Shownotes
This week it's all about previewing the biggest women's race of the year: The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
Kate Veronneau, director of women's strategy at Zwift, joins us to give a peak behind the curtain into what goes into the massive event, the kind of growth they've seen at TDFF, and who she thinks could win.
But first, it's our women's sports highlights from the week, including drama from the Euros soccer championship, gossip from the WNBA All-Star Weekend, and a deep dive into the doping sanction that was handed out to the marathon world record holder (and why it hurts more than just a couple of athletes).
From what women's sports we watched to what we want to watch, it's just another week of your favorite sports with your Feistiest friends!
Highlights:
- 0:00 - Welcome and What We Watched
- 13:00 - "Pay Us What You Owe Us"
- 21:57 - WNBA Insights and Gossip
- 25:02 - The Doping Downfall of Marathon World Record Holder, Ruth Chepngetich
- 34:43 - The Impact of Doping on Athletic Careers
- 43:20 - Kate Veronneau previews the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift
- 01:11:10 - Our Feisty Picks of the Week, including American Ninja Warrior
Subscribe to The Feist, our Free Weekly Newsletter covering Women's Sports: https://feisty.co/feistnews/
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Transcripts
I thought you were starting.
Speaker B:I am.
Speaker B:I'm just centering myself, Kelly.
Speaker B:The WNBA All Star weekend, a doping scandal, and behind the scenes on the making of the Tour de France Femmes.
Speaker B:Just another week here at your favorite podcast.
Speaker A:Your favorite podcast.
Speaker A:Yeah, Perfect.
Speaker A:Great opener.
Speaker B:What I was trying to say is on the podcast that covers your favorite sports with your feistiest friends, but it didn't quite, you know, from brain to mouth, didn't quite connect.
Speaker B:Anyway.
Speaker B:Hi, Kelly.
Speaker A:I feel like on your favorite podcast works too.
Speaker A:It's fine.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's fine.
Speaker B:It's great.
Speaker A:It's great.
Speaker A:It's going great.
Speaker A:Now we have a lot of five.
Speaker B:Sorry, go ahead.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, I was going to say.
Speaker A:We have a lot of scores, so lots of things happening this week.
Speaker B:I know there's so much that it's hard to like, like each week as it comes around and we're recording again, and I have to make sure I'm caught up on all the events of women's sports that week.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's a lot happening, which is great.
Speaker B:Which I'm excited about.
Speaker B:But, you know, there's a lot of stuff happening.
Speaker A:There's a lot of stuff happening.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:When you.
Speaker A:For people who still watch tv on regular TV with channels and a remote.
Speaker C:I know.
Speaker A:I'm like one of five.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:You do that, don't you?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:So do old people.
Speaker A:It's fine.
Speaker A:And so when I scroll every weekend, I gotta tell you, there's like, so much women sports on.
Speaker A:I could have, like, softball.
Speaker A:AUSL was on this weekend.
Speaker A:Like, and I.
Speaker A:And so you.
Speaker A:It's kind of hard to pick.
Speaker A:Like, you become overwhelmed by choice.
Speaker A:And I was watching some Euros, of course.
Speaker A:So what we watched this weekend, Euros.
Speaker A:And I just happened to catch the first, like, 10 minutes of the France, Germany.
Speaker A:And if you saw this in the first 10 minutes, a German player got thrown out of the game.
Speaker B:Oh, really?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:For pulling.
Speaker B:Oh, I heard about this.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And there's a penalty.
Speaker B:Uhhuh.
Speaker A:And France still lost.
Speaker B:They still.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker C:God.
Speaker B:And Germany won.
Speaker B:That's wild.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I went to a penalty shootout once.
Speaker A:You're at a penalty shootout.
Speaker A:It's kind of honestly like crapshoot, right?
Speaker A:I know everybody acts like it's not, but it is.
Speaker A:But I was just like, France is cursed at major tournaments.
Speaker A:Like, they cannot win.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Oh, I.
Speaker B:Do you have an emergency in your neighborhood?
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:There is a fire station down the street from me, and apparently there is a fire.
Speaker B:I'm surprised this is the first time we've seen.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:What makes you say France is cursed?
Speaker A:Well, okay, so they were actually.
Speaker A:They've been favorites at a number of.
Speaker A:Like when we were in Paris Olympics last year, they were actually the heavy favorites.
Speaker A:You know, I was very concerned they were going to knock the US Out.
Speaker A:They did not.
Speaker A:World Cup.
Speaker A:They were heavy favorites.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:They, like, have not been able to advance past quarterfinals in a major tournament.
Speaker A:And then they became convinced that this was, like, a mental block.
Speaker A:And so apparently this year they've hired, like, this mental coach, Strat, like, psychologist, who, like, is on the bench on the sidelines with them, which is, like.
Speaker A:And they still lost.
Speaker A:But he says it's not because of their mental game.
Speaker B:Of course he says that.
Speaker A:So anyway, I don't know what's going on there.
Speaker A:I feel bad for them.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Well, at some point, France is gonna unlock this problem and make a big comeback.
Speaker B:So we can just wait for that.
Speaker A:We just wait for that.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A: ember all the way back to the: Speaker A:That was in France.
Speaker A:They're supposed to do, like, super good.
Speaker A:So they've had a lot of years here of major tournaments being slightly underwhelming, which is unfortunate.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:For them.
Speaker A:But right now, as we're recording, it is semifinals.
Speaker A:So I'm not going to predict who makes the finals.
Speaker A:By the time you hear this, the semifinals will be over.
Speaker A:And then the finals are yet this weekend.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'm so excited.
Speaker B:I like it when it's coming down.
Speaker B:I mean, everybody does, right?
Speaker A:You like the finals?
Speaker B:We are.
Speaker B:I like the finals.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker B:I'm such an unusual sports fan.
Speaker B:You know, I was with a family member this weekend who really, like, I would.
Speaker B:I wouldn't say she was someone who was like, highly invested in women's sports.
Speaker B:You know what I mean?
Speaker B:Like, this new surgeons of women's sports is a.
Speaker B:It's kind of like new to her thinking.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And it was interesting because she was talking about.
Speaker B:Because she lives in Switzerland and she was talking about Euros being there and was like, Sarah, I was very surprised by how I felt about watching women.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Like this.
Speaker B:Like, interesting to hear her for the.
Speaker B:In first, like, for the first time kind of processing this thing of like, oh, it actually made her feel like, oh, maybe I could do that.
Speaker B:Even though she's in her 50s and can't do that.
Speaker A:Like, probably not.
Speaker A:We're not going to judge.
Speaker B:We're just.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like, you know, stacked against her, really.
Speaker B:But I think.
Speaker B:But it's like that same feeling that I had when I watched, like, what I.
Speaker B:You know, that we all have when we watch.
Speaker B:But it was interesting just to hear someone, like, processing that for the first time that, like.
Speaker B:Oh, actually there is a difference.
Speaker B:Like, we.
Speaker B:You know, and in my head, like.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:Like, if that difference is from kind of an unsuspecting, like, someone who's just.
Speaker B:Who's kind of watching because there's a.
Speaker B:There's a big championship going on in their country, you know?
Speaker A:Right, right.
Speaker B:That, like, that's.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:I just thought it was, like, very cool to go.
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:Like, you're like, yes, welcome, welcome.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:Welcome, everyone.
Speaker B:Everyone who's wondering.
Speaker B:Anyone who listens, who isn't sure.
Speaker B:Like, me, you know, I'm out there trying to find, like, new sports.
Speaker B:I'm trying to find new sports to watch.
Speaker B:I watched boxing for the very first time last week.
Speaker B:You know, that it.
Speaker B:It really does have that, like, it's a very different effect on me.
Speaker B:Resonates much more deeply than other than watching men's sports.
Speaker A:I do think yours has been super interesting.
Speaker A: ean, the last time around the: Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because it was delayed a year.
Speaker A:It's been interesting to watch Europe get into women's soccer.
Speaker A:Because Europe is soccer mad.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, they already loved it.
Speaker A:It's like, one thing for, like, the US to get into women's.
