Katie Archibald on the Women’s Tour of Scotland and cycling’s hairpin road to gender parity

Exclusive interview: On International Women’s Day, Olympic team pursuit champion Katie Archibald explains why the new race, which vows to pay out men’s prize money and showcase women’s sport, makes her proud to be Scottish

By now you have probably heard the story of Nicole Hanselmann. Last weekend the Swiss rider was racing in Belgium when she launched an early solo attack and surged off into the distance, but it proved her undoing when she caught up with what was later described as a “very slow men’s race”. She was made to wait, and consequently finished 74th. For a piece of symbolism on International Women’s Day, the image of Hanselmann’s progress being waved to a stop by a man in a fleece will take some beating.

Cycling has gone some way to closing its cavernous gender gap in recent years. The introduction last summer of maternity leave and minimum salaries on the women’s World Tour were welcome steps, if a little overdue. And yet the sport has an unfortunate knack of undermining itself. Each time a rider vows to pack condoms for the “podium chicks”, or strikes a sexual pose against an Argentinian waitress, it feeds into the stereotype that elite cycling is the preserve of Belgian chauvinists.

So it is a significant landmark that this summer in Scotland, for the first time, a world tour event will begin life as a women’s race rather than a men’s. The inaugural Women’s Tour of Scotland will sweep through Edinburgh, Glasgow and more, covering 350km over three days of August. The world’s elite are invited and, notably, organisers have ensured prize money will match a men’s equivalent.

The nature of progress is rarely linear – more a set of hairpin switchbacks up a mountainside – so at a time when mooted ambitions to rekindle a women’s Tour de France have so far proved hollow, the Tour of Scotland will be making a significant stride in the right direction.

“It makes me feel proud to be from here,” says Katie Archibald, one of Scotland’s most successful cyclists who last year added Commonwealth champion to her array of Olympic, world and European titles. “It’s not a piggyback event on a men’s race, it stands alone, and the prize money is in line with a men’s race. It’s setting a precedent, so that’s exciting.”

The decision by organisers to strike out away from the men’s tour is a bold and encouraging one. Mimicking already popular men’s events is arguably a lower risk strategy, but from that position it is hard for an event to ever step out from the shadow. Does women’s cycling need more unique events like the Tour of Scotland or is the priority for major organisers like ASO to deliver a women’s Tour de France?

“I’m not confident I know the answer,” says Archibald. “There’s definite benefits to the audience that comes with the men’s events, but it has to go hand in hand with standalone women’s races like this one.

“I think what La Course and La Madrid Challenge do is bring a huge audience to the women’s side of the sport and I’ve been so amazed with how aggressive and entertaining those races have been. The exposure in events like that should eventually transfer to the events on their own.

Katie Archibald celebrating her Commonwealth individual pursuit title (Getty)

“But the Women’s Tour of Scotland has vision. This isn’t going to be rushed out as a one-time affair. It has plans for a five-year project, making it sustainable [a goal to be carbon positive by 2020], and hopefully evolving over the years. It will be just fantastic if we can have an annual race like this in Scotland. Hopefully we can inspire a lot of people.”

Organisers of the Tour of Scotland hope that the expected 300,000 on the roadside and further million watching on TV will be inspired to get on a bike – particularly young girls. It is an ambition close to Archibald’s heart and a major motivating factor for her to become an ambassador for the race.

“A big part of the organiser’s ambition is to inspire people into sport, but more specifically to inspire girls into cycling. Just like any kind of habit, it’s capturing the enthusiasm of kids and more importantly of teenagers – you see that dip away from sport around 15, 16. I was guilty of it myself, I was just like every other teenager, taking a step away from the competitive side, when everything’s about your social scene.

The women’s road race draws a crowd in Glasgow during the 2014 Commonwealth Games (Getty) (AFP/Getty)

“I think we have to make it a promotional thing of women in sport – and closer to my heart, women on bikes. Kids going to school, women going to work... it doesn’t have to be top level. It’s about everything from the top to the grass roots.”

When it comes to beating the drum for cycling’s benefits, Scotland is leading the way right now. Last month Glasgow was awarded the UCI’s new flagship world championships in 2023, the brainchild of its president David Lappartient, involving 13 different cycling disciplines, from road and track to BMX and mountain biking, in one quadrennial festival of cycling.

It is a proud time to be a Scot in the sport, and although there is still a mountain to climb to achieve equality, Archibald believes the Tour of Scotland can play an important part in closing the gap.

“The conversations around riders coming to the UK are all about cycling being an equal sport,” says Archibald. “The fact that gender parity maybe pushed by our small island, I feel really pleased with that.”