So who is watching the womens tour.

what do you think?

[inevitable sexism]

and people said there wasn’t a place for GoPros in road cycling 8)

[/inevitable sexism]

the face plant crash looked nasty

nice to see the local primary schools out for a cheer and scream
making a respectable crowd on key points.

Women! Know your limits!

Looks like a good turn out of spectators on the roadsides. French lass being hung out to dry.

tbh it’s quite a good watch. I’m a little surprised that Frankie Boyle’s commentating though

It’s quite soul destroying to see them motoring along roads I know and ride so much more slowly.

nice to see the local primary schools out for a cheer and scream

My niece and nephew will be out there doing their bit tomorrow. They’re super excited about it, and were on the phone for half an hour earlier asking me all about road racing.

Great to see, inspiring a new generation hopefully.

yeah MisterP, but they missed the views and didnt stop for cake that i saw.

Cool! On +1 now!

Great racing. Looking forward to seeing it ‘live’ tomorrow.

Oh, and sexism may be ‘inevitable’ on such a backwards forum as this, but it doesn’t mean you have to be the one to start it surely?

Pretty humbling to see such young, slight people motoring along at those speeds, i feel really old & slow now! 😀

Went to the start in Oundle ( my office is there)- ram packed!
Watched at Harrington ( on telly with rapha umbrella (sorry!) ) , then went to n’pton town centre.

Overall very, very good event! Lots of spectators and great turn out!
I thought TV showed the county well and was pleased with the coverage., although lord knows how there was that crash on the flat before Harrington!?!?!?

Brilliant!!!

Sniff.

Flashy – you are Big Gay Al and I claim my £5

One of the upsides to the U.K. being a bit late to this whole pro-cycling party is that (along with the States) I feel we are a bit less sniffy regarding the women’s side of the sport, just go to a revolution track meet and listen to the reception Laura Trott gets every time she rolls onto the boards.

The TDF will always be the biggest race in the men’s sport but with the women’s tour we have the potential to eventually have the biggest annual Women’s race on the UCI calender. The cycling community just needs to get behind it.

Loving all the tweets from the riders after today’s stage, they were loving the crowds, the TV crews and the whole vibe, great work Sweet Spot!

DESBOROUGH! Not Rushton, for the first sprint. How did they manage to get the name wrong?

just read a review of the days racing and seems Lizzie is a bit put out with her finish.

seems she is rather more used to seeing a crowd from 200m, not 1k out, so she went too early

I am cycling out to Hinckley in the morning to watch them set off. Should be fun especially looking at the weather forecast.

Average speed 23mph so they were certainly going a good pace, shame I can’t find the time to take the long journey over to see any if it live.

PolisherMan – Member

DESBOROUGH! Not Rushton, for the first sprint. How did they manage to get the name wrong?

Rushden not Rushton , how did you manage to get the name wrong 🙂

Used to ride around that area a lot and it’s a bit of a shame in my opinion that there are no stages with any big climbs in them . I mean KOM going up into Spratton is a bit poor . Otherwise great event

annoyed that working nights has stopped me seeing it live, or the 9pm highlights. Will be watching the repeats this morning at 8am before going to bed…. Lots of the pros are tweeting about the crowds and positive response, hopefully a good sign for the future, and kudos to ITV4.

Wimmins races are much shorter and are therefore more animated. Watched both olympic races live at the roadside and theirs was a much better race, and whats the point of a mens ‘Monument’ being 250km if all the racing is on the last climb in the last km?

I watched it on Eurosport so don’t know if it was the same coverage but they made the Desborough/Rushton mistake too. The sprint was along Desborough high street but the organisers must have changed the sprint as a few days ago the official route said the first sprint was going to be Rushton high street so I guess the commentators had the old route guide with them.

Ramsey Neil…… Know your Rushton from your Rushden! Rushden is near Irchester & higham ferrers, Rushton is out the back of Kettering.

They didn’t go anywhere near Rushden. Rushton is a village near Desborough famed for its triangular lodge. Their website even mentions the tour passing.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/rushton-triangular-lodge/

As usual with sport on ITV4, there is too much yapping from the pundits and not enough girl on road action.
The coverage seemed relatively low budget but not a bad attempt for the first tour.
Aside from ITV, I thought the race organisers need to look again at the courses they select, way too many narrow roads at the start of the first day.
But womens cycling seems positioned to take off so I think the womens tour is a great idea. I look forward to seeing them race up my local hill in Hertford on Saturday 🙂

Great to see it on TV but it’s hardly a Tour of Britain, it’s all bloody in the South East!

I enjoyed the racing, but i felt they had too much yapping in it, then the adverts all seem to come in the racing bit!
is it shown live anywhere?? (online etc?)

Anywhere I can catch up on this, will it be on itv player or something? Sounds like a lot of the bit around Desborough etc will be part of my local road loop (I’m in rothwell) 🙂

Looked like good coverage, closed roads which is great – odd location though, almost everything in one county?

Hope it goes from strength to strength!

Perhaps it is easier to organise a race that stays in one county? A lot less red tape and different councils to deal with? Just a thought and probably rubbish.

Tour series starts next week, on Tuesday in Stoke on Trent, http://www.tourseries.co.uk for details.

Inner city cycling round the uk for the masses, great spectacle.

I will be venturing to Aberystwyth for a round of the Tour Series. Although I will be working on the Pearl Izumi stand so may not get to see any racing.

I’ve still yet to work out what Hugh Porter adds to any commentary team. He didn’t seem able to add any insight whatsoever yesterday. He kept telling up how old the riders were (obviously reading from notes) but usually failed to tell us their names (probably couldn’t pronounce them) – can’t hlpe thinking he’d never be doing that with men. He also kept announcing that a rider was “belgian”, “italian”, etc based solely on what team they were on – seem not to grasp the international nature of top level women’s racing at all.

Watching it on ITV player now whilst reading the twitter feed for today’s stage. It’s slightly confusing…

I’ve still yet to work out what Hugh Porter adds to any commentary team

He should be drawing his pension. He makes me cringe in much the same way Nurray Walker used to.

Just got back from Hinckley and apart front the rain it was a good morning down there. Lots of lovely young ladies on bikes, big crouds, loads of schools out, and the smell of leg balm in the air. The place was packed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/27348953

Laura offering mtfu lessons should anyone on here need them

all the highlights shows are available on itvplayer
https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/cycling-women-s-tour/series-1/episode-3

I was just shocked that it took nearly 15 minutes last night before we saw any racing. Coverage seems to have hit an all time low.

I think the coverage is pretty good considering it the first go at the event. You are right the build up does go on a bit before getting into the racing.

That Vos women is awesome.

Just watched that BBC Laura Trott thing. That woman is tough.

Not a fan of the female pundit they’ve got in for the ITV4 coverage, all she does is repeat back what Boulting has said.

I much prefer Kenny Van Vlaminck