#Global Champions Tour

[jujujumping]

LGCT Paris 2023

[cute-ocalypse]

All the Coldplay concerts I’ve been to so far. :) Mylo Xyloto/August 3, 2012 (iZOD Center) A Head Full of Dreams (July 16-July 17, 2016)/Metlife Stadium Global Citizen Festival 2021 (Central Park)

Music of the Spheres (June 4-June 5, 2022)/Metlife Stadium

[reitsportportal]

Longines Global Champions Play Offs: Es geht um 6.500.000EUR im GCL Super Cup - 3rd Team Competition - Final...

Stockholm Hearts mit Nicola Philippaerts, Malin Bayard-Johnsson und Julien Epaillard nach der ersten Runde in Führung im GCL Super Cup – 3rd Team Competition – Final Die  STOCKHOLM HEARTS waren das einzige Team, das in der ersten Runde fehlerfrei bleiben konnte. Mit drei sehr sicheren Ritten sicherten sich Nicola Philippaerts mit Katanga v/h Dingeshof, Malin Baryard-Johnsson mit H&M Indiana und…

[news-magazine]

Longines Global Champions Tour .Janne-Frederike Meyer-Zimmermann Winner in Cannes!

[itsmrvlxh50]

Now that I know he went to a horse show, I want to read Lestappen going to the Longines Global Champions Tour show in Monaco.

And I also regret once more not moving forward with my plans for going pro on horse riding all those years ago.

max in st tropez today!!!!! the fit lowkey eats

[sonsofks]

Entradas a la Venta para Masters Madrid a partir del 12 de Enero

Prepárate para la emocionante inauguración del VALORANT Champions Tour 2024 con Masters Madrid y consigue tus boletos desde el 12 de enero. La adrenalina se desata con el anuncio de la venta de boletos para Masters Madrid, el evento global inaugural del VALORANT Champions Tour 2024. Ocho equipos de élite, representando a las cuatro Ligas Internacionales, se reunirán en el prestigioso Madrid…

[chineseredcarpet]

Yang Le in two looks for Longines Global Champion Tour in Shanghai

[auras-moonstone]

ursula!! i have a request if you’re up for it:

what if the reader is a singer, let’s say she’s successful like taylor swift and the whole friendship bracelet thing was invented by her and her fans. what if jack made a bracelet with his number on it and gave it to her at her concert, like travis did to taylor? i think that’d be soooo cute!

how was your concert? i hope u had fun!

omfg i love this request!!!!! taylor and travis are so fucking cute, i love them so much. and the shows were amazing, thank you for asking! the energy was incredible and i was so happy with the surprise songs 🥺

friendship bracelets — jack champion

word count: 1,688

pairing: jack champion x singer!fem!reader

summary: jack goes to y/n's concert and hands her team a friendship bracelet with his number, but she doesn't reach out until she sees a clip of him from an interview where he confesses what he did.

warnings: none!

Y/N’S SINGING CAREER HAD BEEN SUCCESSFUL SINCE THE VERY BEGINNING. At only 19 years of age, she was on the peak of her career and currently doing a world tour with sold out stadiums. She was not only praised because of her versatile discography, but also for her lyricism and the unique bond she had with her fans.

Jack loved her music, so he was really excited when the sponsors of the stadium reached out to offer him tickets for the show. Alongside his friends, Jack made friendship bracelets—a cute tradition within the fandom—, and he had the idea of making one with his number on it.

“Do you seriously think you will be able to give her that?” Romeo, his friend, asked in disbelief as they walked towards their seats.

“A guy can dream” Jack simply said.

“I don’t think she sees anyone after the show. The girl performs for three hours.” Willa told him, not wanting him to get his hopes too high.

“Maybe I could give it to someone of her team.”

“She’s a hot, successful singer, J. She probably gets handed so many phone numbers.” his friend said.

Jack sighed. “Okay, I get it. Jesus. Have you two ever heard of the term ‘positivity’?” he asked bitterly.

