“The women deserve it” – Tour de France Femmes boss Marion Rousse pushing for full live TV coverage of every stage
CyclingThursday, 06 August 2026 at 12:45
Marion Rousse is pushing for every Tour de France Femmes stage to be shown live from start to finish, with only three of the nine days in the 2026 race currently receiving full television coverage.
Viewers joining the other six stages can miss attacks, crashes and the formation of decisive breakaways before the broadcast begins. That remains a clear difference from the men’s Tour de France, where every stage has been shown in full since 2017.
The women’s race has generally received around two hours of live coverage each day since its return in 2022. Rousse now wants its television package to grow alongside an event that has expanded to nine stages and attracted audiences in the millions.
The Tour de France Femmes director has discussed the prospect of full-stage broadcasts extensively with race organiser ASO and France Televisions, where she also works as a pundit.
“The public wants to watch women’s cycling”
“It is something we are considering now that we were not considering before,” Rousse told Le Parisien. “There is serious consideration being given to broadcasting stages in full in the future, because the women deserve it and because it performs well in terms of viewing figures. The public wants to watch women’s cycling, and that is fantastic.”
The 2025 Tour de France Femmes attracted an average television audience of 2.7 million viewers. The figure peaked at 7.7 million on the final day as Pauline Ferrand-Prevot secured overall victory.
ASO also extended the race from eight to nine stages in 2025, while several voices within cycling continue to call for the event to move towards a two-week format.
Showing every stage from kilometre zero would require higher production costs and additional space in daily television schedules. Rousse has nevertheless confirmed that full coverage is now being actively considered by the two organisations responsible for delivering the race.
Pauline Ferrand-Prevot took a landmark Yellow Jersey win in 2025
Full broadcasts could capture action currently missed
“When we held the first edition, the question was whether the Tour de France Femmes would work,” Rousse said.
Stage 5 of the 2026 Tour provided a clear example of what partial coverage can miss. Repeated attacks, crashes and the lengthy battle to form the breakaway began before television pictures became available in several markets.
Those early kilometres shaped the tactics later in the stage, with teams placing riders ahead to support their general classification leaders once the race split across the final climbs.
Three stages are receiving start-to-finish coverage this year, but Rousse wants that to become the standard rather than the exception. No date has yet been set for a possible change, although talks with ASO and France Televisions are already taking place.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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