What is the first women's cycling competition?

For several years now, women's cycling competitions have been growing internationally. But do you know when the very first women's world cycling event was born? Which lady was crowned the historic world champion? Who won the first Olympic gold medal? Ekoï offers you a dive into the heart of history...

The 1958 Women's Cycling World Championship

The late 1960s marked a real turning point in women's cycling. It was in 1958 that the best female riders would be able to compete on the road for the first time at the highest international level. Thanks to the mobilization of national federations, the International Cycling Union (UCI) finally agreed to organize Women's Worlds.

Thus, the very first edition of the Women's Cycling World Championship is taking place in France, in Reims. A great appointment that the young Luxembourg cyclist Elsy Jacobs, at the height of her 25 years, did not want to miss under any circumstances. At the end of the race on the Gueux racetrack, the Grand Duchess of the little queen became the first world champion in history! An incredible performance that then propelled her career.

2021 celebrates the 61st edition since that unforgettable victory. In 1994, a time trial event was added to the Worlds.

The debut of a women's Tour de France in 1955

Many women's cycling competitions took place long before the world championships, at the regional or national level.

Notably in France with the creation of a unique edition of the first Tour de France dedicated to women, under the impetus of journalist Jean Leulliot. In 1955, the stage race that revealed Lily Herse gathered 41 participants. The cyclist from Manno Millie Robinson won the event consisting of 5 stages from Rambouillet to Mantes.

This aborted attempt would rise from the ashes almost thirty years later with the Tour de France Feminine, later transformed into the Tour de la CEE, then the Grande boucle féminine internationale (ex-Tour cycliste féminin) and finally the Tour de France Femmes with Zwift scheduled for 2022.

The 1st Women's Road Cycling Competition at the Olympics

Twenty-six years after Elsy Jacobs won the world title, the 1984 Summer Olympics hosted the first women's road cycling competition. And this is nearly a century after the introduction of the men's cycling sport.

In contrast to the men, who also compete in teams, the women's Olympic program contains a single individual road race event. This was supplemented by an individual time trial in 1996.

Women's cycling has been a major focus of the Olympic program since the 1970s

Women's cycling is a vast and fascinating subject! Ekoï offers you to learn more: do you know why the Route de France no longer exists? Do you know the iconic female cycling figures of yesterday and today?