Speaker A:As we talked about, like, two or three episodes ago.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But Europe cares so much about soccer now for them to get into the women's.
Speaker A:It has come with some downsides.
Speaker A:Like, one of the English players spoke out about, like, she's been getting a lot of racial abuse directed at her because English soccer fans are not chill.
Speaker C:Right, Right.
Speaker A:So I was trying to think of a nice way to say that.
Speaker A:So it's come with a lot of, like.
Speaker A:And then as sports betting has increased, too, that's also come with a lot of harassment.
Speaker A:So that's.
Speaker A:There's, like.
Speaker A:That's the downside.
Speaker A:But it is, like, super interesting to watch.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Europe get really behind.
Speaker B:It's soccer behind the sock.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I saw that Basel.
Speaker B:It was actually 12 traffic lights that they changed to have the walk symbol be like, the woman football, woman footballer, and that they're thinking of keeping them that way, like, not going back to the little green man.
Speaker B:There will be 12, hopefully, if they finalize that.
Speaker B:12 traffic lights.
Speaker B:Well, crossing signals.
Speaker B:I Guess in Basel, where you can see a little female football player instead of the green man.
Speaker B:Love it.
Speaker A:Switzerland did get knocked out, though.
Speaker B:So sad.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker B:We saw that.
Speaker B:They did well, though.
Speaker A:Good for them.
Speaker B:For.
Speaker B:For Switzerland.
Speaker B:For what we were expecting, I think.
Speaker B:I don't know what we were expecting.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:What were you expecting?
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker A:I mean, I don't think.
Speaker A:Obviously, yeah, they're good.
Speaker A:They're not like the powerhouse of like England or France or Germany or Netherlands, but.
Speaker B:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker B:And we have four powerhouses in the f or going into the semis.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:We've got France, Germany, England, France.
Speaker A:We just discussed it.
Speaker A:France got knocked.
Speaker A:Germany, Italy, Italy, Spain and England.
Speaker A:My apologies, but that'll be decided by the time you listen to this.
Speaker A:Watch the finals.
Speaker A:Esther explained everybody loves finals.
Speaker A:It is on regular broadcast tv.
Speaker A:So even if you're an old person, you can watch it on regular broadcast tv, which I know everybody hates on.
Speaker A:But actually, literally more viewers watch when it's on broadcast tv.
Speaker B:So yeah, more viewers watch.
Speaker B:And I think as we look into like, I really loved the way that the, that Netflix played the boxing live.
Speaker B:Like, I, I know that there were streaming services that were streaming the Olympics, but then those would also sit just as video in the video collection.
Speaker B:And so the more that that happens, I think the more we'll bring like, we'll bring more young audiences too.
Speaker A:Into the young people.
Speaker B:Into the young people.
Speaker B:Into women's sports.
Speaker B:Kelly.
Speaker A:Oh, good.
Speaker A:What did.
Speaker A:Speaking of, you know what else I watched a lot this weekend?
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:I did not watch the WNBA Skills Challenge.
Speaker A:I did, however, watch the live stream on like the Twitch Stud livestream because.
Speaker A:Cause it was all like.
Speaker A:I mean, I don't really watch Twitch, but they were.
Speaker A:People were sharing it on a.
Speaker A:For sure.
Speaker A:Cause they were just full on live streaming.
Speaker A:72 hours of all Star Weekend.
Speaker A:All the behind the scenes, like the parties, the meetings.
Speaker A:Explain to me.
Speaker B:Is this like somebody with an iPhone?
Speaker A:It is two players on Minnesota, I believe.
Speaker A:So obviously they have the inn and they like know everybody and they're like, you know, much beloved within wba.
Speaker A:And so they have this kind of stream that they've done before and I think it just sort of took off this weekend because they were having a good time and partying with their phones.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:With all the other players.
Speaker A:So there are all these like viral moments.
Speaker A:Like, you know, Caitlin Clark's teammate Aliyah Boston, taking her drink from her before she.
Speaker A:You could see her taking her drink away as she's like going on camera, the WWA commissioner Kathy was like dancing with them at the after party.
Speaker A:So I think that was just like really funny.
Speaker A:I just appreciated.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I like appreciated that.
Speaker A:It was like they were having a good time.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I think this is like, I think it's like case in point for how women's sports fandom and movement is being.
Speaker B:Is growing.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:It's like, it's like things like that.
Speaker B:It's like players with iPhones behind the scenes.
Speaker B:So like 60.
Speaker B:It was like 60,000 people watch that Twitch stream, right?
Speaker B:So like, so like you can then watch behind the scenes all this fun stuff going on.
Speaker B:Like the commissioner of the WNBA dancing like so.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:So I will say, yeah, I didn't watch too much of the actual basketball, but I was all there for the parties and the.
Speaker A:I seem like some of them might have been slightly hungover for the actual basketball.
Speaker A:A little bit interesting.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, you knew because you were watching behind the scenes because you can.
Speaker B:I watched the skills challenge or I watched like I watched part of it and then I watched like all the highlights too.
Speaker B:But like I had never watched it before.
Speaker B:So the entire format and everything was new to me, which was like so cool.
Speaker B:So for those who don't know you, like, they set up like a little course for the players to do.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And you have to do a combination of bounce passes, a test pass, some three different.
Speaker B:Some different shots.
Speaker B:So definitely three pointer and a couple other shots before you.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:And it's all speed based so you don't get like.
Speaker B:So for example, when you come up to the three point line, if you hit the first one, you get to move on to the next station.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:But you get a total of.
Speaker B:So you could like miss three.
Speaker B:And that doesn't take anything away from you except the time that it took you to take three shots versus the person who hit the first one.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So I thought that was like super interesting and cool and it was all like the big light up.
Speaker B:These big light up circles they have to put like the passes into.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was really fun.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:And watching like.
Speaker B:Go ahead.
Speaker A:Well, I was gonna say, I heard.
Speaker A:I mean, I saw some of the three point contest.
Speaker A:Cause Sabrina Ionescu is obviously a really big deal and she won again.
Speaker A:And then I heard she donated half her money to charity and half her money to like the only rookie who was in the three point contest.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Because she had said beforehand that she was going to do that if she won, which I love.
Speaker B:And Natasha Cloud who won the skills competition was going to use her the money for the down payment on a house.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker B:Which I love.
Speaker B:Like, I like, honestly like that.
Speaker B:Really for me, because I've.
Speaker B:I did that before, like very early in my tri.
Speaker B:Career.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:I. Yeah, it was sort of like if I literally, I had a offer in on a.
Speaker B:It wasn't a house, it was a tiny condo, but it was the first condo I ever bought.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And I had it all set up and I needed like, to come in the top three in order to be able to afford the down payment.
Speaker B:Otherwise I was going to be on the phone, like asking a relative to see me.
Speaker B:But I, I really thought I was very confident.
Speaker B:I was like, I can do this.
Speaker B:And I came second in the race and I put my down payment down.
Speaker B:It was like a very sweet, like, sports moment for me.
Speaker B:So when I heard her say that, when I heard Natasha Cloud say that she was doing the same, I was like, oh, yes, I love this.
Speaker A:Obviously, the big moment of the weekend was when they all came out and they took their warmups off and they were all wearing T shirts that said pay us what you owe us.
Speaker A:Which is part of the whole WNBA CBA negotiations, because the league and the players are negotiating right now for a new contract and it's not going well.
Speaker A:They're not.
Speaker B:Negotiation's not going.
Speaker A:No, they're not.
Speaker A:Negotiations are not going well, according to the Twitch live stream.
Speaker B:Oh, well, that's the behind the scenes.
Speaker B:So you're in the know.
Speaker A:I think they meant they've been at an impasse, right.
Speaker A:Over this whole, like, the players want to be paid more.
Speaker A:So anyway, I thought it was really cool and I think we see this over and over and over again in women's sports.
Speaker A:Like the organizing, like soccer talked about it.
Speaker A:The hockey, the US Women's hockeys talked about it, how they organize to get everyone on board.
Speaker A:And so clearly.
Speaker A:And that was the other part.
