The preparation for the Tour de France Femmes has been difficult for Lotta Henttala, who suffered from severe corona. The skilful Finn might fight for individual stage wins.
When the men’s tour of France ends on Sunday, the women begin their own work.
The Tour de France Femmes stage race will be held for the second time this year. There is a Finnish color, because the one pedaling in the Quick-Step stable Lotta Henttala takes part in a competition. He returned to the Games this year after taking a break in 2020.
The competition was organized for the first time last year. The organization that organizes the men’s tour also runs the Tour de France Femmes.
According to Henttala, the race is of great importance to women’s cycling.
– Everyone knows what the men’s Tour de France is. Now women also have one, and all the stages can be seen on TV. This is a really big event and a well-organized race that is really important in the women’s calendar.
Various women’s races have been held in conjunction with the Tour de France since the 1980s, but they have suffered from financial problems, poor media coverage and trademark disputes with the men’s Tour organizing organisation. The men’s race has been held since 1903.
Professional cyclist Marjolein van’t Geloof told Bicycling-mediathat the new competition has improved the position of women in the sport.
– Until some time ago, competing women considered a monthly salary of 250 euros normal. Today, some of the young drivers get a real salary. Women can now afford to be professionals, and that attracts more and more people to the sport, van’t Geloof said.
Henttala has also noticed an increase in interest in the sport. He thinks that the rise of women’s cycling is only at the beginning.
– When women’s competitions have started to be televised, it has been noticed that they have a really large audience in Central Europe and elsewhere. It is clearly interested in bringing more funding to women’s cycling.
Equality still has a long way to go, also literally. This year, the women’s race has eight stages and covers a total of 956 kilometers. The men’s race had 21 stages and 3,406 kilometers.
In the women’s race, 250,000 euros in prize money will be awarded, of which 50,000 euros will go to the winner of the overall competition. In the men’s race, the corresponding amounts were 2.3 million and 500,000 euros.
Difficult preparation
Henttala made a successful return to the Games in February, when he finished second in the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana competition in Spain. In March, he was sixth in both the one-day races held in Holland and Belgium.
At the end of March, however, Henttala fell ill with persistent corona disease, and had to stop driving for five weeks. After a severe illness, the Finn has had difficulties with recovery.
– It seems that only in the last couple of weeks has the training taken hold and I have recovered well from the exercises. I can’t say that it was a brilliant preparation, but now that I’ve been able to ride and train, it’s definitely good to ride such a long race. Let’s go one day at a time and see how it goes.
– However, I got in good shape from the beginning of the season and I did it once already, so surely at some point it will come back when I do dune.
Henttala is part of the assistant coach in his team. Quick-Step’s top pedal is South African Ashleight Moolman-Pasio, who aims for the top places in the overall competition. However, as a sprinter, Henttala may be able to aim for individual stage wins.
– If there’s a chance that I’ll be there at the end, I’ll try to do my best at the end.
Last year’s winner, the Dutchman from Movistar Team Annemiek van Vleuten is in many papers the pre-favorite of the entire competition. She won the women’s Tour of Italy in early July.
Also van Vleuten’s man who drives in the SD Worx team Demi Vollering and Canyon/Sram’s Polish Kmatter Niewiadoma and Trek’s Italian Elisa Longo Borgini can be strong.