I’ve just been faced with a question of whether there has ever been any women riders in the main Tour de France.
I think there has been a single woman but I can’t find any proof - please send me a comment if you know.
Anyway while searching for great female cyclists I came across Beryl Burton, now she is a real star and what’s even better is that she’s a British star!
“In 1967, she set a new 12-hour time trial record of 277.25 miles – a mark that also surpassed the men’s record of the time by 5.75 miles. She also set about 50 new national records at 10, 15, 25, 30, 50 and 100-mile distances; her final 10, 25 and 50-mile records each lasted 20 years before being broken, and her 12-hour record still stands today. Her prowess led to the rare distinction, for a woman, of an invitation to compete in the Grand Prix des Nations in 1967.”
Check out more about Beryl on Wikipedia.
She unfortunately died of heart failure while on a training ride just before her 59th birthday - I hope I’m still thinking about cycle training at that age.
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