Puck Pieterse on glorious women’s cycling boom: 'The young girls now know it's a job too'

For some women riders, it really isn’t that long ago that they were racing the biggest events for five euros and an apple. In a short space of time, though, the sport has grown exponentially, with more money and more attention for the women’s peloton. Puck Pieterse is one of the Dutch faces of this boom and knows better than anyone how important that visibility can be.

Women’s cycling is in a fantastic place right now, Pieterse agrees. There’s been a huge influx of talent, helped by an increasingly well-organized youth system for girls. That way, the sport keeps growing, but for the Dutch rider from Fenix–Deceuninck it’s also important to keep talking about the other side of being a pro.

B Because being a professional isn’t just about working hard. “Many girls drop out at U18 and U20, but if social media is full of clips of people having fun on the bike, then we can inspire them to continue,” Pieterse said at the Rouleur Live-event. “It’s important to show the outside world that it’s not all robotic. It’s not just: eat, sleep, train.”

Kate Veronneau, Zwift’s director of women’s strategy, sees the Tour de France Femmes as the flagship of women’s cycling. "The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift had 148 million hours viewed worldwide. An 80% increase. got into this to start a movement. It feels really good, four years on, to know that not only is it working, but we’re in for another four."

Former pro Manon Lloyd has watched the sport change in front of her eyes. "When I first started, I was just put in with the boys," she recalls. "I was in Mallorca recently, and there were so many groups of women cycling. It’s definitely heading in the right direction — it feels a lot more accessible than before."

Pieterse herself didn’t consciously experience all of that change as a pro, but she definitely sees the impact now. "I started in the world of pro cycling at a good time. Before, there was just a small summary of the women’s race before the men’s race. Now, MTB races are on television, and for the younger girls, they know it’s a job. They can watch a full stage of the Tour de France."

The winner of the Flèche Wallonne remembers a brilliant moment during the past Tour. "At this year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, I was in the gruppetto for the first time. I was 20 minutes down and there were still so many people cheering. I could really soak it up for the first time.”

That booming growth doesn’t mean everything is rosy behind the scenes. '“Men’s cycling had 25 years to grow into the WorldTour model we have now. In women’s cycling, people expect that to happen in five years,” said Natascha Knaven-Den Ouden earlier this year. “There’s too much focus on money, and that’s making women’s cycling implode from within.”