Originally Posted by DanFromDetroit
Using a marathon for comparison purposes, the men's world record (2:05:38) and women's world record (2:15:26) are separated by less than 10%. My guess is that cycling would not be that much different. I don't know this for a fact but I would bet there is more variablity from the "front of the pack" to the "back of the pack" among the men in the TdF than 10%. This tells me that women would not be stragglers at best.
Dan
As of right now, Lance has the lead in the tour with a time of about 46.5 hours. The last place guy is 2 hours 18 minutes behind him, which is less than a 5% difference.