Speaker A:You could see them all meeting to like plan this on the.
Speaker A:On the behind the scenes livestream.
Speaker B:Now I feel like I've really missed out on.
Speaker A:Not that like they said they were going to do the T shirts, but, like, that they had meetings to talk about it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:So yeah, they.
Speaker A:So they clearly.
Speaker A:And like they got everyone on board, even the hungover players.
Speaker A:So it was.
Speaker A:And you can buy.
Speaker A:I will say you, you can.
Speaker A:Now don't buy a knockoff.
Speaker A:There are knockoffs out there of the shirt.
Speaker B:Oh, there's knockoffs already.
Speaker A:Of course there are.
Speaker A:But you can also buy an official One licensed from the players association that then the money goes back to the players association and you can buy one that says, pay them what they owe them.
Speaker A:Because apparently all the fans then in the stand were chanting, pay them.
Speaker B:Oh, I love that.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So you could buy a shirt, right?
Speaker B:I thought it was, like, super.
Speaker B:I really think.
Speaker B:Kelly, I think they have to pay them.
Speaker B:Like, I think this is a moment.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker B:It is that, like, basically you have this league.
Speaker B:It's massively on the rise, right.
Speaker B:They're trying to contract this deal, which is literally just the same deal that the men had, like we talked about last week.
Speaker B:They have to do it.
Speaker A:No, I think you're at a point, because I'll tell you, like, general fan.
Speaker A:Like, I talked to a lot of people kind of generally, and like, in businesses that.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And even the people who are like, oh, well, the WNBA was a charity before.
Speaker A:They're like, well, even they are kind of like, it's not like, how could you have tripling revenue and not be increasing?
Speaker A:How could team valuations and franchise fees have gone up that much and yet the players aren't.
Speaker A:How Caitlin Clark be worth a billion dollars and yet only be paid 76k?
Speaker A:Like, it just doesn't make sense to people anymore, so.
Speaker B:Totally.
Speaker B:And they're.
Speaker B:They're.
Speaker B:What they're asking for is a percentage of the revenue.
Speaker B:So it scales as they grow.
Speaker B:It's not like the.
Speaker B:The same contract lit.
Speaker B:It's not like the literal same amount of money as the men get in the NBA, which really, we could ask for.
Speaker A:Yeah, they're saying, like.
Speaker A:They're saying, like, it's a percentage standard in male athlete leagues is about 50% of revenue goes back in athlete compensation, and WMA is only at like 9.8%.
Speaker A:And that's ridiculous.
Speaker A:So, yeah.
Speaker B:It'S almost funny compared to 50%.
Speaker A:The other thing is, if you're on.
Speaker A:The WNBA Players association has an Instagram, naturally, and their slogan is it's just a business, which is like.
Speaker A:I actually think it's a really good slogan right now because they're like.
Speaker A:Like, it's business, man.
Speaker A:Just pay us.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so that they obviously were posting a bunch of all these T shirts and everything.
Speaker A:And the U.S. women's National Soccer Team is all up in there commenting, being like, yeah, pay that.
Speaker A:So it's like a whole.
Speaker A:It's a.
Speaker A:It's a whole circle.
Speaker B:Oh, I love this.
Speaker B:I think they have to.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like, so I think.
Speaker A:I mean, I don't see how they get.
Speaker A:I don't I'm sure, you know there'll be more arguments about it, but I just don't see.
Speaker A:It's kind of like when the U.S. women's National Team sort of set the stage in this debate like 10 years ago or whatever and you had people at parades and stuff chanting like, pay them.
Speaker A:Like, I think the tide has turned.
Speaker B:It's going to go to that level.
Speaker B:And especially because it's, it's like the reason they're not paying them is based on this legacy of like saying like you just said, like the WNBA doesn't make any money, blah, blah.
Speaker B:It's really, really hard to argue that out in a public facing arena.
Speaker A:I think I did tell you to somebody that this week, if they were like, okay, well it used to be, you know, it used to not make money and be like a charity.
Speaker A:Like by that standard, like every tech business in San Francisco doesn't make money into the charity everything.
Speaker B:And there are still like massive men's sports leagues that have losing.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Like years where revenue is lost.
Speaker B:Like, that's it.
Speaker B:Every business has years when they.
Speaker B:Then they're not profitable.
Speaker A:I also think it's sort of a, this is a separate, this is a Kelly.
Speaker A:This is a Kelly.
Speaker A:Random point, like, but like, what is profitability anyway?
Speaker A:Like, because if you're just going to pay yourself whatever you want to pay and then call that a cost, then like, is that profit or is it not right?
Speaker A:If I can say, like, well, I earned out of my time is worth X amount and I need this much money as the commissioner or as the front office staff.
Speaker A:But that's not a profit.
Speaker A:That's just part of the cost of doing business.
Speaker A:Then like, why is the players not just part of cost of doing.
Speaker A:Like, it doesn't make any sense.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Like every business, public or private, makes decisions about how they're going to like how they're going to finalize revenue at the end of the year if they're paying dividends, if they're not.
Speaker B:How much, like you said, like how much they're paying their employees, their senior executives, et cetera, what they're investing in.
Speaker B:Like, it's.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So pay them and you get a sticker.
Speaker A:I wanted a sticker that said pay the players, but I couldn't find.
Speaker A:But you can get a pay them.
Speaker A:You get a T shirt.
Speaker B:You can get.
Speaker B:Just pay them on the.
Speaker A:Pay them what you.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:What you owe them is the T shirt.
Speaker B:Pay them what you owe them on the T shirt.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I think I'm think I might, I might need one of these.
Speaker B:Kelly.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It feels like a universal.
Speaker B:Although I kind of like the pay us what you owe us to because it had, it has like, it had like a vibe.
Speaker A:I also get one of those.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like, oh, you can.
Speaker B:It's like.
Speaker B:Because it kind of like then it like transcends.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So, yeah, that was, that was what I took away from the All Star weekend.
Speaker A:I will say they also did not get that big.
Speaker A:I was like, oh, well, they get a break for All Star weekend and they're like partying and it's like they were like it was not a long enough break because a lot of them were playing regular games either Tuesday or Wednesday and then they were at.
Speaker A:Then they were flying and then they're back playing this Wednesday.
Speaker A:Like, I'm going to a game on Friday here.
Speaker A:So it's like it was not a long break, which some of them said it was.
Speaker B:And how many of your Valkyries players were there?
Speaker A:I only believe like one Valkyries player.
Speaker A:The Valkyries are interesting.
Speaker A:Obviously we've talked about this before.
Speaker A:An interesting thing where no one expected them to be good this year.
Speaker A:No one expected them to be as valuable as they are.
Speaker B:The highest valued team within like, you know, months of launching sports.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so they don't have like any super big superstars.
Speaker A:They have very solid players that are like very well respected within the league.
Speaker A:But it's sort of just like how they've come together so.
Speaker B:Well, next month in next.
Speaker B:In August, I'm going to the.
Speaker B:To a WNBA game in Vancouver.
Speaker B:And you know what it means when they start putting random games in your.
Speaker B:In a location to test it.
Speaker A:To test.
Speaker B:No, I think so.
Speaker A: 's not going to happen before: Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:They already have like Portland announced their name for their new team.
Speaker A:The Fire, I believe, because that was their old team 20 years ago when they had a team.
Speaker B:Oh, cool.
Speaker A:And that comes next year.
Speaker A:Toronto tempo comes next year.
Speaker A:So those two are next year and then the next three are one a year for the three years after that.
Speaker A: ng you it's not coming before: Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And if we're going to.
Speaker B:I mean, if I'm going to take wild behind the scenes guesses of the book, the WNBA book.
Speaker B:Let's do it.
Speaker B:Let's just do it.
Speaker B:There is a relationship between team expansion and what percentage you're paying the players, right?
Speaker A:Yes, yes.
Speaker B:In terms of, like, where you put.
Speaker B:You have to make money decisions.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:So, yeah, but they are testing out the Canadian market a little.
Speaker B:A little more the Canadian market.
Speaker B:I love it.
Speaker B:I just.
