Santos Women's Tour Down Under to be live streamed in 2020
FINALLY!
Words - James Raison
Images - @cauldphoto
Santos Tour Down Under organisers announced today that all four stages of the 2020 edition of Women’s Tour Down Under will be live streamed on Seven West Media’s 7Plus, with the final Schwalbe Stage 4 appearing live on TV. It’s been made possible by investment from Santos who’s been long-time naming rights sponsor.
This announcement closely follows the Women’s Tour Down Under gaining classification to “UCI Pro Series” status.
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, David Ridgway said “We are thrilled with the growing interest and excitement around the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under and are committed to the growth of the Women’s race as part of the Santos Tour Down Under.”
“This wouldn’t have happened without the support of Santos, whose investment has ensured the WTDU can be watched nationally through 7Plus.”
Women’s Race Director Kimberley Conte said; “I am always very proud that a great South Australian company such as Santos has made the commitment to invest, not only financially, but also with their people to continue developing opportunities for women in cycling. To be able to live stream all four stages of the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under is fantastic and continues to grow the profile of the race, the sport and the athletes.
“South Australia has taken the lead, elevating women in sport through offering equal prize money for male and female competitors in the Santos Tour Down Under, first announced for the 2018 event.”
“It has always been the goal of the event to elevate the Women’s race to UCI Women’s WorldTour in the coming years and this just puts us one step closer to that.”
OUR PERSPECTIVE
This is a genuinely huge deal for the race. We’ve been frustrated in the past that live race information has been limited to text messages, and post-race highlights packages and pre-written media releases. The race organisation does an excellent job creating these assets, but it’s hard to write a meaningful or interesting race report when you didn’t watch it and are all working from the same source material. We’ve sat in the media room while the WTDU races are happening with only race radio crackling away to tell us what’s going on.
Being unable to watch sporting events is a massive barrier to entry and doubtlessly prevents many from becoming acquainted with women’s cycling. It takes a hardcore fan to trawl dodgy live streams for race vision that’s often in another language. It’s particularly important for the WTDU because its separation from the Men’s Tour Down Under means there’s less people taking time out to watch the racing, but those same people would likely tune into a broadcast.
We’re stoked that this has happened and opens up our coverage options for the race. For now we’ll send our congratulations to the event organisers, and our thanks to Santos for ponying up the cash. Our fingers are crossed that live coverage continues into the future. Can’t wait!
Check out our 2020 Women’s Tour Down Under rotue guide to get pumped up for the race!
