User:Kalachova/Draft:Donnons des elles au vélo J-1

Donnons des elles au vélo J-1 is an associative project of the Club Omnisport de Courcouronnes section Cyclisme Féminin (COCCF), aiming for the revival of women’s Tour de France as well as promotion and development of women cycling in France

History
Born in July 2015 under the name of Donnons des Elle au Tour ("Let’s give girls to the Tour", fr.), the projects consists of riding all the stages of Tour de France one day before the men’s race gathering a maximun of women to the peloton.

Since 1984, the Tour de France Women was performed annually at the same day as the men’s race. At 1992 it was replaced by the "Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale” a race with few stages, before being totally discarded in 2009 because of organization issues and lack of interest from media. Nowadays women cycling intensely develops in many countries with the creation of big multistage races (such as the Giro Rosa in Italy), however the situation in France still needs to be improved, as long as French Federation of Cycling (FFC) counts about only 10 % of women among amateur license holders.

The inspiration of project arises from the movie “La belle échappée” « La belle échappée » by Eric Fottorino, in which young people originating from different social and economic slices realize the stages of the Tour de France one day ahead within the frame of their Tour de Fete. First edition took place in July 2015: Claire Floret, accompanied with two other women, decided to fight for the return of one of the most beautiful women races in the world and benefit from the mediatization of the men’s race to convey their message.

The French Cycling Federation (Fédération Française de Cyclisme) is the principal partner of the project since 2015, followed by the Française des Jeux since 2016.

Composition
The initial team (Claire Floret, Marie Istil and Marion Betizeau) had a strong support from the cycling community, as the representatives of the hope for a recognition of all women in sport and an example of motivation and determination.

In 2016, team comprised already seven members (Claire Floret, Marie Istil, Tétiana Kalachova, Alexia Buzzi, Amandine Martin, Julie Coteels, Gaelle Caccia) under the patronate of Valérie Fignon. In 2017 the group increased to eleven (Claire Floret, Alexia Buzzi, Julie Cottels, Tétiana Kalachova, Marine Thiebaut, Laure Dewitte, Barbara Fonseca, Solène Le Douairon, Pilar Vidal, Anna Barrero, Celine Harand, supported by Pauline Ferrand-Prévot as a parton of the action.

Evolution of the name
Baptisé « Donnons des ELLE au Tour » à sa création, pour des raisons de propriété intellectuelle, il leur est demandé en 2016 de changer le nom du projet et de ne pas utiliser le mot « Tour », celui-ci étant déposé. Le projet devient ainsi « Donnons des ELLE au Vélo J-1 » pour sa deuxième édition. C’est en 2017 que le nom évolue encore avec la perte du singulier au mot ELLE : l’action s’appellera désormais « Donnons des elles au vélo J-1 ».

Medias
First edition took place in a quasi-total anonymity, all the communication was held only through the social networks. In 2016, official media recognized the project, and a first report was shown on France Télévisions in a prime-time in the Bike club by Gérard Holtz at France Télévisions.

In 2017 the project was broadcasted daily on France Télévisions during the direct translation of Tour de France, and the documentary « Les Elles du vélo » was translated on France 3 at the August 5th 2017. They were followed by more then 655 000 televiewers, part of those coming to cheer them up along the road. The support comes cycling community, not only feminin but masculin, from amateurs to professionals.

Till now, the project was recognized and supported by the professional riders from men’s peloton of Tour de France, Olympic champions and professional cyclists (Julie Bresset, Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Anais Bescond, Pierre Luc Périchon, the teams Wiggle High 5, FDJ and FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope…). In 2018 the fourth edition will be held. Twelve amateur girls will give all their effort to ride all Tour de France 2018, uniting the cyclists from different disciplines and levels, with the hope to be replaced one day by the peloton of professional women riders.