Speaker B:Oh, Vancouver.
Speaker B:Vancouver's a great sports city, too.
Speaker A:Like, the Bay Area is not a great.
Speaker A:This has always been.
Speaker A:The thing is, like, the Bay Area is not a big sports city.
Speaker A:Well, the joke has always been that we'd rather be outside doing the sports than watching the sports, because that's the same in Vancouver.
Speaker B:Except, I don't know, I feel like that they're the same people.
Speaker B:Like, there's some of the same people, the people who want to.
Speaker B:Especially in, like, women's sports.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Maybe in men's sports, it's a little bit different because you have the people who sit on a Sunday afternoon and watch football versus the people who are out cycling all day on a Sunday.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:But like, men's football, I mean, but then in women's sport, there seems to be more just, like, active people.
Speaker B:Like, the women who do the sports also watch the sports.
Speaker A:I. I think that's true.
Speaker A:And I'm sure now, like, there's recent Bay Area fans who tell me it's a great town, but I'm just telling you, this is the ongoing debate here.
Speaker A:And the game.
Speaker A:Okay, so I'm going to a game on Friday with my mom.
Speaker A:I picked it because it's a game where we're playing Dallas Wings because Paige Beckers is playing.
Speaker A:And I want to see Paige Beckers.
Speaker A:The other big thing out of the WWE All Star was she revealed her girlfriend.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, I saw that.
Speaker A:I am so here for the gossip.
Speaker A:This is like, we really should just run a sports gossip show.
Speaker B:So what day did that happen?
Speaker A:Friday on the.
Speaker A:They do, like, a red carpet.
Speaker A:That's really an orange carpet.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:And there's like this again, there is a streamer Instagram, TikTok video called Wag's Talk.
Speaker A:So why is a girlfriend interviews?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And so she was.
Speaker A:So she was interviewing Paige.
Speaker A:Like, what do you.
Speaker A:How much do you know about your.
Speaker A:Your girlfriend?
Speaker A:Like, it was all these questions and she knew everything, right?
Speaker A:She like all these super obscure questions about, you know how, like, if someone quizzed you about your partner, would you be able to get all the.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Oh, I get it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah, they're, like, quizzing you.
Speaker A:Like, what do you know?
Speaker A:Can you answer these questions about your partner?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then at the end, she was like, oh, hey, and who is your girlfriend?
Speaker A:And it was.
Speaker A:And she was, like, revealed it because it's been this joke.
Speaker A:Not.
Speaker A:Joke is not the right word.
Speaker A:They have joked about it.
Speaker A:It's been, like, kind of a.
Speaker A:Like, are they.
Speaker A:Aren't they.
Speaker A:Is it for real?
Speaker A:Because a Z. Fud was the UConn teammate.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:When they won the national title, they used to play youth A U ball together, so.
Speaker B:Oh, they played together at youth level.
Speaker B:Oh, that's so cute.
Speaker A:Oh, it's.
Speaker A:It's amazing.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:I also saw somebody joke that, like, who would you trust with your.
Speaker A:Like, a secret for.
Speaker A:With your life?
Speaker A:And it was the entire UConn team because they kept that thing a secret for four years, and that's the end of the list.
Speaker A:Like, the whole Yukon team is who I would trust with the secretary kept.
Speaker B:That a secret for four years.
Speaker A:Well, obviously, everyone on the team knew what I was saying.
Speaker A:Nobody said.
Speaker A:Nobody said anything.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Onto the team.
Speaker B:What reason would they have for keeping that a secret?
Speaker A:Well, I just say I don't think they were ready to go public and have it be a thing while they were still in college.
Speaker A:And, like, I mean, she.
Speaker A:A Zifa is still in cash, but, like, so they just, like, weren't going public with it.
Speaker A:And I'm just saying their teammates just, like, didn't.
Speaker A:They didn't say anything.
Speaker B:They didn't say anything.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Even if they were, like, on tv, even, you know, like, ucon's a big.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Media.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:That the March Madness tournament is huge.
Speaker B:There's a lot of attention.
Speaker A:So I'm just saying, good for them.
Speaker B:Good for them.
Speaker A:Good for them.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:That's what we watched this weekend.
Speaker A:Before we get to what we're watching this upcoming weekend, because we are going to talk all things.
Speaker A:Tour de France, Femmes of X Swift.
Speaker A:That is starting on Saturday.
Speaker A:It's huge.
Speaker A:We have a big preview.
Speaker A:But first, Sarah, we got to get in the weeds.
Speaker A:News of the week.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Very unfortunate.
Speaker A:We got to go.
Speaker B:Sad news of the week.
Speaker A:Sad news.
Speaker A:We're like.
Speaker A:What's the.
Speaker A:Like on tv, cable?
Speaker A:Like, cable news?
Speaker A:When they, like, shift, they're like.
Speaker A:And now for a sad story.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Turn to a different camera.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker B:You did a good job.
Speaker B:You did a good job of it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Camera two.
Speaker A:Camera two.
Speaker B:Sad story.
Speaker C:Sad.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:The world record holder in the marathon, RUV Chaffnikich.
Speaker A:I said that.
Speaker A:Weird.
Speaker A:Kenya from Kenya just got popped for doping is technically provisional right now, which means that she could appeal it.
Speaker A:That's, like, a whole different thing.
Speaker A:About, like, the process.
Speaker A:But she's accepted provisional suspension for now.
Speaker A:What it technically is, is a diuretic.
Speaker B:Yeah, a diuretic which could be used as a masking agent.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So the reason for people who, like, don't.
Speaker A:For people who haven't had to, like, sit through a anti doping seminar as a pro athlete, the reason, like, diuretics and, like, IVs and that kind of thing are banned is because they can basically water down banned substances and make it harder for them to test.
Speaker A:So this is a diuretic, a masking.
Speaker A:And because it is a thing that can be found in other drugs, the amount that qualifies as a doping suspension, if that makes sense, is higher.
Speaker A:Like, it's, like, pretty high.
Speaker A:Like, a lot of anti.
Speaker A:A lot of anti doping.
Speaker A:A lot of drugs that are banned, the amount's very, very small, that if they detect it, you get a ban.
Speaker A:This is pretty high because it is in other drugs.
Speaker A:And she was still like, 30 times the limit or something.
Speaker A:Like, it's, like, it wasn't.
Speaker A:It's not accidental.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, this is how you end up, like, for someone.
Speaker B:I mean.
Speaker B:Yeah, you were a pro athlete, too.
Speaker B:And like, I've been on doping control lists on.
Speaker B:For a few years and it, like, it's weird.
Speaker B:Like, the list of things that you can't take gets really weird really quickly and you're like, why this?
Speaker B:Or why this?
Speaker B:And a lot of it has to do with the.
Speaker B:With, like, this.
Speaker B:Like, it's.
Speaker B:Whatever she took was a diuretic, but it's used to, like, stop the testing for.
Speaker A:You know, I'm going to say that.
Speaker A:I'm going to say it.
Speaker A:Are you ready?
Speaker A:Hydrochlorothy.
Speaker B:Oh, there we go.
Speaker B:Thank you for the accuracy.
Speaker B:But, yeah, like, you look at that, you think.
Speaker B:And then, you know, you might be taking meds for something else, and then that's like, that's what the substances in.
Speaker B:In your meds.
Speaker B:You're like, well, why can't I take that?
Speaker B:And, like.
Speaker B:And then it also gives you an appreciation for, like, how doping control has to manage all this stuff, because they're like, it's not just like, oh, they had EPO in their system.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like, it's not as simple as that.
Speaker B:It's like, you have to.
Speaker B:Then you have to look at all of the other, like, all of the other things that people do to hide doping and ban those things, too.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I will say, in general, I feel, in general, I'm on the side of, like, athletes and I feel pretty bad for.
Speaker A:I mean.
Speaker A:I mean that, like, I think we should, like, give them more leeway to, like, prove their innocence.
Speaker A:And because it's very much a system of, like, you're presumed guilty and you have to prove you're innocent, it doesn't work the way we think of courts working in America.