“Have you ever heard of the term ‘delusional’?” Romeo asked. Jack rolled his eyes and changed the topic.

It wasn’t that crazy, right?

TURNS OUT ‘DELUSIONAL’ WAS THE RIGHT WORD. After the amazing show, Jack managed to give the bracelet to one of Y/N’s security guards and the boy was optimistic about it. But then, after one week of radio silence, he came in terms with reality—she was untouchable. He was an actor in the rising and she was a global superstar, what gave him the idea that she was going to reach out? His friends were right, he was indeed delusional.

“I saw you exchanging friendship bracelets at Y/N’s show! How was it? Are you a fan?” his interviewer asked him.

Jack smiled like a little kid at the question. “Yes, it was incredible. Is there anything that girl can’t do? Everything was mind blowing—her outfits, the visuals, her voice, her performance. It was honestly the best concert I’ve ever been to.” he said in pure awe. “And yes, I’m a big fan.”

“Did you make friendship bracelets or did you just receive them?”

“Both! I made a lot. It was a very therapeutic experience, to be honest” the young actor laughed. “I actually made one for Y/N, with my phone number on it.” he admitted shyly.

“You’re kidding!”

“Nope” he laughed awkwardly.

“Did she get it?”

“I don’t know. She hasn’t reached out, but she receives lots of gifts so maybe she hasn’t seen it yet, or maybe she doesn’t text strangers, which makes a lot of sense.”

“Oh my god” the interviewer said in excitement. “That is so adorable! Hope this gets to her! I’m sure the fans will sent her this clip.”

“Oh- please don’t bombard her, guys! I don’t want to make her uncomfortable! It was a silly thing to do.” Jack blushed, instantly regretting having shared the anecdote.

Obviously, his fans didn’t hesitate to do everything in their power to get the video viral. And, as lots of his fans were also fans of hers, the clip appeared on Y/N’s timeline in no time.

She was familiar with Jack. Even though he hadn’t starred in a lot of movies, he was a part of two huge franchises which Y/N, of course, knew about. And he was also one of—if not the—prettiest guys she had ever seen, so she remembered his face. She could not pass this opportunity up.

code red sabrina!!! come to my house asap

WHAT IS WRONG WHAT HAPPENED

this VERY CUTE actor went to my concert last week and put his number on a friendship bracelet and i just found out

okay???? why do you need me?

i have like a thousand fb, i need your help to find it

um… why don’t you just slide into his dms?

that would be easier, but he made that fb and i want it. pretty please? 🥺

fineeee, omw

“I GOT IT.” Sabrina screamed after hours of going through mountains of friendship bracelets.

“OH MY GOD.” Y/N screamed back, grabbing the bracelet and saving the contact on her phone. “Okay, I’m texting him.”

hey jack, what’s your favorite scary movie? 👀🔪🩸

um… i don’t like this, i’m out

“You’re so lame.” Sabrina laughed.

no wait, i’m sorry i was trying to be cool

it’s y/n y/l/n

very funny 🙄 is this you mason?

no, for real. it’s y/n

i saw your clip from the interview and i literally spent the whole day looking for that fucking friendship bracelet and here i am now :)

i’m sorry i didn’t see it before, i feel awful

is this really y/n?

i’m facetiming you

“Hi!” Y/N said cheerfully when Jack answered. His mouth was agape as he started at his celebrity crush. “Do you believe me now?”

“Holy shit! I wasn’t that delusional after all.” Jack said, making her frown. “Oh, my friends called me delusional for expecting you to text me. They were right for like a week.”

“You should’ve just sent me a dm, you’re verified.” Y/N laughed. “But I actually really liked the bracelet. It was original, and thoughtful and beyond adorable.”

“Thank you.” he blushed. “I’m sorry if my fans were harassing you with that clip, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No! I’m glad you did. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known about you trying to get me your number.” she smiled. “I really liked you in avatar and scream, by the way! Wish I’ve known you were at my concert, would’ve liked to meet you.”

