Paris-Roubaix race director Thierry Gouvenou has defended the decision to reduce the level of broadcast coverage of the women\u2019s race this year, amid criticism from the women\u2019s peloton.<\/p>\n
For the first time since its inception in 2021, Paris-Roubaix Femmes<\/a> is taking place on the same day as the men\u2019s race, with the women’s race finishing roughly an hour and a half later today.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While fans could watch three hours of the women\u2019s race last year, only the final 90 minutes will be shown today, with TV pictures potentially not starting until the riders have already gone through the Haveluy to Wallers cobbled sector that has been added to increase the difficulty<\/a> of this edition.<\/p>\n Article continues below <\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n \u201cWhen coverage is reduced, it sends the wrong message,\u201d read a statement on Saturday from the women\u2019s rider union, The Cyclists\u2019 Alliance. \u201cCoverage is not just about watching a race. It is about visibility, value, and the future of the sport.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is one of the biggest races on the calendar. A race that has quickly become a defining showcase for women\u2019s cycling. And yet, just as momentum continues to build, visibility is being pulled back. Progress in this sport is not guaranteed. It needs to be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n Gouvenou was in Compi\u00e8gne early on Sunday morning ahead of the men\u2019s race, where he spoke to Cyclingnews about the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s true, we have a shorter broadcast, but on the other hand, there will be a much bigger audience, with everyone who was watching the men\u2019s race, and audiences are notably better on Sundays,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have fewer minutes, but more eyeballs. We compensate one with the other, but I think women\u2019s cycling is winning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Gouvenou explained that ASO had received feedback from local authorities that it was \u201ccomplicated\u201d to block off so many roads in the Nord region on consecutive days.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had technical choices to make, and when we decided to run the races on the same day, we felt it was best to have the women\u2019s race after the men\u2019s. That\u2019s the way it\u2019s done at Tour of Flanders and Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge. As a reminder, we used to run the women\u2019s race before the men\u2019s at Li\u00e8ge, but that meant the women starting at 8 in the morning, and they prefer not to do that, they prefer to race after the men. The problem is that there are many, many kilometres to broadcast. We have a shorter broadcast, but there will be a bigger audience this way.\u201d<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n Gouvenou went on to make a wider comment on the economics of women\u2019s professional cycling, saying: \u201cDespite appearances, it\u2019s still difficult to finance women\u2019s races.\u201d<\/p>\n When challenged on this comment, he was quick to defend ASO\u2019s track record, pointing to the successful re-launch of a women\u2019s Tour de France in 2022, along with the first-ever women\u2019s Paris-Roubaix the previous year. Zwift had backed both of those events as a title sponsor, but this edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes has been tighter budget-wise after the indoor training company declined to extend its sponsorship of the one-day race.<\/p>\n \u201cWe invested a lot in women\u2019s cycling already. The investment is huge for organisers, but we are not always followed by sponsors. Zwift left us\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cWe would like parity, but in reality\u2019s not yet possible. That\u2019s the economic reality right now. It\u2019s difficult for organisers to balance the books with women\u2019s cycling. We have to be patient. Audiences are good. It\u2019s going to come, it\u2019ll take some time, but we shouldn\u2019t always criticise.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The fact that the women\u2019s race is taking place on the same day feeds into another controversy that Gouvenou has found himself embroiled in.<\/p>\n On Saturday, L\u2019Equipe<\/a> ran a piece on the logistics of the respective finishes, and the question marks over whether riders who are dropped and likely to be outside the time limit in the men\u2019s race will be pulled off course as the women come through.<\/p>\n Gouvenou spoke of a \u2018moron\u2019 who was riding far behind the race in 2022 and holding up the process of opening the roads back up. The person in question was Bas Tietema<\/a>, the former pro and YouTuber who went on to launch the media-savvy Unibet Rose Rockets<\/a> team.<\/p>\n \u201cThe L\u2019Equipe article was clumsy. But it\u2019s true that Tietama was riding to make content for social media,\u201d Gouvenou told Cyclingnews just as the Rockets bus pulled up in Compi\u00e8gne.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was dropped from the first sectors. The driver of the broom wagon told me, \u2018he\u2019s never making any efforts\u2019. He cruised round all day, made video sequences, and at the finish I got questions from the police because the roads had been blocked for an hour more than they should have been.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t accept that a rider comes to Paris-Roubaix and cruises around. It\u2019s a Monument. You don\u2019t come here for social media. Of course, if it\u2019s cycling first and social media second, that\u2019s fine, but when it\u2019s the other way around\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n The time cut for the men\u2019s race will be 8% of the winner\u2019s time, giving the last riders around 30 minutes to register a result. Many more will be able to finish outside the time limit, but ASO is able to order riders to stop if they\u2019re lagging 45 minutes behind. Gouvenou confirmed that the directive has been in place since the hassle of 2022, but they will be particularly vigilant to avoid interference with the women\u2019s race.<\/p>\n In any case, he was keen to play down any idea of a rift with Tietema or his team, who received an invite for Paris-Roubaix but missed out on a Tour de France wildcard.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve already spoken a lot. I think his project is magnificent. At a certain moment, it\u2019s a case of sport before media, but I think he\u2019s in agreement with that now.\u201d<\/p>\n Get unlimited access to our unrivalled 2026 Spring Classics coverage with a Cyclingnews subscription. We’ll bring you breaking news, reports, and analysis from some of the biggest races on the calendar, including Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. Find out more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paris-Roubaix race director Thierry Gouvenou has defended the decision to reduce the level of broadcast coverage of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-601981","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}