This year, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift took place for the third time. Zwift will continue to be a partner of the Tour of France in 2025 and 2026, which will not leave France in 2025. Whether Zwift will continue to be a partner beyond that is still uncertain. What is certain, however, is that Kate Veronneau puts her heart and soul into women's cycling.
TOUR: Kate, you are the Director for Women's Strategy at Zwift. What has Zwift done for women's cycling in recent years?
Kate Veronneau: When I started at Zwift, we launched the Zwift Academy. The programme was initially exclusively for women. In the first year, 2016, we had a partnership with Canyon//SRAM Racing, one of the leading teams in the Women's WorldTour. This allowed us to create something unique with the Zwift Academy. Participants were able to win a professional contract.
The success of the Zwift Academy has helped us to build a global community of women. I would say it has inspired and reinforced our mission. With our platform, our influence in the industry, our energy and our community, we can play a part in making women's cycling bigger.
TOUR: There are still problems in the professional sector, keyword salary. Tell me ...
Kate Veronneau: Yes, that's true. We are happy about the direction in which women's cycling is developing. And also about the speed. Nevertheless, a lot still needs to be done to increase salaries, to increase prize money, to get more race coverage, ... But things are moving in the right direction. But we must not rest on our laurels. We all need to continue to support things like the Cyclists' Alliance. We need to continue to invest in development teams and much more to stamp out the huge advantage that men's cycling has.
Cyclists' Alliance
The Cyclists' Alliance is an international organisation that represents and supports professional female cyclists. In its main tasks, the organisation represents the rights of female cyclists in the UCI Women's World Tour, negotiates for better working conditions and salaries and promotes fairness and equality in cycling.
"We have created our own world"
TOUR: What role do e-sports cycling and Zwift play for women's cycling?
Kate Veronneau: The cool thing about virtual cycling is that we have literally created our own world. We can make our own rules. On Zwift, we have always offered equality. Same race broadcast, same race distance, equal opportunities in all areas.
We love how many of the teams are on the platform, they also use Zwift to connect with fans, sponsors and the community.
We do everything we can to be big fans of women's cycling ourselves. We work together with teams and races. In this way, we also help to draw more attention to the women's races and this also generates more attention for the individual names and the teams.
TOUR: Is it a blow for Zwift that MyWhoosh has secured the Cycling E-Sports World Championships for 2024 to 2026 as a host platform?
Kate Veronneau: This is unfortunate, but we don't think it will have a huge impact on Zwift. We have our community and we have everything we need to create equal opportunities for everyone in indoor racing.
A passion project
TOUR: On a personal level, why is it important to you to work for women's cycling?
Kate Veronneau: For me, this is a passion project. I come from a racing background and have been working in this industry for a long time. To see the impact that the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift has not only on the riders, but also on all women in the industry, makes me proud. It makes me proud to see so many women here. The press: Women. Photographers: women. The industry: women. There are also many women among the team directors and other team members. This race has raised the profile of all women involved in cycling.
That's exciting! It feels like more women are excited about working in the bike industry now. That was different in the past.
I think the industry is slowly realising that we need more representation. Women's voices are actively invited and become part of the conversation, part of the team, part of the brand. That's so important. We are, after all, about half the population - and we are probably also an exciting growth opportunity for companies.
TOUR: Do you have any tips on what everyone can do to support women's cycling?
Kate Veronneau: Well, I think that brands definitely need to make sure that they have a strong female representation in their leadership and in their teams. If a brand, a manufacturer invests in a team, sponsors a team, they should pay attention to the gender balance of the athletes in the teams they support.
We can all look for ways to promote women's cycling. Whether it's just telling people to watch the women's races. It can also show how the whole thing works, what the biggest races are, and so on. I think the more women produce content like this, the more women will find themselves in this content.
An example: I love GCN, but I don't think hardly any of my female friends watch it. They make great content, but we need more female perspectives. I love how the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift invites many new faces and voices, content creators, influencers, ... into the scene.
TOUR: Kate, where do you see women's cycling in three years' time?
Kate Veronneau: I can't wait to see the level of professionalism when the UCI minimum salaries are adjusted and more and more women can become professional cyclists. They can train all year round, they have more resources, more means to specialise in their training and much more. Teams can get bigger so that a team can send riders to different races.
The future of the Tour de France Femmes
TOUR: The addition of avec Zwift to the Tour de France Femmes was in place for the first four years of the Tour de France Femmes, i.e. until 2025. What's next?
Kate Veronneau: We will definitely be involved until 2026, but what happens after that is still up for negotiation.
TOUR: What does the Tour de France Femmes look like in the future?
Kate Veronneau: This year we have added a Grand Depart and the finish in Alp d'Huez. There will be something new again next year, when there will already be nine stages, the Grand Depart in Brittany.
My dream for the future is for the race to grow sustainably. I can already imagine that the race will go on for several weeks, with rest days and everything around it. It should continue in such a way that a little more is added every year and, above all, it's about increasing the audience and the investment. The race should also fit in well with the teams' racing calendars and seasons.
Sandra Schuberth
Editor