“It’s not late.” he found himself saying. “I mean, we can meet up, if you want.”

“Like a date?” Y/N asked nervously.

“Yes… only if you’d like it to be a date.”

“I would love to, Jack!”

Y/N AND JACK HAD THEIR FIRST DATE ONE WEEK AFTER THEIR FIRST CONVERSATION. Jack went to the singer’s house, for more privacy. They were aware that if they went to a restaurant, it would be all over the media and they preferred to keep quiet at least until they knew things between them were going to be serious.

After a couple of dates and weeks of talking, they both knew something good and real had formed between them. Y/N felt completely normal around Jack. He wasn’t like other boys she had dated, who always wanted to go out and make sure the reporters saw them or tried to seduce her with their expensive cars and luxurious mansions. Jack was grounded, kind, sweet and funny. He wasn’t intimidated by her success and her fame. Quite the contrary, Jack admired her and was in awe every time he saw her writing down lyrics on her journal or played songs on the guitar for him. Y/N was sure he was the one, and she wanted to call him hers.

“I have something for you.” Y/N said as they were laying on her bed. Jack was on his back, while the girl was sprawled on top of him.

“What?” he asked curiously.

Y/N got off him to grab something from the drawer. “I wanted to ask you something, but I thought this was the right way considering how it all started.”

Jack laughed in confusion. “You’re not making any sense.” Y/N handed him the thing she was hiding on her palm and Jack fell silent.

The blood rushed into his cheeks, and a smile broke into his face. His heart was beating so fast he was surprised they weren’t able to hear it. His eyes lifted up to find her anxious ones. Y/N was biting her lip nervously, and her hands played with the hem of her skirt as she waited for the boy to say something.

“You’re so cute.” he finally said, holding tightly onto the friendship bracelet that read ‘Be my boyfriend?’. “Yes, I’d love to be your boyfriend, Y/N.” Jack grabbed her wrist and brought her back into his chest, and then captured her lips with his. “I can’t believe this is happening. Feels like a dream.”

Y/N laughed “I know, I can’t believe you’re mine.“ she pecked his lips. “There’s one more thing. I have a show in two days.”

“Yeah, I know.” he furrowed his eyebrows, not knowing where the conversation was headed.

“Would you like to go? Like, be on the VIP tent” she said, and then added in a shy tone. “As my boyfriend.”

Jack widened his eyes. “Are you sure? I have no rush to make this public.”

“I know, and I adore you for not pushing me, but I want this. I really do.”

The boy’s smile shone brighter than the sun. “I’d love to, babe.”

So, two days later, Jack stood on the vip tent, watching his mesmerising girlfriend perform. He blushed through the entire show, because the singer couldn’t stop looking at him—especially when singing love songs.

Y/N was also having the time of her life. Seeing Jack singing along to her songs, dancing and recording everything with a huge smile like a proud boyfriend was one of the most heartwarming sights in the world. Her favourite part, though, was running straight into his arms at the end of the show. Despite being covered in sweat, Jack kissed her all over her face as he muttered how amazing she was.

“Look at your arms!” Y/N laughed as she looked at the friendship bracelets that were practically covering all of his arms.

“They’re killing my blood circulation but they’re so cute” Jack laughed. “One girl called my king of manifestation.”

Y/N bursted out laughing. “I should write a song about it.”

“You better.” he kissed her temple. “Let’s go home, you need to rest.”

“I’m so happy.” Y/N said as they climbed inside the van. She rested her head on Jack’s chest as he played with her hair.

He looked down at and smiled before pressing a kiss on her forehead. “Me too. Never been happier.”

