Tour de France Femmes director Marion Rousse has said that she has had discussions with broadcaster France Télévisions about increasing the number of stages given start-to-finish live coverage.
Rousse told Cycling Weekly, Le Parisien and other media in an interview on Wednesday that she felt that both the racers and the viewing figures justified the extra TV coverage.
For the 2026 edition, just three of the nine stages will have end-to-end live coverage, a situation which contrasts sharply with the men's Tour de France, which began full coverage of all stages in 2017. That allows viewers to see, amongst other things, how day-long breaks are formed after complex, tactical battles, which often turn out to be some of the most interesting parts of any stage.
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"What’s certain is that I’ve discussed this at length with France Télévisions], and we’re giving serious consideration to broadcasting all the stages in full in the future because the women deserve it, and because it works well in terms of audience figures," Rousse said.
"We’re currently giving it real consideration, which is a step forward. Things are moving in the right direction."
In its report, Cycling Weekly pointed out that fans, riders, and team staff had been particularly disappointed when they were unable to see the start of stage 3's winning long-distance solo move by Sigrid Haugset (Uno-X Mobility), which began five kilometres before the coverage began.
"The best way to get more public is to show it properly," Paula Blasi (UAE Team L’IMAD) told Cycling Weekly. "It’s quite sad that we cannot really watch it."
Rousse pointed out that factors such as the relative newness of the Tour de France Femmes, which only restarted in its current full-length format in 2022. She also said she had received a large number of messages from fans asking for coverage to be extended. She added that the question of the economic costs of more hours of TV time was always going to be a factor to take into account by the broadcaster.
Contacted by French publication Le Parisien about future live coverage of the Tour de France Femmes, France Télévisions did not immediately reply. Le Parisien also claimed that on three days, France Télévisions had offered viewers reports about the British Royal Family during the early, unbroadcast part of the stage.
Globally speaking, Rousse herself underlined the positive side of the increasing interest in showing more of the race and that the debate, if ongoing, was moving in the right direction.
"There’s a real discussion to be had," she said. "The starts, middles and ends of stages are spectacular to watch. Let’s hope we can pull it off."
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