jacqueline there if we want to show that women can accomplish extraordinary things too by doing something that may look a bit crazy we're getting people to listen to us because. their plan is to cycle the entire tour de france all 3480 kilometers exactly one day ahead of the met. her how. i. feel we're in brussels where the tour de france will start this year tomorrow these 13 women set off from here now they're making last minute preparations sorting out their helmets jerseys and shoots. like this. just to recap you everybody decked out anyone need to digest plus. more but

this isn't this is all legal it's all natural ingredients these are food supplements. and that's just. clear florida is the one behind the dawn on designer project which roughly translates to let's get women i'm bikes she's been doing the tour de france every years since 2015 no matter the circumstances. i don't know if you they were the 1st time we did the 2 or there were just 3 of us and we didn't know if we budgeted enough money on the trip we stayed the family was cool till i mean else and washed out jerseys by hand every evening. and it was just on my you know if you boys do it yourself basically did you but that was a real adventure it is a culture of. things have become much more professional in recent years. and now the women have a sponsor without this financial support they'd be hardly able to pay for their bike equipment and accommodation. none of the women are professional cyclists clara

for example works as a sports teacher and organizes this competition in her spare time. because i receive organizing all this is exhausting but it's ok because it's my passion right now it leaves me little free time for anything else because i'm totally focused on this project. but in one or 2 years when they will hopefully be a women's tour de france it will have paid off. like he was a dick she thinks in book. in central brussels the morning before the race that women are preparing to set off. tomorrow just a few 100 metres from here the belgian king will send off the men competing in the tour de france. and then somewhat unceremoniously there off. unlike during the actual tour de france the

roads are not blocked off to cars so they must carefully we in our traffic then there is much less pomp and glamour than during the men's race they have to deal with red lights on coming cars and other challenges. the women will cover a distance of 3480 kilometers cycling through the. the pyrenees and the alps climbing to an altitude of 2770 meters but it's not about setting new records all these women cyclists want is to be treated with the same respect as their male peers. how much you can will soon as i started cycling as a sport like when i was 24. and at some points i realised that i'd never seen a women's peloton on t.v. even though there are plenty of women are solved in competitive cycling but they never feature on t.v. i wanted to change that. some hardcore science and friends have already

gathered along the route to get a good view of the men's tour de france quite a few are impressed by the women taking on this challenge. for the sake of the men get all the backing attention they could hopeful but the women don't receive enough. well that you know and that's why we're here to cheer them on good enough want to see paul ok. anyone up for even cycle along with them for part of the journey everyone's invited no matter their gender. this is i think i have a point why is there thought of most for men and not for women surely there's room for both. cycling along with the women has become really popular now for security reasons only 100 athletes are allowed on the road at any one time when i know my mom has so many cyclists have joined us it's amazing that means our message is

being heard and that's a fantastic feeling this official get. for days in 650 kilometers later we're in san diego proved in the voyage mountains a tough section lies ahead. but thankfully claire is in great shape and up for the challenge in fact just 2 weeks ago she competed in the french cycling championships . but it's not a steep climb but it drags on. unlike the men who get nutritious snacks passed on to them on the go the women have to pull over their wheat. that along with navigating road traffic slows them down considerably meaning that they need almost twice the time then do for a day's stage. a small team of volunteers accompanies the women on their journey helping with preparations. that are

even though this is the 2nd year now that oscar meyer has signed up to support them . he even took a break from his student job so we could be here but it's a race against the clock during these 3 weeks the more we help the women the more time they have to recuperate. carbohydrate heavy food and fruit to give them the necessary energy to get back on that bike or else have a way so far things have been going all right but we still have half of the climb a head of us the toughest bit is still to come the new coalitions there. and the portability of really stink we'll see. every day the women spend 8 to 9 hours biking that obviously takes its toll with muscle cramps and the like a common problem luckily they have got 3 physio therapist on the team travelling with them when needed they set up their massage tables in the hotel always in the

evenings they're super busy giving the women are up down. yeah richard reeves the moment yesterday was a hot day we cycled for 215 kilometers and the last in line she was really painful richard said our muscles got all tense but now i'm getting my toxins message out of my muscles so i'll be ready for tomorrow as. they're not the rush. though with their busy schedule they don't always have time for an evening rubdown often they meet local sports clubs and even mayors after a day's cycling like here and on c. for example it tends to garner them admiration though sometimes people doubt they'll pull off the whole tour if you think you'll make it to the end but we've been doing this for 5 years and so far only one participant ever gave up that's one out of 22 in the last 4 years 22 made it to the finish line. so there's no reason to believe all 13 of us won't make it this year but that's. because.

we're on that as women always need to prove themselves because people tend to think that minimal capable this is. day 2 in the bush this year clare and her fellow female cyclists are supported by an international women's team with athletes from england the us and australia. australia's pippa lyon did not mind travelling this far to participate. along the road her 11 month old son is there to cheer her on. since having him it's made it even more important to me to just show to the next generation boys and girls that women can do exactly the same as men yes we can do things as foster is strong but we can do it and we can do it really well c. each year there are

more and more people calling for there to be an official women's tour de france but so far these demands have fallen on deaf ears. even though back in the 1980 s. the organizers did one stage a women's race along with the men's but then rescheduled the event and that was the end of it christiane predominant charge of the tour de france doesn't want to tell us what he thinks about this instead he sends this statement mr prodrome already answered many times questions about the possibility of organizing during the tour de france or tour de france for women the answer is still the same organizing another race in the same camp or 3 weeks is logistically not possible. there is some truth in this the tour de france is the world's 3rd biggest sporting event 4500 helpers are needed just to prepare the route and almost 30000 police officers and firemen are on duty to maintain security and some say that staging another race just requires too much work. but the real apology o.

the president of the international cycling union thinks a women's competition could be a great success so. we will have to work on a solution and examine that exact nicol problems and circumstances i think we can address these challenges at all and i am convinced that all women cycling can appeal to a larger audience if you know you and any female athletes will finally get the recognition they to southie you. just bought a minute. the good news is that in 2014 the tour de france organizers did begin staging a one day women's race during the men's competition but for clare that's not enough . i asked myself why should we be happy with a one day race when we are capable of going for days at the several stages a days and weeks one day race is not comparable to one that goes over several stages because over time cycling taints develop and it's something different for

viewers to and from a sports perspective as well so i think women are entitled to a proper right. yeah the. office and then also the us now for no much hard work still lies ahead of the cyclists even though they've mastered the 1st steep stages. there's still a long way until they reach their final destination. a lot of take a long time until there's a proper women's tour de france but given up because of the question. as i came forward this is the 5th time i'm doing this and i hope i don't have to keep going for another 15 months because it certainly is hard work and it gets harder by the year for the info i mean besides i want to start a family at some point the good news is should i stop others will take my place course in the charlotte all the costs.

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