Speaker A:There is no presumption you are presumed guilty, and then you have to really, really, really prove that somehow this was an accident or you was contaminated.
Speaker A:The presumption is on that.
Speaker A:And I generally feel bad for athletes because I think a lot of people think that athletes have all this management team and they know all they know what's in everything they take.
Speaker A:But I will tell you, like, most.
Speaker A:Most athletes in, like, running or triathlon or cycling, it's just them.
Speaker A:And they, like, are looking at a.
Speaker A:Like, a case of Sudafed and being like, can I. I'm sick.
Speaker A:Can I take this Sudafed or not?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that can be very.
Speaker B:And you're looking at words that are like, whatever you just said, Hydra, bloody blood.
Speaker B:And then you're, like, comparing that word, which.
Speaker B:Which, like, hydra.
Speaker B:Like, how many things.
Speaker B:How many ingredients have that at their beginning?
Speaker B:You're, like, looking through a list and then looking through all of the ingredients on your.
Speaker B:Especially in the old days before the Internet, where you couldn't, like, right.
Speaker A:There's, like, a online database now that athletes can use to look it up.
Speaker A:So it's a lot easier.
Speaker A:Like, you can put in, like, NyQuil and it'll be like, this is banned in D sports at this time.
Speaker A:You know, whatever.
Speaker A:So usually I feel bad for athletes, and I'm like, well, it is a lot.
Speaker A:It doesn't work the way people think up does outside.
Speaker A:But, yes, this is not one of those cases of, like, oops, you accidentally took a Dayquil.
Speaker A:Like, no.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Especially because she then dropped immediately.
Speaker B:She was supposed to race boss.
Speaker A:London.
Speaker B:London.
Speaker B:London.
Speaker B:And she dropped out.
Speaker B:And so immediately, like.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Because if.
Speaker B:Then, if.
Speaker B:Then the.
Speaker B:If it comes back.
Speaker B:Because right now it's provisional.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And if it comes back, whatever is after provisional, certain.
Speaker B:Like, if it comes back with an actual doping violation, then she, like, anything that she did at the London Marathon would be stripped from her.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And I think what she said was that she wasn't mentally therefore prepared to race, which is probably true.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:The other interesting thing, Kelly, when I was, like, reading this is that, like, Kenya, I didn't realize this, But Kenya has 140 people currently on doping bans.
Speaker B:And this is where Russia Russia has 61.
Speaker A:So interesting.
Speaker B:Kenya has more than double the people on doping bans.
Speaker A:So in running, to be totally clear, like, Russia's are across sports, right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Kenya has a very deep, like, running doping problem.
Speaker A:And I. I'm not saying other countries don't.
Speaker A:I, like, a lot of times that can sound a little bit racist because you're, like, saying, like, oh, well, they have a problem, but we don't hear in America.
Speaker A:But, like, obviously we do.
Speaker A:The problem, I think, in Kenya is that it is one of the biggest sports there.
Speaker A:It is the way to make money.
Speaker A:It's kind of like in soccer in England, they're getting targeted with abuse because it's so big that.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, once you reach a certain size and it becomes like, the way you make money and the way you get out of poverty and the way you pay for your house and the way you.
Speaker A:Then there's a lot of other incentives to cross lines and do.
Speaker A:And there's a lot of agents.
Speaker A:This is the other problem with some of these countries.
Speaker A:There's a lot of agents that come in and take advantage, especially of women in Ethiopia, in Kenya, in these places that have, like, very good running culture, but not a super strong, like, women's rights culture as such.
Speaker A:And, like, and so there have been some very, very shady agents that are also, like, taking advantage.
Speaker A:And one of.
Speaker A:And her agent is one of the people who has a number of people who are currently banned.
Speaker B:Oh, interesting.
Speaker B:Yeah, that sucks.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's.
Speaker B:It's when there's other places in sport where, like, there's also the systemic factor.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like we saw with.
Speaker B:With Russia a few Olympics ago.
Speaker B:Now my memory's like, liquid working against me.
Speaker B:But if, like.
Speaker B:So in cycling, for example, and we're gonna talk about cycling here, but, like, I. I know there's like, certain teams and periods of time in cycling history where, like, you basically, in order to decide the team, they took certain blood marker numbers, and if your numbers didn't hit, you didn't get onto the team, and then you weren't going to.
Speaker B:Through to France.
Speaker B:And so, like, you can see where that starts to create a structure of like, okay, what can increase my blood markers from the team's perspective to show that I'm fit enough to go to the Tour de France?
Speaker B:Well, this.
Speaker B:Or sometimes you even have teams where it's like, you have to be taking X substance or you can't go.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:This is historically, this is not right.
Speaker A:Not like, I don't.
Speaker B:I don't know what happens Now I really don't, but I know that there have been periods of history like that.
Speaker B:And you know that there have been times with teams and even federations where these kinds of like, systemic doping issues take place, which is kind of sad.
Speaker B:And I'm not saying that's happening here, but 140 people on doping bands in Kenya certainly has a red.
Speaker B:There's a red flag there.
Speaker A:I also, the other thing that a lot of athletes have pointed out is, I think again, from like an outside perspective, it's like, okay, well, we caught her and everyone just moves up one spot and gets the prize money now.
Speaker A:And like, it's solved.
Speaker A:But the problem is that like, that changed, I think.
Speaker A:Take her setting the world record at Chicago, for example, right?
Speaker A:Which was she.
Speaker A:That changed how that race was run.
Speaker A:Like, she went out in like fucking crazy ass phase.
Speaker A:And so then the people who thought they had a chance at winning are like, holy shit.
Speaker A:Like, what is that?
Speaker A:And they blow their legs out and they do like.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And they don't finish and they blow up or they.
Speaker A:And that's.
Speaker A:And that happens at race after race.
Speaker A:And then those times are used to set the standard for the Olympics or for Olympic trials.
Speaker A:And so then you're trying to achieve trials or qualifying times that were set by dopers and you can't.
Speaker A:So how are you supposed to achieve.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So then you're blowing yourself out and you think you're not good enough and you're not.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And then that prize money that was used to pay her to come and set a world record could have been used over, like she ran Chicago three or four times.
Speaker A:Whatever.
Speaker A:I'm just using Chicago as an example could have been used to pay for other athletes to come.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So it has this like trickle down effect that I don't think people always realize.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Alicia Montano, the 800 meter runner, she lives here locally.
Speaker A:I talked to her.
Speaker A:Like, she's talked about this a lot.
Speaker A:Like now she would have had like two Olympic medals, but that's 12, 16 years after the fact.
Speaker A:And she never got that money at the peak of her career.
Speaker A:She never had those sponsorships.
Speaker A:It took like the celebration.
Speaker A:The celebration.
Speaker A: she had had a Bronze medal in: Speaker A:14, 15.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:And it would change her.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And so it's, it has more than just the effect of that one thing.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:There's at the medals level and then there's even the level below that.
Speaker B:Especially when we're talking about track and field, like, of being selected for the team.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Which I certainly know athletes who feel that they have not been selected for a team and that there's a knockout or someone later gets within their own country gets a doping violation and they literally didn't get to go to the Olympics because that person got chosen instead of them.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So there's definitely like massive domino effect that.
Speaker B:That kind of ricochets across the sport.
Speaker A:I will say the last thing is that it is a little sad that, like, the first woman to run under 210, she ran a 209 marathon.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Turns out to have a doping.
Speaker A:And it was really.
Speaker A:And at the time, especially all these dudes were like, it's not possible.
Speaker A:She's obviously doping.
Speaker A:And it's like, she's not.
Speaker A:I mean, yes.
Speaker A:Turned out she was.
Speaker A:And I think a lot of us were like, it's like she might be doping.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:But I don't want us to jump to that.
Speaker A:It's not like women can't run a 209.
Speaker A:It's not like that is impossible.
Speaker A:I don't want to.
Speaker B:It's only a matter of time that someone else does it again.
Speaker B:It's just.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's just there is.
Speaker B:That is like a sad, heartbreaking side effect of this too.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So now the world record goes back, I guess, to being 211.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:So somebody has to.
