WOMEN ARTISTS TURN GRAFFITI BALLS INTO EYEBALLS ON THE TOUR DE FRANCE FEMMES

A team of international women artists are turning penis graffiti from the Tour de France men’s race into a platform to promote the women’s race at the Tour de France Femmes

Every year, hundreds of penises are graffitied onto the race route during the menʼs Tour de France. It’s a constant battle for organisers who have employed a dedicated team dubbed ʻthe Erasermenʼ to try to paint over the markings before theyʼre captured by the worldʼs press reporting on the race.

However this year, a team of talented women artists have been deployed to adapt the cheeky graffiti with a brilliant and bonkers campaign to re-draw attention to the Tour de France Femmes, a thrilling nine-stage race which takes place immediately after the menʼs race from the 26th July to the 3rd August.

With the Tour de France attracting an impressive cumulative TV audience of over 3.5 billion, there is a significant opportunity to leverage the Tour’s global platform and bring more attention to the women’s race. To do this, a team of international women artists will drive around the course in a special support car (provided by sponsor Škoda) to convert the penises at Stage 19 in the mountains into eye-catching designs that are impossible to ignore.

Created by feminist French illustrator Cécile Dormeau and London-based illustrator Erin Aniker, the artworks cleverly incorporates the saucy scribblings to turn them into bold visual statements that celebrate cycling and draw attention to the Tour de France Femmes. Each artwork will feature #WatchTheFemmes, the official hashtag of the womenʼs race, to encourage cycling fanss worldwide to watch the race.

The all women team of artists include talented mural artists Jo Hicks from Hixxy Studio, Elle Koziupa and Mathilde Jacquemet working with London based agencies Global Street Art and FCB London to paint the artworks to gigantic and eye-catching proportions on the French mountain tops.

Now in its fourth year, the 2025 edition of the Tour de France Femmes will take place from Saturday July 26 to Sunday August 3, 2025. 22 teams with over 150 riders will take part in this yearʼs race, with the womenʼs peloton battling it out over nine stages cycling a whopping total of 1,165km!