Racer Ex 

Personally, I think the females in our sport get the pretty short end of the stick. The women's Olympic road race was clearly the most compelling bike race of the games and I appreciate the willingness to stand up and be counted.

Competitor Radio Interview:

https://competitorradio.competitor.com/?s=inga

From Cycling News article on Nicole Cooks retirement:

Cooke also spoke of how she had to take four of her teams to court over the years to recoup unpaid wages and compared her situation with some figures involved in the Armstrong case.

"When Lance cries on Oprah later this week and she passes him a tissue, spare a thought for all of those genuine people who walked away with no reward,” Cooke said. "Tyler Hamilton will make more money from a book describing how he cheated than I will make in all my years of honest labour."

Cat4Lifer

\Yeah, I don't get why more women don't follow women's cycling?!

Angio Graham

professionaling cycling is kinda boring. womens professional cycling is even more boring.

i dont know if they have more balls than men, or if they have any balls at all.

if those women want to make more money then grab a video camera and some guy named Kanye and get filming.

David Broon 

I feel like they have more interesting hair:

https://www.lululemon.com/community/b...lian-carleton/

eduardo76

marianne vos' domination in cycling today rivals the merckx era...we could be witness to it...or not...
i find women's professional cycling just as interesting as men's - they are fast, they climb fast, they sprint fast, team tactics are still there, the attacks are still there, what is not to love - i just don't get to watch as many races or grand tours 'cause they are not there...and that's a shame...

StanSeven

This all is pretty simple. Salaries are based upon revenue. The public isn't that interested in women's cycling. Thus sponsors aren't willing to pay big money. So teams get paid what the market bears.

Cooke is being the crybaby here. She might have legitimate issues about not being paid but saying Tyler Hamilton makes too much money from writing a book is just jealousy

canam73

Do they get kissed by podium girls? That might help boost ratings.

rumrunn6

dunno 'bout balls, but ...

Racer Ex 

She MIGHT have legitimate issues? Don't hurt yourself stretching like that. The public doesn't even know about women's racing, even though they make up a large percentage of recreational riders. They get zero promotional dollars. It isn't rocket science to look at the hierarchy of the UCI and federations to figure out why. Old men, old men, and more old men.

Individual sports like golf and tennis have huge women's followings and the top women make a ton of money. And there is a robust middle class. This wasn't always the case, it wasn't too long ago that they also were the afterthought. It took a lot of pushing to shake money from the tree to get things on the map.

Where women's (or men's) sports fail in relation to the opposite gender is when the sport is less compelling than their counterparts (the WNBA is nicely played but no one is doing 360 degree slams over 7 foot giants). If you missed the last two women's Olympic road races, you missed two great races, period.

As far as Cooke being a crybaby about Hamilton, I see a clean athlete pissed off about a HUGE doper making a ton of money off his cheating, nothing more. Listen to the Thompson interview and you get the same take about the women in her sport that doped (and some of the other nonsense). It's analogous to a parent complaining that someone who killed their kid is making money off a book about the crime (though I'm not saying there is equivalency in the damage).

I've competed against women on various national teams and got to watch Sarah Hammer up close while competing at Elite Track Nats. They race their bikes as hard as anyone. The only reason there's no interest in women's racing is because there's little interest in their racing from their governing bodies in most cases. That begets no media interest which begets no sponsor money. No chicken, no egg.

A bit more from the "crybaby":

Pressure was put on me but I was determined, and fortunate. I had a very good team-mate who was in a similar predicament and she took the same stance I did. Team-mates that say "NO" are priceless. I would have been very naive to think that I would not encounter moments, like this. I am appalled that so many men bleat on about the fact that the pressures were too great. Too great for what? This is not doing 71 mph on the motorway when the legal limit is 70. This is stealing somebody else's livelihood. It is theft just as much as putting your hand in a purse or wallet and taking money is theft. Theft has gone on since the dawn of time but because somebody, somewhere else, does it, does not mean it is right for you to do it. There can be no excuse.

Racer Ex 

Yeah. Impossible to promote or generate interest

patrickgm60

And where do you think that interest will come from? It must come from the sponsors, the teams, and the fans. At its most basic level, pro athletics is entertainment. Most of the revenue is through TV-related media. NBA games are widely televised; WNBA, not. Fewer teams, fewer games, less athleticism, fewer fans, less/no TV revenue. The same applies to pro cycling. IIRC, there have been attempts at a women's Tour de France, but the revenue simply wasn't there.

Cooke's comment about pressure and saying 'No' (to PED, I assume) is simply a result of the revenue/income disparity. Why would an athlete making a meager living with little opportunity to improve her situation risk much to reach the top?

Cat4Lifer

Women have been complaining about little to no interest in womens pro cycling since I started following (1987) pro cycling, that's before the media and public scrutiny over doping...they get paid **** wages because no one is really interested in watching elite level cycling that travels at about the same speed as a amateur cat 3 race. Can cry about Lance and all the other dopers, but it's doubtful that will help bring out consumers for womens cycling

atbman

[QUOTE=StanSeven;15159402]This all is pretty simple. Salaries are based upon revenue. The public isn't that interested in women's cycling. Thus sponsors aren't willing to pay big money. So teams get paid what the market bears.