Speaker A:Somebody, somebody, Somebody else.
Speaker B:Come on out.
Speaker B:It's wide open.
Speaker B:If all you have to do is run under 211 for a marathon, the world record is yours.
Speaker B:This is your.
Speaker B:This is your sign.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:What is this?
Speaker B:Now?
Speaker A:We're going to change cameras, Sarah.
Speaker A:We're going to.
Speaker B:Changing back to happy news.
Speaker B:Back to happy news.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:What's coming up this week is what we're.
Speaker A:I do watch a lot of local news.
Speaker A:I do watch a lot of local news and I should get it right where they're like, in happier news.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:This weekend you should.
Speaker B:You've worked for like mainstream media, like NPR and stuff.
Speaker B:You know how to do this, make the transition.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:In other races, this weekend is the Tour de France Femmes.
Speaker A:And that was what we wanted to do.
Speaker A:I mean, that's what we're going to be watching.
Speaker A:When you ask, like, what sports are we watching this weekend?
Speaker A:It's the tdff.
Speaker A:And so we did want to do a big preview today.
Speaker A:Didn't want to talk about it.
Speaker A:I feel like for people who don't know high level Tour de France femmes, Vic Zwift this is its fourth edition.
Speaker A:This is the longest one yet.
Speaker A:It is nine stages.
Speaker A:Has some of the longest stages, queen stages at the end, which means super big climbing.
Speaker A:There's teams.
Speaker A:Every team has seven riders or nine riders.
Speaker A:And you try to go for the gc, which is the general classification, but basically the total time over the nine days, fastest person wins.
Speaker A:And then there's also races within the race.
Speaker A:You can be the best young rider, the best climber, the best sprinter.
Speaker A:You could win an individual day, which is calling a stage win, but not win the overall.
Speaker A:The teams try to support their contenders.
Speaker A:So somebody might be riding in it, but not actually be way off.
Speaker A:Not ever win, not ever be close to anything.
Speaker A:But their job is to protect their writer or help them.
Speaker B:They're domestique.
Speaker B:That is their job is to help someone else.
Speaker B:It is a team sport.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I feel like people who.
Speaker A:We do have, like, we have a couple people at Feisty who are new to cycling.
Speaker A:And, yeah, one of the best, she was like, so how do you win?
Speaker A:Like, who wins?
Speaker A:Yeah, because it does get a little confusing.
Speaker B:It does get a little confusing because you can have someone.
Speaker B:I mean, by the time you get the last day, because the time is cumulative.
Speaker B:Right, Right.
Speaker B:Like, you can have someone doesn't necessarily, like, cross the line or there's, like, their teammates are there what's happening?
Speaker B:Or why is there a sprint?
Speaker B:But the person who seems to be winning doesn't care about the sprint.
Speaker B:There's lots of, like, dynamics going on that you know that.
Speaker B:But it's like.
Speaker B:It's like any sport.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like, that's the same as watching basketball or baseball.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like, if you don't understand the dynamics of, like, the pitcher, catcher and batter, you.
Speaker B:You sure won't have fun watching baseball.
Speaker B:So it's the same thing.
Speaker B:It's similar.
Speaker A:It's similar.
Speaker A:But, yeah, it is a little confused.
Speaker A:If you're watching, you're like, why did the person in fourth just start cheering?
Speaker A:Yeah, because, like, they crossed the line fourth, but then they really beat the person they were trying to beat.
Speaker A:So they won the overall.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:And then, of course, I did, like, a little.
Speaker B:I feel, Kelly, that I've learned the last few weeks that I have an interest in, like, cycling history.
Speaker B:Like, I think it's.
Speaker A:I was like, I thought you knew you had an interest in cycling before.
Speaker B:No, I thought you already knew.
Speaker B:No, and I think I already knew I had an interest in cycling history, but specifically cycling history.
Speaker B:And I think it, like, it really relates to.
Speaker B:And I'm.
Speaker B:I think this came up in a previous episode how, like, the bicycle itself has been such, like, a freedom giver to women.
Speaker B:You know, like, it was like, that was how it was like the first mode of transportation when women were kind of in post industrial revolution in homes.
Speaker B:Like, the nuclear family was.
Speaker B:Was kind of at its peak.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker B:And then, like, how did women prior to that, they could only walk places.
Speaker B:So the bicycle gave them a chance to, like, get out of the house to meet.
Speaker B:And then you have, like, the suffragettes.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And so it goes.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so, like, I think, yeah, the bicycle really like it.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:It just sits in my head in this, like, place that's aligned with, like, the freedoms women have and women's involvement in sport.
Speaker B:And then you have the sport of cycling, which, of course, has been, like, almost a little bit.
Speaker B:What do you call it?
Speaker B:Like, very slow to change.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:If you will, in this new era of women's sports.
Speaker B:But we have all these, like, wonderful little, like, attempts to have a women's Tour de France.
Speaker A:That's what I was going to say is if you look back, like, most people will say the first one was 84, when there was, like, an actual women's tour in Kentucky.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B: Well, there was one in: Speaker A:That's what I was gonna say.
Speaker A:But there really was secretly.
Speaker A:Secretly, like, one way back when.
Speaker A:That was like 13 or 14 stages, but it only had, like, 30.
Speaker A:30 or 40 writers finish it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:It was smaller.
Speaker A:It was like this small little.
Speaker A: Yeah,: Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Does that was just like women just getting on the bikes and going, we can do this too.
Speaker B:Like, it's such a simple.
Speaker A:You know.
Speaker B:And then.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then you had like, between.
Speaker B:What did you say?
Speaker B:1984.
Speaker A:84 to 89 was like, like, the.
Speaker A:It's not.
Speaker A:It's called the A.S.O.
Speaker A:now, the organizing committee that runs men's cycling.
Speaker A:It wasn't called that then, but the organization that put on the men's tour also put on a women's tour from 84 to 89.
Speaker A:An American won it in that first year.
Speaker B:Oh, go America.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:And then they stopped putting it on because, Sarah, the.
Speaker A:The media just wasn't interested in women biking, and there just wasn't any money.
Speaker A:And it was very.
Speaker A:You're like, oh, it's the same.
Speaker B:I mean, honestly, like, weirdly, we just talked about the wnba, NBA, like, relationship with.
Speaker B:And the pay.
Speaker B:The pay us what you owe us T shirts, and literally the argument's the same like, the folks who own the Tour de France were like.
Speaker B:There was, like, arguments around using their trademark and using their name in order to have, like, a women's event.
Speaker B:And this, like, argument just, like, went on and on.
Speaker B:And they were like, it's not viable.
Speaker B:We're not doing it.
Speaker B:And, no, you can't use our name to do it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Because after they stopped doing it, somewhere, some other people tried to put on their own.
Speaker A:And there was, like, kind of different iterations of people putting on a women's stage race in France.
Speaker A:And then, yeah, they were like, you can't call it a tour.
Speaker A:Like, we own cycling.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then 10 years ago, 50 years ago, the.
Speaker A: female cyclists who organized: Speaker A:2014, with friends with one of the women who is very.
Speaker A:And they got one day.
Speaker A:They gotta.
Speaker A:They gotta.
Speaker A:One day.
Speaker B:They got one day.
Speaker B:So Kathryn Pratine, who is.
Speaker B:Who's a great friend and did a great job at advocating for this with Marianne Voss, Emma Pooley, and Chrissy Wellington, who was an Ironman champion.
Speaker B:And what they called it was they wanted to have a women's tour that went on the same route.
Speaker B:And I think what they ideally wanted was it to be either for the women to leave, like, a head or behind the men, like, on the same day.
Speaker B:So you like.
Speaker B:So that.
Speaker B:That argument about the media, so that they could kind of like.
Speaker B:The media was there, they could kind of fit in.
Speaker B:I think that.
Speaker B:I'm pretty sure that was, like, really what they wanted in the essence.
Speaker B:They ended up with one day, but they called it their Le Tour Ontier, which I love.
Speaker B:It's like.
Speaker B:It means, like, the whole Tour, like, the total, you know, meaning, like, there's something missing if there's no women there.
