UCI President Brian Cookson Says Women's Tour De France Won't Work On Men's Course

Int'l Cycling Union (UCI) President Brian Cookson said that a women’s Tour de France "running concurrently on the same course as the three-week men’s race won’t work for logistical reasons," according to Alex Duff of BLOOMBERG. Cookson said that it is "more feasible for a separate women’s edition to have its own sponsors and host cities." Athletes including Olympic cyclists Marianne Vos and Emma Pooley, four-time Ironman world champion Chrissie Wellington and Kathryn Bertine, a filmmaker and cyclist, "are pushing for an extended women’s race." The athletes said in a statement that it would be "logistically possible" and more cost effective to use the infrastructure of the men's event than creating an entirely separate race (BLOOMBERG, 10/27).