dstrong 

According to RoadBikeRider.com...

There won't be "podium guys" at the opening 3 stages of the Giro d'Italia in the Netherlands. Instead, the Giro will have traditional podium girls to give top riders their jerseys, trophies and smooches. A move was afoot in Amsterdam, known as the gay capital, to replace the "hopelessly outdated and sexist" women with men or drag queens. The idea was squashed by Giro boss Angelo Zomegnan, saying, "The girls will be Italian and we'll bring them from Italy. This whole thing is not a problem."

badhat

"The girls will be Italian and we'll bring them from Italy. This whole thing is not a problem."

this is gold

umd

217

Grumpy McTrumpy

..

Metzinger

How about foo?

substructure

They pick our cousins out of the audience if we podium.

wanders

So that's where Primus's "Jerry was a race car driver" came from.

sykerocker 

Guess we'll have to wait for the drag queens at the opening stages in 2012.

Yeah, this one killed me when I read about it. Talk about trying to make a problem where non previously exists.

diphthong

now boycotting the giro and hoping the vuelta comes to their collective senses. nearly half of the podium girlz at the tdf
are not...

Cateye

Thank you lord.

lukasz

Too bad. I like when people get their panties in a bunch about trivial things. We would have had BF threads like this every day until July!

It is only a problem if you make it a problem. The organizers just viewed it as something fun to do to mix things up (and this was my view of it as well), but unfortunately cycling is a sport with a fan base like that of any other.

grolby

Agreed. The podium girl tradition is embarrassingly tacky, sexist and outdated. Something like this would have been a fun and funny way to put more of a microscope on it. But seeing as the Giro is run by Italians, there was no way it was going to happen. Oh well.

calamarichris

Sigh, I miss the good ol' days when we got trophy-monkeys on the podium, and if you won something really big, you got a monkey in a cowboy suit.

RacerOne

It's a fun tradition that has held steadfast against the PC juggernaut, some people won't stop until everybody is as miserable as they are.

lukasz

That monkey picture is hilarious. Do you think that the Crest team had to have good teeth?

Political correctness in this case is keeping the status quo. Politicians do what people will them to, or at least they're supposed to. Cycling fans are just as homophobic as everyone ese. Anyway, I don't see what politics has to do with this issue except in a very general definition of the word.

No one is saying "let's have podium guys because it is unfair that it is always girls." Equality in that specific line of work is just not a reasonable expectation from any point of view. All that the folks in Amsterdam wanted to do is give the event some local flavor and certainly added exposure. It is not like it would be mandated by the UCI, and it might probably never happen again. The people who care most about this issue are those that don't want to see podium dudes.

Personally, I cringe during the whole podium girls event when I watch a bike race. I can often tell that some of the cyclists on the podium find it tiring as well. It is embarrassing, especially if someone not in tune with cycling "tradition" is also watching. You said that you think it is fun. That is a perfectly valid point. On the other hand, just because something is a tradition doesn't make it worth keeping--tradition is not a reasonable point to bring up in an argument. All you are saying is "because x happened before y, x is better."

calamarichris

Agreed. Podium girls should go. What on earth are they even up there for if you can't spray them with champagne?
The racers who finished second & third turned themselves inside out and and therefore deserve to flank the winner, and they probably wouldn't mind spraying each other.

This is one aspect in which Nascar & MotoGP have us beaten.

Suzie Green

I was kind of hoping to be a podium girl for a little extra lunch money, now that I'm retired.

grolby

Project much?

Calling an opinion "PC" is code for "But I LIKE my sexism, and you can't take it away from me!"

But if you prefer, there's no need to take it away on the basis of sexism. The podium girl tradition is a crime against good taste. That's reason enough by itself.

ALANB58

Well everything in cycling is traditional, and I love it. The yellow and polka dot jerseys, the painting on the roads, the parades. Maybe someday we will see women in Burquahs on the podium, but Saudi Arabia has to put a man on the podium first.

So, gay dudes must sometimes win races, based on percentages. Just put it on the start list entry form. Do you prefer to be kissed on the cheak by a hot women, or a hot male.

You have that right, I am an old dude.

rollin

I think podium guys were a good idea. I get tradition but I also believe in progress.

L'Ardoisier

There is also Champagne on cycling races : look at the Amstel Curacao Race podium ;-)



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Tour de France : Podium girls pictures gallery

deadly downtube

I for one welcome our podium dude overlords..

robertv

Oh god... I love how our girls in Curacao are twice the size of the riders. Just makes me proud.

cyclezealot

Podium guys would have an easy day of it in this venue.. In our nearby cols women cyclists were to be seen in great abundance just this past weekend getting ready for the annual Tour de Aude, femimine. ( sorry cycling News photos are copyrighted...)
.....
# Cervelo Test Team's Claudia Hausler, the Tour de l'Aude winner, and her team-mates. - see fifth photo , stage 9.
https://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/...e09/?id=photos

Tsuru

Meh... who cares if it's guys or girls or whatever. I bet the winner only cares about the winning part.