WHERE ARE WE NOW? FOUR YEARS INTO THE TOUR DE FRANCE FEMMES AVEC ZWIFT

Visibility changes everything.

For years, women’s cycling lacked the investment, media coverage, and exposure it deserved. In 2022 this changed with the introduction of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. With the much increased visibility brought to the sport by this race, it has done more than make history. It has transformed the future of the sport.

“As founding partners of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, we are proud to have the opportunity to share evidence of how the sport has grown since the first edition of the race in 2022,” says Kate Veronneau, Director of Women’s Cycling at Zwift. “Women’s sport around the world is being lifted by a tailwind of interest and investment and yet, until 2022 women’s professional cycling missed the crown jewel of the cycling calendar, the Tour de France. To have such an iconic race as part of the Women’s WorldTour was pivotal to ensure that women’s cycling also benefited, to have other brands, partners and sponsors invested in growing the sport, on the biggest stage under the banner of the most famous race in the world.”

Since the introduction of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2022, Zwift has seen an increase in the number of women joining the platform. Today, 23% of new subscribers are women - a notable increase since the first edition of the race in 2022 where women accounted for 18% of new subscribers.

With the fourth Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift fast approaching, Zwift has commissioned a survey of 5,030 people in four key markets (USA, UK, France and Germany) to delve deeper into the impact the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is having on the state of women’s cycling¹. Here Zwift explores how the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is helping to drive growth but also touches on areas that require improvement.

We begin looking at the very top of the sport with the Women’s WorldTour peloton to see how things have changed. 

When speaking with Zwift for its 2023 report, Measuring The Impact of The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, Ruby Roseman-Gannon, now professional cyclist for Liv AlUla Jayco, said “The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift means my five-year-old self who watched men but not women race the biggest races in the world can realise her dreams. I never thought cycling would be my profession, so I studied for five years at uni to support my cycling career but now it’s a reality.” 

Now, in 2025 85% of people see professional cycling as a viable profession that women can aspire to². The UCI’s introduction of the WorldTour tier to the women’s peloton in 2020, and with it a minimum salary requirements for all riders has certainly helped. In 2020, the minimum salary stood at €15,000 but has since increased to €31,768 in 2025, for new riders who are team employees. 2025 also saw the introduction of a ProTeam category with a minimum rider salary of €20,000 which is set to increase to €24,000 by 2027. According to The Cyclists’ Alliance, by 2024 the average salary had risen to €40K with 15% of those surveyed earning €100K, or more³. However, despite these improvements there is still a significant wage gap to lower teams,⁴ where there is no obligation to pay any minimum wage.

Puck Pieterse, rider for Fenix-Deceuninck notes the impact that increased budgets are having on the professionalisation of the peloton - “Although I haven’t been riding in the professional peloton for long, it’s clear that the landscape has changed significantly in just the past few years. 

One of the biggest differences I’ve noticed is how much more organized the peloton has become. Sprint finishes now feature highly structured lead-outs and dedicated sprint trains. Teams are working tactically, positioning their sprinters with incredible precision. 

Another notable shift is the depth of talent across the board. Five or six years ago, there were a few dominant riders winning most of the races. Now, the top level is broader and more competitive. You see a range of specialists: pure climbers, explosive punchers, dedicated sprinters and more riders capable of contending for victory on challenging finishes. The rising competitiveness has transformed the racing experience. There are just more riders who can win now. The level is so high, and the field is deeper than ever. It makes the races more exciting and less predictable.”

Anastasiya Kolesava, a rider for CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto agrees about the positive changes in the peloton, “the level of women’s cycling has really grown a lot in the last years. To be honest, it’s insane how everything has changed. So many riders are now super strong on the climbs and the speeds we race at are so much higher - even if there is generally a lot more climbing in races / stages now. Technically, the peloton has improved at descending also, but I will add that many splits now happen a lot of times on the descents as it is so fast. On the whole, it’s super nice that women’s cycling has improved a lot, not just in rider development but also in the way that the sport is perceived. We now have almost all of the same major races like the men, and I think that makes the whole peloton very happy.”

Illustrative of the depth and breadth of talent within the peloton is that the 2024 edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift came down to just 4 seconds, the narrowest margin of victory in either men’s or women’s editions. And saw 6 stage winners across the 8 stages, representing 5 separate teams. Instrumental in bringing about the increases in budgets and rider salaries we see today has been a notable increase in media and broadcast coverage of women’s professional cycling.

Supporting these increases in wages has seen Women’s WorldTour team budget rise to an average of €4.67 million - a significant increase from the 2022 average of €2.35 million per team⁵. 

Cycling is still a sport that relies almost exclusively on sponsorships, so it is vital that the sport gets the exposure needed to bring in the investment required.

The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift attracts the biggest audience in women’s professional cycling. The race is broadcast in 190 countries worldwide. In 2024, 80 million viewed hours were consumed in seven European countries, with nearly 20 million viewers in France alone⁶. 

