create a sustainable amateur cycling ecosystem and perhaps reduce the number of teams that fold each year.
At Meridian Blue Cycling, an Oceania-based elite women’s team, we take this responsibility seriously. In the spirit of building an even brighter future for women’s sport, we’d like to share our thoughts on what we can do to help more Aussie and Kiwi women realise their dream of competing in the Tour de France Femmes (TdFF).
Read our article on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-does-take-get-tour-de-france-femmes-david-williams-zmamc
