Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is “inspiring bike sales and pro riding aspirations”

Pauline Ferrand-Prevot of Team Visma | Lease a Bike was triumphant at the fourth Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, which concluded earlier this month.

The crucial impact of professional sport on the grass roots has long been accepted, but some interesting research from Zwift – which has been examining the impact of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, now in its fourth year – has produced some positive numbers that directly (and indirectly) affect the bike trade.

According to the stats, 17% of those who engaged with Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2024 said they went on to buy a bike. A whopping 69% of women said they felt inspired to ride. More broadly, of those of who engaged with the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2024, 80% say they are now more likely to watch women’s cycling in the future. A huge 85% said they now saw professional cycling as a viable profession that women can aspire to.

Some more stats for context: The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift reportedly attracts the biggest audience in women’s professional cycling. The race is broadcast in 190 countries. In 2024, 80 million viewed hours were consumed in seven European countries, with nearly 20 million viewers in France alone.

“As founding partners of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, we are proud to have the opportunity to share evidence of how the sport has grown since the first edition of the race in 2022,” says Kate Veronneau, Director of Women’s Cycling at Zwift (who CIN interviewed last year). “Women’s sport around the world is being lifted by a tailwind of interest and investment and yet, until 2022 women’s professional cycling missed the crown jewel of the cycling calendar, the Tour de France. To have such an iconic race as part of the Women’s WorldTour was pivotal to ensure that women’s cycling also benefited, to have other brands, partners and sponsors invested in growing the sport, on the biggest stage under the banner of the most famous race in the world.”

“Perhaps the most transformative change has been in media coverage”

Zwift also noted that Women’s WorldTour team budget rose to an average of €4.67 million – a significant increase from the 2022 average of €2.35 million per team.

Puck Pieterse, rider for Fenix-Deceuninck, said: “Perhaps the most transformative change has been in media coverage. When I first started watching women’s races, it was usually just a short highlight after the men’s race, or maybe the final 10 kilometers. It didn’t feel very accessible. That lack of visibility made it difficult for aspiring riders to imagine a place for themselves in the sport. If you don’t see it, it’s hard to believe it’s possible. But now, with significantly more media attention, you start to see women’s cycling as a real and viable career path.”

The path to Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift was fairly tortuous, with women having to make do with “La Course by Le Tour de France” prior to that, itself a result of pressure from Le Tour Entier – a group headed by Kathryn Bertine, Marianne Vos, Emma Pooley and Chrissie Wellington.

Diversity is a topic the trade has wrestled with, some might say not always hugely seriously, but certainly in a more thorough way in recent years.

There is more insight on the topic from Zwift.

Credit: Leon van Bon