Speaker B:But in the end, they got one day, and they called it La Cource.
Speaker B:And it went for how many.
Speaker B:Like, eight years or so.
Speaker A:For like, eight years.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And there's a good.
Speaker A:Catherine did a good documentary called Half the Road, kind of about the effort to get that.
Speaker A:And then.
Speaker A:And then kind of coming out of the pandemic, Zwift came on as a title sponsor for the Tour Tour de France Femmes.
Speaker A:And we actually talked to Kate Verono, who runs women's strategy at Zwift, which is like, such a dry title, to explain that she basically got the Tour to happen.
Speaker A:She's very much one of the big people behind it, working from Zwift side.
Speaker A:And so she told us a little bit about kind of the growth they've seen how exciting it is and what we should look for this year.
Speaker A:All right, we have Kate Verdeau, the director of women's strategy at Swift, which I feel like is not a title that fully encompasses how you are one of the people just like behind the scenes here in Tour de France, films of ex Swift.
Speaker A:Like, you've been at it since the ground level, right?
Speaker C:I have, thank you.
Speaker C:I'm celebrating over nine years at Zwift and this is the most incredible extension of an early commitment we made to growing and elevating women's cycling.
Speaker C:So it's great to be in this moment.
Speaker A:I wanted to start by talking about, like, yeah, why did you guys want to get involved with bringing, I want to say back, because there used to be a Tour de France for women.
Speaker A:But why did you want to bring this back?
Speaker A:Why was it important to, you know, have a full Grand Tour stage race for the women?
Speaker C:Yeah, the Tour de France than the Vic Zwift.
Speaker C:It was so important because women's cycling really could not grow without it.
Speaker C:This is the biggest stage in the world and women weren't there.
Speaker C:So this partnership came about because it's actually a Covid thing where over Covid, the actual Tour de France was on pause.
Speaker C: was going to happen that year: Speaker C:And we got together with the organizers of the Tour de France and said, let's do it in Zwift.
Speaker C:Let's do an exhibition style race in our virtual video game world because all the pro riders were already using the product.
Speaker C:So we did this.
Speaker C:We actually even struck up a deal with Eurosport to broadcast it all over the world.
Speaker C:And because we were doing it in Zwift, we did both a men's and a women's race.
Speaker C: the Tour de France Virtual in: Speaker C:And it was such a success that that kicked off a conversation with aso, the organizers of the Tour, for us to come on board as the title sponsor of the Tour de France Femme fx with.
Speaker C:Because it was time to bring back a proper women's Tour de France stage race.
Speaker C: ging this to life starting in: Speaker C:And we're delighted by the impacts made on the sport.
Speaker A:I was looking at the kind of the numbers, the studies, which by the time this episode comes out will be public and just about how much has grown and the kind of response you've seen is something like 85% of people now think women's cycling is an actual viable profession, which makes me so excited.
Speaker C:Because I was first invited to a bike race about 20 years ago, and I saw a pack of men go by.
Speaker C:I'm like, oh, wow, this is really cool.
Speaker C:And then all of a sudden, a pack of women went by and I was like, wait a minute.
Speaker C:Women race bikes?
Speaker C:I didn't even know it because I never had seen it.
Speaker C:So, you know, the fact that this race has helped professionalize the sport so much more and make people aware that this is something that not only they can chase the dream, but they can be a huge fan, they can invest in it, they can follow it.
Speaker C:One more great sport to, you know, to put on your.
Speaker C:On your radar.
Speaker A:And you've obviously been on the ground every year.
Speaker A:How have, how has it grown?
Speaker A:Have the crowds grown?
Speaker A:Like, what's the excitement level like?
Speaker C:Oh, it's nuts.
Speaker C:Every year I'm like, oh, man, that was too good.
Speaker C:It can't get better.
Speaker C:And then it does, and I'm just over the moon.
Speaker C:The crowds by the roadside just lined on the streets, we've included now, every year has a big queen stage.
Speaker C:So you have that epic, classic, iconic mountain stage for a tour where people are all up on the mountain.
Speaker C:So many cyclists literally ride up to kind of, you know, cheer the peloton on as they go by.
Speaker C:You're really seeing so many more fans on the roadside.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker C:But the biggest thing is social media and how much that has grown.
Speaker C:And it just goes along with the narrative we're seeing across women's sports growth is that the content that women create as athletes, the engagement of women's sports fans is excellent, and we've seen incredible growth in that area.
Speaker C:And it's doing wonders to bring new sponsors and new fans on board to watch the femme.
Speaker A:Now, I'm curious, like, who are the most popular on social writers?
Speaker A:Like, who are the ones that have really big fan bases?
Speaker C:Well, let's see.
Speaker C:Demi Vollering.
Speaker C: She won in: Speaker C:And then Kasiani Wadoma from Canaan's Dreams on Decrypt Crypto winning last year by four seconds, the closest margin in the history of the Tour de France.
Speaker C:You know, it's incredible.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:But there's some.
Speaker C:There's tons of great ones.
Speaker C:It's great.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:I was just curious if there was one I was missing.
Speaker A:The social clips that made me cry last year was Cassia winning and her husband, who's also pro cyclist, was, like, running across the field to greet her.
Speaker C:And I was like, oh, there's all these moments.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:And what you're seeing too is they're overwhelmingly positive.
Speaker A:Positive.
Speaker C:There's so much positive sentiment around the race and deep engagement, higher engagement around the moments than in general on the men's side of the sport.
Speaker C:So that's a area that women excel at as athletes.
Speaker C:And so we're seeing that really propel this race to new heights and propel these riders to new heights and bring new sponsors on board like Nike sponsoring and FDJ Suez is a huge, huge.
Speaker A:They put a lot of money in that too.
Speaker C:Massive.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So talk to us.
Speaker A:Last year you said like it did end on that kind of like Queen stage.
Speaker A:Very dramatic.
Speaker A:Like the two of them kind of going at it.
Speaker A:What is the preview it for us this year?
Speaker A:It's nine days, nine stages, longest we've ever had.
Speaker A:Where are like the key, the key moments, the key stages?
Speaker C:Well, the Grand Depart in Brittany.
Speaker C:So the cool thing about the race this year, it's entirely in France.
Speaker C:It's going to go from the western side of France and Brittany all the way across to the high Alps.
Speaker C:The early stages, there's no freebies.
Speaker C:It is going to be full on from the start.
Speaker C:The first couple stages are like death by a thousand cuts.
Speaker C:It is, you know, very.
Speaker C:It looks like a sawtooth.
Speaker C:It's just a million little climbs.
Speaker C:So it's going to be full on a lot of attacks.
Speaker C:You don't want to miss a minute of those first couple stages because we all know a lot can happen.
Speaker C:You can't win the Tour in the first couple stages, but you can lose the Tour and then we got to go clear across France.
Speaker C:There's a couple middle stages, no rest for the weary.
Speaker C:There are, I believe, three mountain stage, two flat stages, three hilly and one medium mountain stage.
Speaker C:So a lot of climbing this year.
Speaker C:So you'll see some epic attacks, probably some incredible breakthrough performances from riders looking to take the opportunity, when the world is watching, to make a break.
Speaker C:And then we go into the High Alps and the Queen stage on August 2nd is what to watch.
Speaker C:The riders are climbing 3,500 meters.
Speaker C:That's over 11,000ft of elevation.
Speaker C:A massive stage, the biggest we've had yet in the Tour de France.
Speaker C:Faux going to be fireworks.
Speaker C:So we'll be up there on that Queen stage watching the queens throw down.
Speaker C:And that will be a huge determiner of who the queen of the Tour de France feminine exhibition will be this year.
Speaker A:And there's no time trial this year.
Speaker A:No time trial or Individual time trial.
Speaker A:So for people who like, don't know, end of the week it's the cumulative time wins.
Speaker A:So coming down to four seconds last year is kind of crazy after that many days.
Speaker C:Insane.
Speaker A:Insane.
Speaker A:And then because you can get the biggest gaps on climbs, that's why you're saying it really comes down.