[saey707]

Omg I've been checking your account, like, everyday to see if you're alive. Hope everything is ok‼️

But you being back AND opening requests for Heartsteel?! Omg. Any thoughts for sub!Hearsteel!Kayn? I literally live for Kayn content. Take care <3

✿ Prompt: Submissive Heartsteel Kayn Headcanons ✿

♡ champion focus: kayn ♡ tw: nsfw ♡ Gender-neutral reader

Author’s Note: Hi I'm totally normal about Kayn ahahaha... (•ﻌ•) But, hey anon, thanks for always stopping in to check in on me! Life has been crazy on my end, but I'll give that kinda update soon in a separate post. For now let's focus on our little menace Kayn! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝ The NSFW content will be below the "Keep Reading" mark. Enjoy! ✩ ♬ ₊˚.🎧⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

You would be the balancing factor to his chaos in your relationship: Always keeping him within safe boundaries under the careful scrutiny of the public eye but still giving him enough room to just be a stupid, carefree guy who flies off the handle at the right moments! Still, even if you wanted to control him, you couldn't.

Kayn has a will of his own and does whatever he wants! But, if you are in the back of his mind, urging for him to do the right thing, then maybe, just maybe, he can make the tough decision to not be a complete asshole to the paparazzi.

"It's not my fault! I'm too hot for my pictures to be sold to the public. For free at that?!"

Kayn would be a bratty sub. He talks back and resists self-restraint. He pushes your buttons and knows all the right moves to get under your skin, even in good fun!

The brash, hot-pink-headed rockstar does just about anything to get the attention of everyone around him. But with you? You're definitely a unique case. When it comes to you, he shies away from his usual idiocy and tries to do more to impress you (newsflash: He is still a careless idiot).

Kayn is undoubtedly a needy boyfriend, so expect a lot of physical intimacy and extreme, risk-taking measures to get attention!

And if you're not on the road with him during the touring season? You better text back within 5 minutes!! ...Why aren't you texting him back?!

"Look at this picture of me standing on a motorcycle!!" "Babe?" "Babe??" "Babe" ". . ." "Please respond" "Are you sleeping?" "Wake up!!!!!!!"

VAIN VAIN VAIN- Kayn relishes compliments and likes to be reminded of how talented and good-looking he is! He knows he's hot shit, but boy oh boy does he love to hear it from you!

As much as the little menace wants to believe he is the dominant one in your relationship with all the control, power, and prestige, Kayn gets super blushy and weak whenever you are gentle with him and publicly display your affection. How is he supposed to come off as big and bad when you make him feel this submissive and pathetic?!

Sometimes Kayn just needs those little moments to mellow out and have someone take care of him, especially when met with the pressures that come with being a part of a global phenomenon!

Loves cuddling into your chest and having his hair pet! Just be careful or he might start to nip and bite!

If there is one thing Kayn loves more than committing crimes, it's knowing you will always be by his side, no matter the ups and downs in his career... And the scared look on your face whenever he takes the wheel on the road~

A LOUD moaner! He has no shame in allowing everyone to hear him whoring himself out for you!

During sex, Kayn loses control and lets you dominate him.

He wants you to be rough with him. Push him down to his knees and make him beg for you... Scratch into his skin when you're pounding into him and slamming yourself down onto him... Shout your praises and call him yours!

It's as if he loses all mental faculties and becomes nothing more than a fucktoy when it comes to you topping him- nothing more than someone you can pleasure yourself with.

And he definitely doesn't have any shame when it comes to letting you take him in public places~ So what if it's a crime? So what if someone walks in or catches you two? That makes it all the more heart-pounding... All the more exciting to him!

Still, if you don't want to risk jail time, don't let that stop you from stuffing a towel into his mouth, tongue, or fingers~ Kayn loves it whenever his mouth is full anyways.

At times, Kayn can be cooperative, but most of the time he will make you work for it!

Put him on a leash. Just do it.