“Perhaps the most transformative change has been in media coverage.” Says Pieterse. “When I first started watching women’s races, it was usually just a short highlight after the men’s race, or maybe the final 10 kilometers. It didn’t feel very accessible.

That lack of visibility made it difficult for aspiring riders to imagine a place for themselves in the sport. If you don’t see it, it’s hard to believe it’s possible. But now, with significantly more media attention, you start to see women’s cycling as a real and viable career path.”

Visibility is at the heart of Zwift’s Watch The Femmes campaign because you can only be what you can see. Increased visibility from the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is helping drive more interest in women’s professional cycling, helping to grow the audience for all races. Of those that engaged with⁷ the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2024, 80% say they are now more likely to watch women’s cycling in the future⁸. Perhaps more encouraging is that 17% said they went on to buy a bike⁹.

There is, however, still room for improvement. While countries like France enjoy free-to-air coverage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, fans in other countries may find viewing the racing more challenging. Unsurprisingly, ease of access to live racing coverage has a direct impact on fandom. In the USA, only 6% of people say they follow women’s cycling, compared to 12% in France¹⁰. When delving into some of the reasons why, in response to the question ‘Why do you not watch women’s bike racing?’, 36% in the US said ‘It is not broadcast where I live’, far ahead of the UK (18%). Those in the US are more likely to face broadcasting challenges - either not having coverage access, or not knowing where to watch¹¹. Clearly a better job can be done to promote awareness of the live race coverage. Peacock is the official broadcast partner of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. A full list of global broadcasters can be found on the official website, https://www.letourfemmes.fr/en.

From the research, it’s apparent that those in the US rely on other media outlets, in place of traditional broadcast, to follow the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift with 45% using Instagram and 43% using Facebook - significantly up on the total average of 27% and 29% respectively¹².  In place of traditional broadcast, YouTube is, perhaps unsurprisingly, of great importance, with 49% in the US following the race on YouTube, again up on the total average of 35%¹³. Consequently, there is a greater dependency on social media versus men’s racing where traditional TV is more important. 

This doesn’t seem to have improved since Zwift’s previous report¹⁴, Measuring the Impact Of The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, where the importance of social media was also highlighted with 36% of cycling fans saying they regularly watch sports on social media, twice that of the general population (18%). 

Social media is not only important for live coverage, it also continues to play a vital role in supporting the growth of women’s cycling. Fan growth within social media as well as active engagement growth, points to a growing fanbase. The inaugural Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift caused the biggest spike in social media following for both individual riders and teams, far outperforming any other event in 2022. Across the eight days of the race, the Instagram and Facebook profiles of the top 35 female riders grew by 8.6%¹⁵. Today, social media remains just as important. The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift’s social media channels continued to grow with 2.6M fans on social media, an increase of 700,000 from 2023. A 61% increase in video views to 120million in 2024 and a 257% increase of impressions from 2023 on impressions up to 357million¹⁶. The official social media channels had 74.4 million video views across all platforms, a 238% increase since 2022. 

For those that tune in for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, the action does not disappoint with the most popular way to describe the race as exciting, challenging and inspiring¹⁷. The sentiment around the race and women’s cycling illustrates that when women’s cycling is available to watch and follow, the audience is there to not only engage but be enthralled, motivated and inspired.  

While the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift commands the highest audience, other races are benefiting from heightened interest in women’s cycling. Cyclingnews saw a year-on-year improvement in pageviews from the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, improving 5% on the 2023 edition¹⁸. Cyclingnews has continued to see solid growth in traffic to women’s cycling stories with their Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift race reports and live blog generating 20% more traffic than in 2024. This is in line with a consistent increase in audience for Cyclingnews during the Spring Classics - particularly Tour of Flanders Women and Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift.

Kristen Frattini, Deputy Editor at Cyclingnews comments, “The last five years have represented significant change in the growth and professionalism of women’s cycling on the whole with the introduction of maternity leave, mandatory live television for Women’s WorldTour events which boasted greater access and visibility to not only the sport but also brands, teams and high-profile athletes who have captivated audience with their unique stories - we actually get to see the races!”

This increased exposure is leading to renewed sponsorship interest with mainstream brands, like Nike, now entering the sport. In April 2024, Nike signed a personal sponsorship deal with Demi Vollering and then in January 2025, FDJ-Suez and Nike announced a partnership that saw Nike become the team’s official lifestyle apparel supplier. 

The top levels of the sport are growing with increased media exposure, social media growth and increasing rider salaries. But is the growth of that top level helping to develop other areas of the cycling ecosystem? And importantly, is it contributing to growth in women’s cycling participation? This is afterall, Zwift’s mission 

While cycling continues to be a male-dominated sport, we are seeing the early shoots of growth. Crucially, younger individuals are interested in cycling - a younger generation is helping support UK cycling participation, with the number of cyclists under 35 on Strava rising by over 80% since 2019 and cycling activity logged by women has risen by nearly 20%¹⁹. The increased visibility of women’s races continues to inspire people to be more active. After watching the Tour de France Femmes, 69% of women were inspired to ride more²⁰. 

