A Century of Exclusion

For more than a century, the Tour de France stood as monument to institutionalized gender discrimination in sport. While women fought for voting rights, workplace equality, and social liberation, cycling's most prestigious race remained stubbornly, exclusively male. This wasn't oversight or historical accident but deliberate policy rooted in beliefs about female fragility and proper gender roles that persisted long after being discredited in other spheres.

The exclusion began with Henri Desgrange himself, who despite being progressive in some ways, held Victorian views about women's physical capabilities. "I still feel that women's place is not in races," he wrote in 1924, "their muscles are not made for the struggles and efforts that competition demands." This paternalistic attitude, dressed as concern for women's welfare, masked deeper anxieties about female athletes threatening masculine domains.

Early Pioneers and Rebels

Despite official exclusion, women refused to accept their banishment from cycling's grand stage. In 1904, just one year after the first men's Tour, a group of women attempted to ride the route one day ahead of the male competitors. Led by the remarkable Marie Marvingt—aviator, mountaineer, and athlete extraordinaire—they faced hostility from officials, mockery from press, and logistical obstacles at every turn.

Marvingt's story deserves fuller telling. Born in 1875, she excelled at every sport she attempted, holding records in swimming, shooting, and winter sports. She was the first woman to climb many Alpine peaks and would later fly combat missions in World War I disguised as a man. Her attempt to ride the Tour route wasn't publicity seeking but genuine desire to prove women's capabilities. Though she couldn't complete the full route due to official obstruction, she covered substantial distances, proving women could handle the physical demands.