[jujujumping]

Longines Global Champions Tour 2023 — Round 8: Paris (1st Christian Alhmann & Mandato Van de Neerheide, 2nd Roger Yves Bost & Cassius Clay VDV Z and 3rd Pénélope Leprévost & Bingo del Tondou on the podium for the LGCT Grand Prix of Paris 1.60m)

[yesloulou]

Max and equestrian Max Kühner at the 2024 Longines Global Champions Tour

[reitsportportal]

Victor Bettendorf siegt sensationell im LONGINES GLOBAL CHAMPIONS TOUR SUPER GRAND PRIX von Riyadh

Victor Bettendorf mit den besten Nerven zum Sieg im LONGINES GLOBAL CHAMPIONS TOUR SUPER GRAND PRIX von Riyadh Victor Bettendorf,Foto: Thomas Reiner Nicola Philippaerts und Katanga v/h Dingeshof kamen als erste in der zweiten Runde ohne Abwurf ins Ziel und übernahmen mit ihren 8 Fehlerpunkten aus Runde 1 zunächst die Führung. Sein belgischer Landsmann Thibeau Spits blieb ebenfalls ohne Fehler und…

[news-magazine]

LONGINES GLOBAL CHAMPIONS TOUR -CANNES INTERNATIONAL JUMP

[tcifob]

Tobin Heath loves women’s cycling and she has some ideas

Pro footballer Tobin Heath sat down with Matilda Price for the Wheel Talk Podcast to discuss her love of cycling and the sport within the wider landscape of women's athletics.

Football and cycling sit at vastly different ends of the women’s sports spectrum. Football is the biggest sport in the world, and the women’s game has become emblematic of the women’s sport movement, boasting some of the biggest competitions and stars in the world. Female footballers are household names, and the sport is estimated to draw in half a billion Euros of revenue per year. 

Cycling, on the other hand, is niche to start with, outside of a handful of Western European nations, so the women’s side of the sport is only going to be smaller. The sport is undeniably on the up, and in its best-ever shape, but it’s nowhere near the global boom of women’s football.

In many ways, women’s football and the strides it’s taken in recent years should be something women’s cycling looks up to, and plenty of stakeholders in the sport are doing that. But for one high-profile star, the admiration goes the other way.

At the start of the Tour de France Femmes in Rotterdam, footballer Tobin Heath was a surprising sight, and not always a familiar one to the very cycling-focused community around the Tour. For anyone unaware, Tobin Heath is widely considered one of the best women’s footballers in the world, and she’s a veteran of the sport. With the US national team, she’s won Olympic golds and World Cup titles, she’s won two NWSL Championships with the Portland Thorns, and she’s enjoyed stints at Manchester United, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain. Hopefully, that conveys to even the uninitiated the stature that we’re talking about with Tobin Heath. 

Fresh off of a trip to Paris supporting her USWNT teammates at the Olympics, Heath switched to full-on fan mode at the Tour. The two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion rode with Canyon-SRAM, sat down with Demi Vollering, and immersed herself in the race as a special guest of Strava. 

“I was amazed. When I went there, I was absolutely amazed at the experience,” Heath told Escape Collective. This is an athlete who has won gold at two Olympic Games and two World Cups, and played in or been at many of the biggest events in women’s sport in recent years – but she didn’t know quite what to expect at the women’s Tour de France.

“I was amazed at the access that I had to the athletes. I didn’t know what to expect, but then I got to do all these insane things that, when I equate it to my own sport, I’m like ‘that would just never happen’.”

Cycling may be a world away from what Heath is used to, but after starting her own riding journey and then heading to the Tour this summer, it’s safe to say she is hooked – and she must just be the star superfan that women’s cycling needs.

Where it started for Heath

So, how does one of the best footballers in the world end up in cycling? They’re not two sports that traditionally cross over much, and particularly with Heath being from the US, the general interest in cycling is even smaller. 

The 36-year-old’s story starts in a familiar way: she turned to cycling after an injury. Heath is not retired, but hasn’t played football competitively since 2022, owing to a recurring knee injury.

“It kind of just happened because I’ve had a long-term injury from football – from my many years of playing football, it’s kind of par for the course of being an athlete,” she explained. “But I was doing some extensive rehab, and I couldn’t run, so I was doing a lot of cardio-based cycling in the clinic, and it was just miserable. Biking, no windows, on this Wattbike, it was so miserable.

