Cycling: The spectators have gotten used to it over the years. After a stage, the leader gets the yellow jersey – and a kiss on the left and a kiss on the right from the podium girls. The Tour de France now wants to abolish this. Are they part of cycling, or is this the only right decision?
Darts and Formula 1 show it
The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and Formula 1 have shown it. Now the organizers of the Tour de France are following suit – at least according to the Times. According to this, the ASO wants to do without the traditional podium girls after the stages from this season. This follows the good examples of other sports. In darts, the PDC has abolished the so-called walk-on girls and in Formula 1 there will no longer be any grid girls in the pit lane. All traditions that are being broken. But we think it's the right decision, even if the ladies were always pretty to look at.
The Podium Girls have already abolished some tours
The decision of the Tour de France organizers is an important one for the whole of cycling. But others started it. Because even in cycling itself, there have been a number of tours for quite some time that do without the podium girls. The Tour Down Under, for example, has the ranking jerseys handed over by young drivers. Also at the Vuelta a Espana there were no more classic podium girls last year. So now the Tour de France should follow suit and send a clear signal. In July we will see who will hand over the shirts instead.