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> Women can complete a Tour de France.

absolutely not. Not a single woman in the world can keep pace with the peloton.

DFL is different from DNF. They could complete the course, no question.

I think they could might be able to hang with the men's peloton on some stages, too -- it's an enormous drafting benefit. They wouldn't win climbing stages, wouldn't make breakaways, and wouldn't win sprint finishes.

> They could complete the course, no question.

asking riders to ride for 12 hours a day is inhuman.

I could complete the course. The question is in what time.

And then do it again the next day. And the next. And so on.

I don't think I would be able to walk after two back-to-back 100km days, and these guys are doing double that with a lot more climbing nearly every day for over three weeks straight.

There's always an outlier race here or there, but generally, women can not hold on to men's fields at the pro level. I have seen many pro level women enter men's pro fields just to get the workout, and they get dropped every time unless the fields are tiny. Sure, in the "Pro" category at a local crit, Marianne Vos can beat most or all of the men, but in that same race if a top men's pro racer showed up, they'd lap the field.

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