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Two broken ribs and the flu kept Alison Tetrick, a professional cyclist from California, from riding in the Giro DItalia Femminile at the beginning of July.I was so disappointed, said Tetrick, who competes with the Cylance Pro Cycling team. You dont see the injury, but when I ride, I could feel it.Part of the disappointment for Tetrick is that the 10-stage Giro Rosa, as its known, is the longest stage race for women in this years inaugural Womens World Tour, run by the world cycling governing body Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). As a rider who prefers stage races, which are typically held over a series of days, Tetrick was looking forward to the challenge. The remaining six events for the Womens World Tour are all one-day races.Though the creation of the official World Tour means womens elite racing now matches the branding of the highest level of mens cycling, the step toward equality highlights some of the vast differences between mens and womens racing that still exist. One of the most visible: Womens races are still limited to far shorter distances than mens races.This weekend, when the male Tour de France riders cross the finish line at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the racers will have completed 3,519 kilometers of cycling through France over 21 stages. The race takes riders from Mont Saint-Michel in the Northwest, down to the Mediterranean Coast and back up and around through nine mountain stages, eventually bringing them to the historic finish line along the Champs-Elysées.The women racers participating in La Course, a race put on by the Tour de France organizers, will cross the same finish line, on the same day, but will have cycled just 89 kilometers during a one-day circuit race, riding up and down the Champs-Elysées seven times.The one-day race, oy, Tetrick said of La Course before trailing off. She gathered herself and goes on: Look, first you want to have the opportunity to race, thats a step in the right direction, as opposed to having no race.A stage race version of the Tour de France (called La Grande Boucle Feminine Internationale) for women folded in 2009, so the arrival of La Course three years ago was a victory for womens cycling advocates who still face a steep climb toward gender equality, particularly in salaries and prize money. And, as part of the Womens World Tour formation, the UCI mandated every race to provide a highlights package to television media or a live TV or Internet stream of the event.But as more people watch, more will likely see that womens races are notably different. Next month, when the Olympic road cycling races kick off on Aug. 6, the men will ride 241.5 kilometers in search of Olympic gold. The womens peloton will ride 141 kilometers to battle for the same prize. Under UCI rules, thats as long as a womens Olympic road race is allowed to be, while the mens Olympic race can be as long as 280 kilometers.And even if the Tour de France decided to put on a womens race for all 21 stages, they would need to file for an exemption to UCI rules, which cap the average daily distance for womens stage races, and even time trial stages, far below the mens. The rule book notes that exemptions can be granted.But why do these rules exist at all?Like other endurance sports, cyclings beginnings for women were stymied by shoddy science and biases about what women were physically capable of.The early 20th century and late 19th century views that womens bodies were physically weaker and incapable of physical exertion like mens imposed all kinds of different rules on sports for females, said Linda Borish, an associate professor at Western Michigan University who studies American women and sport history.When women first started taking up sport, they were limited by rules meant to protect them. It was thought that endurance sports especially would potentially damage their reproductive organs, which of course seemed like a negative impact for society, Borish said.Womens cycling, in particular, was seen as a societal threat because a bicycle offered women an independent form of transportation.The bicycle was called the freedom machine by some, because it allowed women the ability to move from place to place without chaperones, Borish said. Others called bikes prostitution on wheels, so expanding the use of cycling into the rigorous athletic world went against the predominant beliefs of what women should do at the time.It took women actually breaking the rules by cycling anyway to start to change peoples minds about what women were capable of. But rules and official opportunities were still slow to change. Cycling events for men were part of the Olympics since their modern revival in 1896, but the first womens cycling event wasnt added until 1984, the same year the first womens marathon was included at the Olympics.Today, even though women run ultramarathons and participate in triathlons, there are still rules that limit their athletic performance. Mary Jo Kane, director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota, said these historical rules and limitations continue to have a negative effect.You see the same thing now in sports like tennis, where theres an artificial construct that women play two out of three sets, while men play three out of five, said Kane. Thats rooted in a false assumption that women cannot endure three out of five.When the public perceives the stark contrasts in the cycling world in