They do not by and large bring the same dedication and certainly don't bring the same levels of power and endurance. I found this extremely puzzling. The idea that women's cycling being behind men's can be attributed to 'working class Europe' completely ignores the fact that women are also underrepresented in many sports, even those that did not originate either in Europe or the 'working class'. But women have not at all been ignored in that sport. Finally, Europe is not a particularly conservative part of the world.
Many progressive movements have originated in Europe - in any field one can think of.
Cycling can be called conservative, as it has many traditions, but this is not exclusively connected with either its social or geographical roots. Doping In response to Chris Highley, if you want to see a true test of man against man, then I'm afraid those days never even existed. Doping in athletes started way back in the days of the ancient Greek, Roman, Aztec and Incan times. They all doped. Opium, ephedrine and various substances and practices were used and experimented with.