On future commitment, Pieterse believes "With landmark events like the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and an expanding calendar of women’s races including major spring classics, the sport continues to gain momentum and attract a growing audience.

We’re well on our way. The growth in coverage and investment is incredible. It really feels like we are entering a golden era for women’s cycling, but we have to keep pushing."

We are on the right track. Progress is taking hold, but the real work lies ahead.

Watch the Femmes was conceptualised to reimagine and reposition women’s cycling as a new kind of premier sporting event, one that’s fresher, more fun and open to everyone. The data is there to illustrate that women’s cycling is growing, but we need to nurture and support that growth. Watch the Femmes is no longer about simply tuning in, it’s about showing up. It’s a global movement that invites us all to do our part to elevate women’s cycling. We need the strength of a collective force to ensure this momentum only picks up speed and creates opportunities at all levels of the sport. Watch the Femmes can be that force. It can inspire young riders to dream bigger, motivate local clubs to grow and encourage events and communities to invest in stronger pathways for participation.

Join us as we build on this progress, tackle the challenges ahead, and work together to create a bright future for women’s cycling. Zwift’s commitment to Watch the Femmes is as follows:

Grow our sport

We are committed to narrowing the gender gap for our sport and for the Zwift community. Great progress has been made but sustained year on year progress is required.

Future Femmes

We’re committed to deepening our investment in development programs, initiatives and events that are creating opportunities and shaping the next generation.

Community Building

We will continue to support and amplify the efforts of grassroots women's cycling communities, using our platform and events to create more space and connection for women.

Design with Insight

Respecting the unique experiences of women in cycling, strive to better understand the barriers women face and the motivations that drive them, so we can foster deeper engagement and lasting participation in and out of  Zwift.

Collaboration

Work together with mission-aligned brands, ambassadors, and media to amplify awareness and accelerate change.

The future of women’s cycling doesn’t just happen. We build it. Together.

Footnotes:

1. Respondents were recruited via SHIFT's third party research panel, Dynata, ensuring we had samples of 1,000 Nationally Representative respondents from each market, and 250 Cycling Fans from each market.

2. 85% of those surveyed in our four key markets see professional cycling as something women can aspire to do, rising to 91% in France

3. The Cyclists’ Alliance 2024 Annual Rider Survey, in 2024 15% of respondents earned more than €100K and 44% of riders surveyed earned more than €40K. 

4. The Cyclists’ Alliance 2024 Annual Rider Survey in 2024, 27% saying they receive little to no-income.

5. Women's WorldTour has seen sharp growth from €33 million in 2022 to €70 million in 2025, as reported by Gazzetta dello Sport which is an average of €2.35million in 2022 (with 14 teams competing) and €4.67 million in 2025 (with 15 teams competing).

6. https://storage-aso.lequipe.fr/ASO/cycling_trf/key-figures-of-the-tour-de-france-femmes-avec-zwift-2024.pdf

7. 11% of total audience surveyed - defined by those who watched the race live, watched highlights, or followed the race on social media

8. In response to the question ‘Watching this race has made more more likely to watch professional women’s bike racing in the future’ 80% of those that engaged with the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift either responded ‘Strongly Agree’ (37%) or ‘Somewhat Agree’ (43%).

9. In response to the question, ‘Did you take any of the following actions as a result of watching the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift?’ 17% of those that engaged with the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift indicated they had bought a bike.

10. In a nationally representative survey of 1000 adults per market, 6% respondents in the USA said they watched women’s cycling at least occasionally, compared to 12% of respondents in France.

11. In the US, 36% of respondents said it is not broadcast where I live whereas 26% responded ‘I wouldn’t know where to watch it’.

12. In response to the question, ‘Where have you seen content around the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift?’ 43% of respondents in the USA checked facebook with 45% marked Instagram. Meanwhile the average across the markets surveyed was 29% for Facebook and 27% for Instagram.

13. In response to the question, ‘Where have you seen content around the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift?’ 49% of respondents in the USA checked Youtube while the average across the markets surveyed was 35%.

14. https://news.zwift.com/en-WW/227923-zwift-report-illustrates-the-huge-impact-of-the-tour-de-france-femmes-avec-zwift

15. https://news.zwift.com/en-WW/227923-zwift-report-illustrates-the-huge-impact-of-the-tour-de-france-femmes-avec-zwift

16. Supplied by ASO, 'Presentation of TdFFaZ key figures'

17. In response to the question ‘Which, if any, of the following words would you associate with the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift?’ 55% of those that engaged with the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift selected Exciting, with 46% choosing challenging and 45% inspiring.

18. Supplied by CyclingNews

19. https://endurance.biz/2025/industry-news/strava-reveals-uk-cycling-boom-among-gen-z-and-millennials/

20. Of those who engaged with the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, 61% were inspired to want to ride more, rising to 69% of women.