Mark Cavendish is excited for Tour de France Femmes -"I wish people could see how exciting women’s racing is and its unpredictability"

The first edition of Tour de France Femmes is set to begin on July 24, and Mark Cavendish thinks it will be a big hit. The former Tour de France champion was interviewed by Telegraph and shared his views about women's cycling.

British rider Alice Barnes joined Cavendish, where both riders predicted the future impact the tour can have. While men’s cycling is more than a hundred years old, women’s cycling is relatively new.“I really feel sorry that Alice and her generation are never going to see the biggest benefits of what they’re doing for women’s cycling, it’s going to be the next generation. They’re breaking down the barriers, so the next generation don’t have to. It’s just knowing that women shouldn’t have to fight harder just because they’re women,” Cavendish told Telegraph.

When the topic shifted to salary disparity between men and women in cycling, Barnes disclosed the winner of the tour would only get one-tenth of what the winner of the men’s tour will be getting. Upon hearing this, Cavendish said, “It’s not nice to hear. Logically, when I started, the male peloton didn’t earn a lot of money relative to what it is now. But we developed over 100 years. Women throughout cycling history have been pushing, but it’s only this generation collectively who have collectively been able to move it on.”

He hopes people can see the beauty of women’s racing, pointing out how predictable men’s racing has become, but it's exciting and unpredictable in women’s case.“I wish people could see how exciting women’s racing is and its unpredictability of it. Men’s racing has become a lot about attrition - there’s no real racing in it - if you understand bike racing, it’s very predictable. I’m a sprinter, I play chess on wheels, that’s what I do, and I see from women and junior racers the two best forms of racing in cycling for race because you can see it playing out, and it’s not always what you expect," concluded Cavendish.