“But I had a really good friend, James Hotson, who’s a triathlete, and I was always curious about cycling. I’ve always loved cycling as getting around, I’ve always loved being on a bike, just that sense of freedom and there’s kind of a childlike nature about it. And I was always asking him questions about it, about the cycling community, the training, like I’m obsessed with training regimens and stuff like that. So I guess the universe conspires in a lot of ways.”

Heath’s injury, her curiosity and the cycling scene in LA, where she’s based, all came together in the perfect way. One second-hand bike later – “I didn’t want to make the huge investment into cycling, it’s a really big barrier to entry” – and Heath was away.

“Next thing you know, I’m fully kitted, I have the best bike ever, and [James] is like ‘this is my friend Iz King’ who is a professional gravel rider in the area, and she gave me everything. This was when there was no looking back for me, because as soon as you put on the kit and you have all the bells and whistles, this is when I became a full-blown poser.”

Heath may have thought of herself as a poser at first – in fact, she still calls herself that when talking about being at the Tour – but her passion and enjoyment for the sport was very real.

“There was an unlock of being able to exercise in a way that I couldn’t before, in terms of getting heart rate zones that were equivalent to playing a full 90-minute match. I was like ‘oh my gosh, finally I can push myself’ in ways that my injury had limited me in a running and football perspective.

“So there was that, but the biggest unlock was getting outside and in nature and feeling that sense of freedom and discovery,” she added, recalling how football allows you to be outside and in the fresh air in a way that recovery perhaps doesn’t.

“I remember the first time I came back from a really big ride, and my partner was like ‘you’re like a changed human’. I feel like that was pretty cool, after a long time struggling with an injury and having so much frustration from a physical standpoint, to get this feeling of almost release and relief, and at the same time joy.”

As you might expect from a pro athlete, Heath soon started mixing in some performance and data aspects into her riding. Football, she pointed out, is also incredibly data-driven these days, so it was a natural carry-over, and an empowering thing to be able to see and use her own data.

“I think what was really cool is the community aspect, but also with Strava and the many hook-ups into that platform, it gives you this access to data that I feel was limited when I was a professional athlete. We kind of just were given training programmes, we worked, and then the data was passed off to all the scientists and the performance staff.

“It’s really cool and powerful to have your own data and to see it and then to be able to compare it to others. I think there’s a competitiveness with that, but I also think it’s just a really fun way to track yourself and your own progress. So I’m really enjoying that aspect of it, because when you go out and push yourself, you do see it – I’m at a point in the sport where I’m seeing significant gains. When you become elite elite, you’re talking about the tiniest percentages of gains that make you better than the person next to you, but I’m at this level where I’m seeing gains upon gains. And I’m loving it because I’ve lived in such a thin air for so long in terms of the tiny little nuances of performance, so it’s really fun to be in a place where you’re like, wow, I got significantly better today.”

Cycling in the women’s sport landscape

Through her involvement with cycling, Heath began to work with Strava, and it was via the brand that she ended up at the Tour de France Femmes.

As cycling journalists, we don’t often get to interview athletes outside of our sport, so given the time with Heath, it was hard not to ask about how she perceived the sport, particularly in comparison to her own background and the women’s sport forerunner that is football.

Most of what Heath experienced on the ground at the Tour was hugely positive, but there were a few things that surprised her about the profile of the sport.

“I was so disappointed in just the lack of information,” she said. “I remember I was going to interview Demi Vollering, and I was trying to find as much information about her as possible. This is one of the best cyclists in the world, if not the best, and I wasn’t even able to find a story of how she got into cycling, you know, one of the most basic things. I went to her Wikipedia page and there wasn’t even a personal blog on her. I was like ‘this is messed up’ because when you go and speak to her, and you learn about her craft, then you watch how good she is, you’re just like ‘oh my gosh, this is a gold mine’.”

