Fifty women, seven self-supported days, 800 kilometres and 10,000 metres of climbing. The inaugural GRL PCK Rally took riders from Munich to Lausanne, timed to arrive for the Grand Départ of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Once there, they joined Cheer PCK, a roadside fan activation run under the banner "Here to Cheer".
BikeBiz has the full story, and it is well worth a read. Congratulations to Laura Claus and the GRL PCK team, every rider who made the trip, and the collectives who lined the road with them, including Switzerland's RAWR and the Netherlands' Fietsvrouwen.
We rode to Lausanne because we wanted to show up for the women’s race.
A clear idea with a destination
The strongest thing about the Rally is its focus. It was built to make big bikepacking adventures feel visible, approachable and achievable for more women, and it gave that ambition a fixed point on the map: the start of the women's Tour. Riding becomes a reason to watch, and watching becomes a reason to ride.
That link between participation and fandom is the heart of the positioning. GRL PCK is not asking people to admire professional racing from a distance. It is inviting them to take part in the fan culture and help shape it.
Partners as participants
The partner line-up is impressive: SRAM, Rapha, Canyon, Zwift, komoot, KASK, Oakley, Maurten and Sea to Summit. What stands out is how they were used. Their direct funding subsidised operating costs, lowering the financial barrier that usually keeps people out of multi-day touring.
On the road, the kit did the talking. Riders navigated with komoot, rode Canyon bikes, wore Rapha, camped with Sea to Summit gear and had mechanical support from SRAM. Because the event was self-supported, the products were part of the story rather than a logo on a banner. That is far more persuasive than passive sponsorship, and it is reflected in how warmly the partners' own marketing teams spoke about it.
Creators and daily storytelling
The Rally brought creators along for the ride, including Kate Jones (Pelohun) and comic creator Teagan Phillips, alongside the participants' own voices. The result was honest, first-person content from people with something real at stake.
The numbers back this up. GRL PCK's organic content drew more than 1.3 million views, with 63.8% coming from non-followers. Stories delivered over 500k views and feed posts around 600k, which points to a real appetite for live, daily updates from the road.
The survey results are just as telling. 74% of respondents had never attended the Tour de France Femmes in person before, 95% kept watching through the race, and all of them plan to watch again next year, with 75% aiming to be on the roadside.
What other brands can take from it
- Give your campaign a destination. A fixed moment, such as a race, a ride or a season opener, turns a message into a journey people can follow.
- Fund access, not just visibility. Removing a barrier to taking part earns more goodwill than buying space.
- Put product in real use. Kit that solves problems in the content is more credible than kit in a studio shot.
- Work with communities that already exist. Collectives like RAWR and Fietsvrouwen bring trust and reach you cannot buy.
- Plan for daily, native content. Stories and posts built for social drove discovery among non-followers, which is a strong base for paid amplification and retargeting.
- Measure the outcome you care about. GRL PCK surveyed its riders on fandom, not just impressions, and the results make a compelling case.
At Objective 1 we spend a lot of time helping cycling brands connect community and campaign, and this is one of the clearest examples we have seen this year. Well done to everyone involved.