"Just imagine if this had been a women's race" - Dutch pundit on criticism of women's cycling and double standards

The women's and men's races in the Kigali World Championships have had completely different dynamics and the men's race proved to be one without real tactics deciding the winner. Marijn de Vries has shared an observation regarding the two races, in which she indirectly criticized those who verbally abuse women's cycling for what she saw happening in the men's race.

In the Vlammen podcast, the former Dutch rider used satire to bring forward the point that is often made about women's cycling regarding its tactics and 'boring racing' that is often argued on social media.

"Just imagine if this had been a women's race. Then it would have been analyzed as follows: 'Why do these men let all this happen? You know Pogacar announces: I'm going to attack on Mont Kigali. And they just let themselves be led like sheep to the slaughter. He attacks, does exactly what he always does, and then rides ahead for a very long time. Super boring race.'"

This Sunday's race ultimately proved to be the exact opposite of Saturday's main event, with Tadej Pogacar taking the win after launching an attack over 100 kilometers from the finish and then seeing the two riders that managed to keep up with him crack. As had happened in Zurich, the Slovenian was simply head and shoulders above the entire competition even in what is a once-in-a-year event.

After his victories in the Tour de France, Il Lombardia, other monuments and stage-races throughout the season, many argue that men's cycling is currently far from its most exciting levels, with the biggest races in the world being disputed and won by a very small number of top riders.

Currently, out of the last 21 monuments Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel have won 18 of them. In the Grand Tour field, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard have now finished first and second on every single Tour de France since 2021.

"What does it actually say about men's cycling that one rider stands out so much? You can't call that professional? Men's cycling is actually still in its infancy," de Vries continued her satire, hinting quite obviously that this argument is often used against women's cycling. "Because if one rider is so much stronger than the rest, what are the rest actually doing? They're apparently not training or eating properly."

However in the Dutch rider's opinion, she does not hide that this weekend's events saw a largely more spectacular race on the women's side, where Canada's Magdeleine Valleries pulled off a shocking surprise by taking the rainbow jersey in a very tactical race. "That being said, I thought it was a great race for the women. And I found the men's race really boring," she concluded.