After an immersive few days in the Netherlands, Heath also experienced the crushing reality  of the limitations of women’s cycling coverage – an unfortunate rite of passage for all new fans. 

“I remember it was the final day of the Tour, which was one of the longest days, and I woke up early to watch it, and they didn’t start showing it until halfway through the race. And I was like, can you imagine a World Cup final, we’re playing in the World Cup final, and they turn it on at half time? I was just like ‘this is so not cool’, I thought I had gotten the time wrong or something, because I was like ‘I know they’re racing right now’.”

Coverage is a huge issue, but one thing Heath’s presence at the Tour highlighted was just how little cross-pollination with other sports cycling has. In the US, ‘women’s sport’ is practically an entity of its own, with particularly the NWSL and NWBA existing on a similar plane with similar audiences and fans. TOGETHXR, another brand who were working with Strava at the Tour and created the famous ‘Everyone Watches Women’s Sports’ t-shirts was founded by four athletes from four different sports – Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, Simone Manuel and Sue Bird. All this means that when one sport succeeds, the others rise with the tide.

In Europe and in cycling, however, that intermixing is not quite there, and that’s something Heath picked up on too.

“When I was interviewing a lot of the riders, I thought it would be a great icebreaker question – ‘what football team do you support?’ – and I thought being in Europe and the majority of the racers being European, I thought it was going to be the best icebreaker there is. And… nothing. I swear, there was no crossover from cycling to football.

“I told Demi, I was like ‘oh my gosh, you’re like cycling’s version of Viv Miedema’ [decorated Dutch footballer, currently at Manchester City] and I was like ‘oh are you good friends with her?’ because I thought, small nation, sporting nation, all this stuff, there’s only a couple of elite women athletes there, this is a no brainer, these are best friends waiting to happen. And she was just kind of like ‘yeah yeah, no no’. Those are the missed opportunities, right?”

Coming from the NWSL – arguably the most successful women’s sports league in the world – Heath knows a thing or two about where those opportunities for growth lie, and how to harness them. One foundation of the NWSL in particular is independence – most of the teams in the top-flight are women’s-only teams, not associated with men’s teams. 

“That’s where I’m really passionate is about independent ownership around women’s sports, because I believe that the women’s sports landscape looks very different to the men’s sports landscape, and you’re diminishing all the value that’s found in women’s sports if you try to copy and paste what men’s and women’s sports are like,” she said. 

It’s a debate we regularly have about the women’s calendar and teams in cycling, and we’re not closer to an answer as the sport seems to be at a crossroads between forging its own path, and following the men’s sport’s model. For Heath, it’s about not placing any more constraints on women’s sports. 

“I believe that the things that are being built by and for and looking at women’s sports as a completely new landscape are going to be the most powerful, the most successful ways to build, [rather] than to just try to be like ‘let’s make it exactly like men’s sports’. As long as that’s going to be the case, if that’s how people are looking at women’s sports, it’s always going to remain smaller than men’s sports. Yes, it will continue to grow, but it will always be smaller.”

Bringing cycling to a new audience

Like all women’s sports, what women’s cycling needs to grow is more attention and more investment. As someone who came to cycling via the women’s Tour de France, rather than the men’s sport, Heath also knows that, alongside the arguments for independence, there are arguments for using the well-known touchpoints in the sport as springboards. 

“It actually reminds me of the men’s and women’s World Cups,” she said. “The Women’s World Cup, it’s kind of that similar feel, where it has this global brand to it, it has this global reach, there’s a lot of history. So even for folks that don’t know the history of the Tour, and they don’t know that it just started for the women, so if they’re just coming to the sport they’ll just assume it has the same history as the men’s Tour. So I think that’s a lot to leverage in that moment. And it is a global event, it’s something that brings folks together, and I think the global nature of the sport is what makes it so special,” she said.

As someone who’s been playing at a senior level since 2004, Heath has seen both league football and the international tournaments grow almost exponentially into global brands and events, and when it comes to investment in women’s sports, she knows one thing to be true: it’s going to be worth it. 

