Emma Pooley, Britain's Olympic silver medallist and former world time trial champion, has confirmed that discussions are taking place between campaigners and the Tour de France organisers about a women's event, with the new president of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), Brian Cookson, playing a role in setting up the meeting.
"I can say that we have communicated with ASO [Tour organisers, Amaury Sport Organisation] – by 'we' I mean the four of us who set up the petition plus some people who have helped us – and Brian Cookson was very helpful in setting up that dialogue with ASO quite early on, which was fantastic of him," Pooley told the Observer.
"All I can say is that we are in discussion and [ASO] are not ruling it out, a women's race of some kind."
The ASO confirmed that they are "in a phase of reflecting on the matter raised by Emma Pooley [and others]". They added: "Nothing has been decided yet but when the time comes we will say what may or may not be possible."
A petition calling for the re-establishment of a women's Tour alongside the men's event was launched in early July by Pooley, the world time trial champion in 2010 and an Olympic silver medallist in 2008, and three other campaigners, the current women's world champion Marianne Vos, the four-time Ironman world champion Chrissie Wellington, and the writer Kathryn Bertine. It attracted more than 80,000 signatures within a few weeks.
The petition drew a mixed response from the Tour de France organisers, with the Tour's director, Christian Prudhomme, stating that, while he was "open to everything", he felt that a less public approach might have been more appropriate.
There were reports in July that ASO had discussed the possibility of a women's race but the company's chairman, Jean-Etienne Amaury, highlighted the organisational difficulties.
ASO already run two women's events in conjunction with their men's professional races: the Tour of Qatar, which has a separate date from the men's race, and La Flèche Wallonne in Belgium, run on the same circuit as the men's one-day Classic on the same day.
Another possible model is the Tour of Britain, where a high-profile women's race is run on the final stage's circuit in central London.
The Tour de France has a ready made closed circuit in Paris on its final day, while the recent trend to push the finish time back into the evening means there would be ample time on the Tour's final Sunday to run a women's race finishing on the Champs-Élysées.