terms of distance today -- such as when the women ride just one stage of the Tour de France, and the men ride 21, or when the womens Olympic race is 100 kilometers shorter -- Kane said people notice.It reinforces the belief that women do not possess the same physiological capacities and that they are second-class citizens in elite athletics, she said.Robin Farina, a former professional cyclist and co-founder of the Womens Cycling Association, said many of the current limitations on womens cycling are due to lack of organizational support.I do think the UCI has been built to keep women out, she said. If you look at who and what the UCI and pro cycling has been about for decades, its been about mens cycling. Just like with most things, men feel threatened when change is on the table, but thats a mindset we need to change. Opening cycling more to women just creates more opportunity. We should look at it like, now instead of having one thing to sell, we have two.Cyclists say they see some change in the governing body. The current president, Brian Cookson, who was credited with rescuing Britains cycling organization from insolvency, pushed for the creation of the Womens World Tour. The UCIs Womens Cycling director who just started this year, Morgane Gaultier, acknowledges theyre starting from way behind.The thing to take into consideration is that womens cycling is essentially 100 years late compared to mens, Gaultier said.Now achieving equality is a delicate balance because more and longer races cost more to put on, she added.If we change the rules immediately to all be equal, teams will disappear because they dont have the financial resources, at a time when we want to increase the number of teams.Changing the distance maximums for women, Gaultier said is a topic of discussion, at UCI this year.But what we really want is to continue the growth of womens cycling, we want strong bases, she said. The most important thing is to make sure womens races are exciting, that they contain climbing and flat and downhill areas, and that the riders are safe and have security for the entire race.Upping the distance alone, she said, wont do the trick. Just increasing the number of kilometers to have more kilometers, theres not really a use for that, she said. We can see that in some mens stages that just are long and flat, sometimes nothing happens at all.Kristy Scrymgeour, a former racer and team owner who now runs a cycling apparel brand, Velocio, and has been a member of the UCI Womens Commission, agreed. Ive always said mens races are too long ... So you can look at it in two ways, theres no reason [women] shouldnt be doing long races, but I think the distances women are racing right now, where they need to be aggressive from the beginning but are still racing for hours on a mountain stage, are good, practical distances, she said.Tetrick, who is also a member of the Womens Cycling Association, and Farina agree that distance rules arent their major concerns as riders and advocates when it comes to equal treatment.Women are capable of racing greater distances, theres no question, said Tetrick. But at the same time, I dont mind distances for women where theyre at... This sport has so many ways to build for more equality, theres prize money, or salary requirements, or health insurance, in addition to distance, so theres no one solution.And the shorter distances of the womens races for now might make for a better spectator experience, she said: If anything, shorter races make logistics easier, and are more exciting.What Tetrick is more concerned about is growing the platform of her sport. I have an incredible team and great sponsors, and I want to work hard and show them their sponsorship is valuable. The onus is on the athletes to keep racing our bikes and being good ambassadors, and I take that pretty seriously.Tetrick will have to wait until next year to ride in another World Tour stage race -- and maybe by then there will be one longer than the 10-stage Giro DItalia. Stage races are brutal, but amazing, she said.As for Scrymgeours suggestion to shorten the mens races as a way to achieve distance parity, Gaultier laughed at the idea but doesnt totally discount it. Its a possibility ... but Im not sure the men will be too happy about that. Cheap Kings Jerseys . Pettersen, winner of last years Evian Championships, had nine birdies and three bogeys, holding off a series of challengers led by Marion Ricordeau of France. The second-ranked Norwegian made her season debut after missing the LPGA Tours opening event last month in the Bahamas because of a shoulder injury. Cheap Kings Jerseys China .Y. -- Sabres forward Drew Stafford has witnessed plenty of turmoil during his eight seasons in Buffalo. http://www.cheaplosangeleskingsjerseys.com/ . William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period. Cheap Los Angeles Kings Jerseys . It might not have mattered. While the Dodgers are preparing for the playoffs, the Padres showed their future has promise behind two rookies. Cheap Adidas Kings Jerseys . -- Aaron Murray threw for 408 yards and three touchdowns, ran for another score, and led No. Dont look now, but Counter Logic Gaming isnt done just yet.The defending champion of North America got off to a more than inadequate start to its possible three-peat as the team labored through the first half of the split. Just a few weeks ago, it was outside of the playoff picture looking in, but CLG are back in the top six and tied for the fifth-seed alongside