“I think [growth] happening. I think it’s all about investment. But with so much of women’s sports, it always feels like we kind of have to show the numbers before we get the investment, and that’s not really how investment works. When people argue about it, they’re saying ‘oh the revenue’s not there’, but you invest to get revenue, it’s a simple business model. But in women’s sports, we haven’t been able to get to that point. I think we’re on the basement level of women’s sports. When you look at if you were to invest in men’s sports, we’re talking about big numbers, especially from a footballing perspective, but when you invest in women’s sports, you’re also talking about big numbers. If you invest now, it’s going to take ten, twenty years, but you’re going to make so much money.”

In posting about cycling to her 750,000-strong Instagram following, and talking about the Tour de France Femmes on her popular RE-CAP podcast, Heath is doing some of the work in bringing the sport to a whole new audience, and importantly, an audience who are already passionate about women’s sport. Rather than go after cycling fans and men’s sports fans, women’s cycling should look to attract the wider female sport audience. 

“I think there’s something in actually just building the community around women’s sports and creating more pathways to get from one sport to another in women’s sports, because I think there’s a lot of crossover between the things that I’m invested in and care about as a global women’s football fan that are easily translatable into women’s cycling.”

That conversion has definitely worked on Heath. She’s already hoping to come back for the full Tour next year, and is passionate about getting the word out about women’s cycling. 

“I had already gotten hooked on cycling, but then I went to the Tour and when I was learning about all these incredible athletes, I just became really obsessed and really passionate about bringing more attention to the sport and learning more, becoming a fan, and just getting involved and active in it, because I just feel like there’s so much there to appreciate and love.”

We certainly think so too, and with a star as high-profile as Tobin Heath fighting its corner, women’s cycling has found a very exciting new supporter.

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ABOUT BLAKE SHELTON

Often called “Country Music’s Chief Ambassador,” Blake Shelton has been delivering country music to a diverse audience for more than 20 years. This Grand Ole Opry member’s many successes include 28 #1 Country radio singles (beginning with his 2001 debut track “Austin”), 15 million albums sold and nearly 12 billion global on-demand streams. He is currently atop radio charts with “Pour Me a Drink,” where he guests with multi-genre hitmaker Post Malone. Blake Shelton’s many honors include 10 CMA awards, 11 CMTs, 6 ACMs, 3 AMAs, 6 People’s Choice awards, and more.

Shelton plans a wide array of shows in 2025, starting with his “Live in Las Vegas” February residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. His “Friends and Heroes Tour” kicks off on February 27 in Lexington, KY, featuring Craig Morgan, Deana Carter, and Trace Adkins with very special guest Emily Ann Roberts. Shelton partners with Opry Entertainment Group in Ole Red, a restaurant and world-class music venue with locations in Nashville, TN; Gatlinburg, TN; Orlando, FL; Tishomingo, OK; and Las Vegas, NV.

A generous donor and fundraiser for charitable causes in his native Oklahoma, Blake donated more than $150,000 to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma to help families dealing with food scarcity during the pandemic; he has championed the Oklahoma University’s Children’s Hospital Foundation and raised over $600,000 for the hospital; and, following Oklahoma’s devastating tornado outbreak in 2013, he organized a relief concert, “Healing in the Heartland,” which raised more than $6 million and was broadcast on NBC. Earlier this year, Shelton headlined a Tulsa, OK show called “Blake Shelton & Friends: Oklahoma is All for the Hall” featuring fellow Oklahomans Ronnie Dunn, Kristin Chenoweth, Vince Gill, and others, raising more then $750,000 for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. He is currently lending his name and his time to help raise money for the OKPOP Foundation as they work to build the Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture in Tulsa. For more information, please visitwww.BlakeShelton.com and follow @BlakeShelton. 

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Luo Yizhou in two looks for Longines Global Champion Tour in Shanghai