I'm wondering why there are no (apparent) women competing in the Tour, has there ever been at least one?

Not nearly strong enough to be able to compete with even the slowest of male pros.

Many years ago, Jeannie Longo (probably just about the winningest and most dominant female racer ever) used to compete with us Cat 3 men in Colorado for training purposes. Even against lowly Cat 3s, she was far slower in sprints. On climbs, she was sort of mid-pack usually.

A very smart racer, absolutely, but just not as powerful as the men.

World-class female athletes are about 10% behind their male counterparts in both strength and endurance.

Women naturally have a worse power to weight ratio. They have higher body fat percentages. The highest VO2 max for a woman ever, IIRC, is in the high 70's. I'd guess pro racers average around there.

What Ted said... same reason they aren't in pro football, baseball, hockey, etc. Look at the male v. female stats for the Olympics.

Because there's a whole other tour just for them. It goes after the male tour. If you go to the Paris-Brest-Paris a few days early, you might be able to catch the last day or two of the women's tour.

They're not fast enough.

For perspective, at a local stage race, the winning overall time of the 1,2,3 women's race would have got her 60th place in the cat 4 men's group.

Great. Another reason to hate being female.

Is there any gorram advantage to being female, except we (used to) die later in old age?

Also, I'm actually watching the Tour, they listed the stats of this guy riding in it:

6'1, 148lbs. Isn't that grotesquely underweight? I was 135 lbs last year at 5'8.5" and I was a hair above underweight.

There was a woman in the NHL, some Quebecois chick.

Underweight compared to what?

Here's the name of the female TDF: Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale

And some info on it:
https://www.velo-feminin.com/

And a bit about the 2008 event:
https://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road....lgbf08/default
Apparently in 2008 it went before the male TDF.

Uhmm...my BMI was pretty low. I actually wish I was that weight now, but I'd have to eat like a bird to keep my weight that low.

Significantly reduced likelihood of being a victim (or perpetrator) of a violent crime. Also a significantly lower incarceration rate.

Not good enough. Drove me nuts when I was a runner that I was default at a disadvantage.

I read somewhere once we freeze to death slower than you guys, due to our body fat, at least. Oh and we survive famines better?

I'd rather kick @$$ on my bike, though.

What about fat guys? -_-

Them I can probably whup.

Dave Zabriskie is 6' and about 145-150 lbs. Maybe that's who you're thinking of?

Sure, he's skinny, but grotesquely underweight? No.

Umm, I could list a bunch, but it would all get censored.

His face was downright skeletal-looking, so is Lance's. Just sayin'.

Actually, power to weight ratio is where women cyclists have the least disadvantage with respect to men.

It's total power where the men have the big advantage. Bigger aerobic engine, bigger muscles.

For women a body fat percentage below 10% means she probably won't be able to have children, while for a man it means he can climb the French Alps faster.

women can take more pain?

Would you rather they looked like this guy?

That guy isn't fat you know. He's just really really short.

There are some very talented female surfers. Prone and standup. Very fast downwind racers as well, both standup and traditional.

Ladies generally learn standup faster than men. More patient, better balance.