Crybaby - let's see. Junior world Road race, mtb and time trial champion; Commonwealth Games RR champ, multiple women's TdF winner, women's Giro ditto, classics winner, Olympic and World champion. You should be such a crybaby.

It must be wonderful to be able to carry out long-distance psychiatric evaluations as to her motivation. Naturally, if you'd been cheated out of your rightfullly earned wage, you would have dealt with it with dignified and stoical silence, yes? Rather than be seriously pissed off?

Please feel free to give us the benefit of your insighful evidence proving her crybabyness and jealousy. Not knowing you, I, naturally, avoid commenting that you delight in knocking one of women's cycling's modern greats.

eddiepliers 

To be honest, I really like watching women's cycling from a pure social-political stance. I like to see women doing the same things us guys can do. The more people I see going out for a ride, regardless of sex, the better

Now if only I can get my girlfriend out for more than 2-3 miles at a time, and not at 8 mph.

Garfield Cat

That last image, no pedals on that bike.

cyclezen

this has been knocking around in the head for a long time... Why women's cycling isn;t more recognized here in the US...
it's a Euro sport...
Women's tennis - Big here, Women's Golf -Big, some other examples...

Before Lance, even men's cycling was a quirky Euro thing here... (sorry Greg, but true). Lance put men's cycling on the US map.

Other Euro sports tryin to make some inroads
Men's Alpine Skiing - helped by Bode MIller - too bad he's a non-show at the moment
Women's Alpine Skiing - Lindsay Vonn (and to a bit lesser degree because of repute, not effort or intensity - Julia Mancuso)

where is women's Nordic ??? anyone hear of Kikkin Randall - current WC leader in Sprint events and I say in the top 10 of women's xc.

American's have their spectacle sports, I don;t think they'll ever embrace the Euro sport thing - way too strange for them.

OK, here's where I get into trouble.
I think there's a major difference between men and sports and women and sports. Most all men 'understand' competition, especially the one to one kind. Basically no matter how far removed we are from the high level of male competition, either fitness, ability, determination - a large percentage of men GROK competition.
I think... (and willing to hear opposing opinions) that women who GROK competition, specifically sports, and embrace it are well separated from the mass of women, who have little like or understanding why its done. A big disconnect in the gender. Ok, having put my foot in, I'll stop at the ankle....
OK, maybe not...
I feel for women who are, enjoy, do competitive stuff, because I think more men appreciate their efforts than the vast major of women on the planet...

I may be wrong... maybe not...

ednwireland

the one thing that amazes me is look at the magazine stands, look at the magazines covering mens sports, look at the womens they are all gossip, lifestyle and fashion. the reason womens products dont sponsor womens sport is they dont beleive its worth it, they would rather have some model/ actress paid mails for a crappy advertising campaign that cost millions rather than throw a relatively small proportion of that at a womens team.

look at who Gillette sponsor woods, federer, rooney etc etc

men follow sport, most women dont and therein lies the problem more money would flood into womens sport from womens products if they thought they would get the return

Giacomo 1 

I'm with you.

One of my daughter's is a Div.2 sprinter in track and field. She got a nice scholarship and is doing really well, but it was a struggle to get her to this point and at times it's still a struggle. She doesn't have the "killer instinct", the natural competitiveness that most males do, so I don't think she will ever be the very best she can be and I haven't found the magical way to bring it out in her. She has great style and form and she works hard on it, but there are times I tell her to forget form and just go out there and let it all go, kick arse, win, beat the field. But it's not easy for her to just let herself go like that. I saw that among most of my daughters teamates as she was coming up to. Only a few girls really had the killer instinct and they really stood out as being "different". I've seen coaches of girls teams have trouble firing up their teams to. The girls teams often pouted and look disinterested during a coaches pre-game pump, while the boys teams were all fired up, ready and into it.

So I don't think most girls are necessarily born with a competitive spirit and I don't think it is easily taught to girls either.

Cat4Lifer

I completely disagree.
Girls/women have spirits every bit as competitive as boys/men; they just tend to differ on the type of competitions, for which that spirit is displayed. Beauty pageants come to mind, and so too does Tonya Harding -- a very fierce competitor, just ask Nancy "Why Me" Kerrigan.

canam73

So girls want it just as much as men?

Cat4Lifer

They all want it, whether they know it or not.
Sexism rocks!

Allez3

Problem is not enough of them look like that. Too many have short hair and don't wear makeup if you get my drift....

mtalinm

I think Evie Stevens could possibly do the same for women's cycling. though it's true that there's no TdF equivalent. plus, WAGs get suspicious of guys who enjoy watching any women's sports involving tight clothing...

Cat4Lifer

I get your drift
but does not matter when fapping

valygrl

Racer Ex, yeah, the Olympic women's RR was incredible. Wish there was more coverage of women's racing, and more women's races. Here in Boulder our fields are a lot smaller than the men's fields, which is a bummer. If I had to guess, I would say it's because women don't want to crash more than men don't want to crash.

rumrunn6, Allez3, Cat4Lifer, canam73 - you disgust me. The only reason you would want to see women race is so you can look at hot chicks wearing spandex and jack off? Or if a woman is actually competitive in sports they must be a lesbian (nttiawwt)? Gross.

All the races I have been in have been competitive as hell. Just because the MPH is lower doesn't make it less interesting - unless the only thing you are interested in is the crashes, and then that's just sad.