Orla Chennaoui reveals she's twice been groped by cycling team directors: "I spoke up about it at the time and one person apologised and one didn’t"

The face of Eurosport and GCN+'s coverage of cycling's biggest races such as the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana, Orla Chennaoui is a well-respected figure by many cycling fans. Her route to the role she has now however, hasn't come without difficulties.

"I get abuse for the way I dress, which is standard fare for a woman," Chennaoui tells the Daily Mail after being announced as the new face of TNT Sports coverage of Premiership Rugby. "But hopefully that means that what I am saying and how I am presenting comes across quite well. People don’t tend to say, 'You are talking rubbish', so that’s good, because that’s the bit that I am there for!"

The saddest part is, that sexist reaction to Chennaoui didn't stop with just online abuse. "I’ve had incidents of sexual assault," she reveals, recalling how she was groped at least twice by cycling team directors at social events around bike races. "I spoke up about it at the time and one person apologised and one didn’t."

"I hesitate to make it too much of a headline, but at the same time I can’t shy away from it because I think a lot of women will have had similar incidents," she continues. "The only reason I’ve spoken about this in the past is to show that it’s not OK to grope a woman. Whatever the situation, it’s just not OK and not something that should be easily passed by. It’s not just physical, it’s that objectification, which is much less measurable but very obvious. That is difficult because what do you do about that? Do you cover up? Do you hide?"

"That is not how I wish to live my life. You have to decide, “How do I make this better for the people coming after me?”. I tried to make it better by staying in the game and showing people I am here to be taking seriously. Women in sport these days are not just there to be looked at," Chennaoui concludes.