slumping Team Envy (6-6) with a game above rookie club Apex Gaming (5-7) in seventh.I thought it would feel a lot better, said starting mid laner Choi Huhi Jae-hyun following CLGs 2-0 weekend to get back at .500 in the standings and back into a playoff spot. But I guess since we lost a game versus P1, we werent really that satisfied. Were still pretty happy we 2-0ed, and starting from this week, we knew the matches were really important because we want to get into the playoffs.A finalist of a major tournament only two months ago in Shanghai, China for the Mid-Season Invitational, CLG has recently experienced internal issues when transitioning to the new mid-centric meta. While rival Team SoloMid (12-0) has secured all the positive press this split with its flawless match run and extraordinary 24-3 map score, the defending champs are working hard to get over its slump to hopefully remind TSM which team beat it in the North American League Championship Finals the past two splits.We knew how to snowball the bottom lane and the top lane, Huhi remarked, detailing how the team successfully navigated the spring split and following MSI tournament. That was our play style before. As [the] meta shifted, we realized mid lane pressure is really important We lacked on that a lot because we always prioritized top or bottom, and now we are starting to talk a lot -- me, Xmithie, and Aphromoo -- in real life [and] in-game to get on the same page in order to have really solid mid control like the top tier teams.CLG and TSMs roles have reversed from last season. In the spring, it was CLG that enjoyed a smooth regular season and a first round bye into an eventual championship while TSM was the club struggling to get on the same page as the postseason approached. Fortunately for SoloMid, it snuck into the playoffs and made a spirited run to the finals against CLG before ultimately losing. Counter Logic, on the other hand, is faced with the same timer TSM was burdened with last split, less than two months away from the NA LCS Finals in Toronto.Past the trouble in the mid lane, Darshan Darshan Upadhyaha is going through an uncharacteristically poor split, and Trevor Stixxay Hayes is experiencing a sophomore slump with the shift of attention moving away from the AD carry position to the mid lane. Jake Xmithie Puchero has been a bright spot for the team with clutch objective steals and smart plays; however, if Counter Logic truly wants to make the World Championships in the fall, one or two players cant drag it there. CLG are only as good as its weakest link. Outpowered on paper when you look at the lineups from TSM and second-sseed Immortals, its going to have to be the teams intellect and map play that brings it to the promise land, not brute strength.ddddddddddddBefore, whenever I watched [NA LCS], it was kind of rough. It was fun entertainment, Huhi said. [League of Legends Championship Korea] was really strict -- really organized teams whenever they played -- and NA LCS [fights] a lot, and thats how they win. But now, Ill say its changed a little bit, and it kind of looks like they care about the macro game and rotations. Also, they fought a lot still, so Ill say compared to other regions, we also have that advantage. Whenever the game [turns into] chaos, were more comfortable [in] it. Ill say NA LCS actually became a much stronger region that can be a Worlds contender.The best-of-three format has upped the performances of teams this split. Although viewership numbers have shrunk as the summer has heated up, the clubs are experiencing the benefits of playing more games. Instead of only playing 18 best-of-one games last split, teams are already well over that figure with a third of the season left to go. The new format has also given valuable time to teams like Counter Logic Gaming that need the extra offline practice to fortify the changes in strategy and lane priority. As a whole, for the first time since 2012 when South Korea was making its way into the scene, North America and its fans possess a cautious optimism as the World Champions draw closer.I dont go to Reddit at all, Huhi told me when I brought up the elephant in the room: the community backlash thats risen against him. Throughout CLGs slump, Huhis been the scapegoat, the player picked out as the perceived weak link due to the meta so heavily focused on his position. The important thing is my team encouraging me and back[ing] me up. Theyre always telling me Im really good and stuff like that. Ill say the criticism doesnt really get to me that much compared to other teams.He went on to explain that its fair if the community currently believes he cant be the mid lane carry ace CLG need to make a return trip to the NA LCS Finals. Huhi understands that his role has changed on the team, but even though hes currently not on the same level as TSMs S?ren Bjergsen Bjerg, its not as simple as being mechanically as good as him. Its a team effort from the support, jungle, and the side lane damage dealers to prop up the mid laner to help him succeed. As long as CLG can continue fixing its issues with the Triforce of Zaqueri Aphromoo Black, Xmithie, and Huhi -- showcased by Huhis Player of the Game nod in the teams win over Phoenix1 -- the back-to-back champions feel it can match up with anyone in North America today.Win or lose, it is never because of a single player for CLG. If the clubs motto in the spring was respect all, fear none, then for the summer, it should be: United we stand, divided we fall. ' ' '