If we compare to the men’s World Tour, the difference with women is obvious: 25% of the wild cards for 2022 WWT races were granted to MPCC member teams, whearas the ratio was 96% for the men’s WorldTour events. Yet, our movement sees some very encouraging signs.
On the men’s side, the MPCC has been working for a number of years to ensure that wild cards to teams outsider the first division are given exclusively to teams that are members of our movement.
A large number of race organisers have long been in favour of teams that adhere to our philosophy. ASO’s Director of Cycling has reaffirmed on several occasions that his choice would always be for teams imposing stricter ethical rules, in order to favour the credibility of our sport. This policy has led to almost all the second division teams joining the MPCC.
For women races, the process is only just beginning to stabilise on the basis of a project set up by the UCI when a Women World Tour was created in 2016, similar to the one that has existed for men since 2005. The women’s calendar has been structured with the introduction of new races, culminating in the creation of the Tour de France Femmes this year. The first division has been greatly expanded, from 8 teams in 2020 to 15 for 2023. As these WorldTeams are automatically selected in the events that make up the Women World Tour, the number of invitations for the teams that complete the field in these events is gradually decreasing.
At the the same time, the MPCC has recorded its first memberships: to date, 14 women’s teams have joined the movement (including 6 WorldTeams). But our of about 50 continental teams (all of which are potentially eligible to apply for an invitation to WWT events), only 8 are currently members of our movement.
The MPCC therefore encourages both the WorldTeams and all Continental Teams to adhere to the values defended by our movement. We are pleased that Christian Prudhomme is committed to applying the same conditions to women’s events as to men’s wild cards. The MPCC hopes that in the wake of ASO, the other race organisers of WWT events will adopt the same line of conduct.
