Marijn de Vries accuses analysts of "double standards" after World Championships: "Men's cycling is still in the early stages"

De Vries has been vocal about inequalities and sexism in the cycling world for years. In a column, she spoke out about inappropriate behavior by analyst Danny Nelissen during De Avondetappe. It caused quite a stir in the Dutch cycling world, after which the NOS fired Nelissen. But De Vries still sees that women are not treated as equals to men.

During the World Championships in cycling in Rwanda, she was bothered by the analyses after the road races. While Tadej Pogacar was praised after his monster solo, the former cyclist said the women were mainly criticized after their race. The Canadian Magdaleine Vallieres was the surprising world champion after a grueling race. But De Vries was particularly bothered by the men's race.

“Just imagine if this had been a women's race,” she says in the podcast Vlammen. “Then it would have been analyzed as follows: Why are those men letting that happen? You know that Pogacar announces: I'm going to attack on Mont Kigali. And they all do nothing. They just let it happen. He attacks, does exactly what he always does, and then rides ahead for a very long time. Super boring race.”

“What does it say about men's cycling that one rider stands out so much? You can't call that professional, can you? Men's cycling is still in its early stages,” she continues jokingly. “Because if one rider is so much stronger than the rest, what are the rest actually doing? Apparently, they're not training or eating properly.”

Female cyclists are more often criticized for their tactical choices than their male colleagues, De Vries believes. In contrast, she found the men's race completely uninteresting. “That's the double standard in how it's analyzed. That said, I thought it was a great race among the women. And I found the men's race really boring.”