Tour de France Femmes a hit for Aussies riders - "Women’s cycling is only on the way up"

The Tour de France Femmes concluded on Sunday with Annemiek Van Vleuten’s victory. While not everyone can win, the first edition of the tour was undoubtedly a success.

Australian riders dominated the tour. Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM Racing) is pleased with how it turned out. "It just shows people want more of women’s cycling, It’s very special to be part of this historic moment. Women’s cycling is only on the way up," said Cromwell. She also thanked for the support she received throughout the tour “Shout-out to everybody who tuned in; thanks to everybody back home in Australia and around the world.”

Alexandra Manly (BikeExchange-Jayco) supports Cromwell's argument citing women just need a platform to showcase their talent, which the tour provided. "The crowd was absolutely amazing, and I was thinking about that while I was riding – it’s super special. I think it showed we can do this; we just needed a platform, and it’s really incredible that we now have it. So many people came out and supported us, and it’s so nice to have that support and momentum to keep this sport moving forward," Manly told SBS.

Grace Brown (FDJ Suez Futuroscope) was one of the leading riders in the tour, contending for the GC position, which eventually did not turn out to be good, but she did enjoy the tour."We’ve completed it. It’s pretty cool, it was way more than I expected. Not just the riding each day, but all the attention, all the fans, all the media – it’s on another level than what the women’s peloton is used to. There’s fatigue on so many levels, but, we’ve done our first one, we’ll know what to expect next year, and we’ll keep getting better and better, I think," said Brown.

While some were smiling at the end of the tour Rachel Neylan (Cofidis) got a bit emotional seeing how far women’s cycling has come. "It’s pretty emotional," Neylan said. She was overwhelmed by the support of people who tuned to watch the event. "I don’t think I’ve ever experienced an event like this, performing in front of millions of people worldwide. I don’t like to call it women’s cycling because, at the end of the day, it’s actually just cycling. I’m just so, so proud to be part of this and to have performed the way that I did," said Neylan.