Speaker A:Or time trials.
Speaker A:We don't have a time trial.
Speaker A:That's why it really comes down to these big climbs.
Speaker A:And it ends with two big climb days, right?
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:Near the end.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:The final weekend is two back to back big mountain stages.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:And the cool thing that we're seeing this year is there's just, it's not just about Demi and Cassia.
Speaker C:There is so much other talent we're looking at, you know, Puck Peters from Phoenix to Koenig winning the white young rider jersey last year.
Speaker C:We've got Justine Guerka from AG Insurance who won the Polka Polka dot jersey last year.
Speaker C:So there's a bunch of up and comers that are just really crushing on the climbs and showing that they can hang with the best in the world and they'll be, you know, supporting other riders as well.
Speaker C:So the teams are deeper this year and it's, it's not just going to come down to, you know, like just, you know, a couple people.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker C:There's going to be a lot of support for each team.
Speaker A:Yeah, I feel like that's what we've seen evolve in the last five, seven years as the teams have gotten bigger budgets and like development.
Speaker A:Now it's not just a couple of superstars, it's like the whole squad.
Speaker C:Yes, yes.
Speaker C:And, and behaving like a proper squad, you know, proper sprint trains and breakaways and, you know, lead outs up the climb, setting the pace and high, you know, pace going up the climb to try to burn out the competitors.
Speaker A:It's going to be all that kinds of strategy.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know.
Speaker A: Demi volunteering who won in: Speaker A:It was so she's all eyes on this.
Speaker A:And then Kassia beat her last year and is coming back.
Speaker A:And then who else do we have?
Speaker A:We have Pauline from Provost, the mountain bike Olympic champ has come over to try and so exciting.
Speaker C:From Visma Lisa bike.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Pauline came back to the sport.
Speaker C:Multi time world champion, multiple disciplines.
Speaker C:She's a fierce, fierce rider who just won, who won Paris Roubaix with this year and has targeted, very publicly targeted the tour.
Speaker C:We've got Anna Vanderbricken Former dominant rider coming back to SD works and it will have lot of Kopecki on her team as well who missed last year's race.
Speaker C:So it is, there is just so much talent, so much depth of talent.
Speaker C:The team tactics are going to be nuts.
Speaker C:We've seen Marlon Russer, former lieutenant for Demi Vollering, now on Movistar leading her own squad.
Speaker C:So, yeah, so many, so many countries represented, so much talent represented.
Speaker C:It's really, really going to be epic this year.
Speaker A:I have to ask because we're both American, is there like an American star we should all be keeping our eyes on?
Speaker C:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker C:We'll have Kristin Faulkner, the two time Olympic gold medalist, writing for EF education that she's gonna, she's gonna be targeting the overall GC and definitely some stage wins as well.
Speaker C:We've got Veronica Ewers as sensational climber.
Speaker C:The rosters have not been released yet, so I'm, I'm making some assumptions.
Speaker C:We've got Chloe Dygard on Canyon to Crypto, who will be working hard for Kassia and going for her own stage wins.
Speaker C:Let's see other American writers.
Speaker A:Chloe came back from a bad crash at the Olympics.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:Two Olympics ago.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:She's had, she's had a couple bumps in the road, but still comes back and, you know, takes the top step.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, it's like, it's hard to pick one.
Speaker A:Do you have a pick?
Speaker A:I'm going to ask you.
Speaker A:I know you can't.
Speaker C:I mean, Demi is the one to beat this year.
Speaker C:She is laser focused.
Speaker C:I've loved to see how she, how the team, how she truly feels like she is the full support of her new team FDJ Suez.
Speaker C:She's going to be definitely the one to target.
Speaker C:But Canyon Sram has a ton of great talent that are going to help Kassia defend her title.
Speaker C:And there's a lot that comes with knowing you can do it, but I think there's some wild cards in there too.
Speaker C:And then just knowing that anything can happen.
Speaker C:Pauline Roykers is just a phenomenal talent that.
Speaker A:Keeping your eye on her.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker C:So I don't, you know, I, I can't have a favorite.
Speaker C:Honestly, I, I do think Demi's the one to beat.
Speaker C:I think that's pretty clear.
Speaker C:But I just love to, I really like to see especially the breakthrough performances because a win, a Jersey win, a win on a stage can, can make a career and to see the opportunities that come from getting the spotlight on this world stage is what excites me the most.
Speaker A:And tell us a little bit, last question, like when you're there.
Speaker A:I've heard it's a ton of women in the media.
Speaker A:Like we had some of our team there last year.
Speaker A:It's like all women.
Speaker A:The media room, it's more women behind the scenes, more women stat.
Speaker A:It's just like a different vibe.
Speaker A:So what else besides the actual racing?
Speaker A:I hear like, I hear the fits are a big deal.
Speaker A:Like picking your outfit for the day is a big deal.
Speaker C:The fits are a big deal.
Speaker C:So definitely pay attention.
Speaker C:You just want to follow all the social action around the race because there's like stories within the stories.
Speaker C:The fits are going to be outside.
Speaker C:Outstanding.
Speaker C:So much coverage, so many women's voices elevated at the race.
Speaker C:The thing I'm really excited about this year is we've introduced a proper La Tap du Tour de France.
Speaker C:Fum of so a La Tap de Tour de France is a gran fondo style event.
Speaker C:It's a mass start cycling event where everybody in the world is invited to come and compete and to ride a stage of the race.
Speaker C:This is the first year that we're having a women's one.
Speaker C:The one that happens at the men's race is about 14,000 riders.
Speaker C:Sells out immediately.
Speaker C:It's about 6% win it.
Speaker C:And this is the first year we've introduced a La Tape du Tour de France femme of exwift.
Speaker C:And we're at 6,000 riders, 33% women are doing the queen stage of the race too.
Speaker C:So this is, we're going to go out there and we're going to, we're going to actually complete that full stage eight that is over 3,000 meters and just have a big party at the top and then they get to you ride up the stage and then you can actually hang out and watch the femme from up there.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker A:You have to start pretty early to get done before that way early.
Speaker C:It's like a 6am start.
Speaker C:You'll have a sea of people going up the climb all wearing like watch the femme kits, bring in the energy and that's what our dream is, that this race inspires participation, that, that you know, inspires women especially to come out and chase their goals and to enjoy the scenery, enjoy the race action and also have their own individual challenge.
Speaker C:So it's going to be a special day.
Speaker A:Well, it sounds like it'll be fun.
Speaker A:I'm sad we're not going this year, but we're going to miss you.
Speaker C:But we know the coverage is still going to be great.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker A:And you have to tell us how, how it is a day or so.
Speaker A:Good luck.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Thank you so much.
Speaker A:One of the things I didn't realize because you know, a lot of this, like we had heard before from Kate because we've talked her on and off of the years.
Speaker A:I didn't realize that they were doing a big mass participation ride this year for like the Queen stage and that they've had so many women sign up.
Speaker A:Like, that is really cool.
Speaker B:That's such a great idea.
Speaker B:I'm surprised it took till this year to do it, but I think it's fantastic idea.
Speaker B:I think we should have a tour where like amateurs can ride the whole thing too.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, people like do bike tours ahead of the men's and I'm sure they do ahead of the women's too.
Speaker A:Like less of a thing yet.
Speaker A:But yeah, I really wanted to.
Speaker A:And I know she said they have to start very, very early to get done before the writers get to the top, but I kind of want to know like, how early would I have to start?
Speaker A:Like, do I, like, would it take me like 10 hours or I need to start like 3am to be done in time?
Speaker B:Well, I think if you.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:But if I, if I recall, this is the men's tour when I was living in France.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So it's slightly different probably for the women's tour, but I was a pro triathlete at the time.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But I used to do this climb during training where the tour came through one year and it was one on my regular training route.
Speaker B:And I knew and it was a pretty like steady climb.
Speaker B:Like it wasn't that steep.
Speaker B:And I used to climb it at about 20Ks an hour, you know, so you're moving.
Speaker B:It was a long climb, but you're like steady.
Speaker B:When the tour came through, they climbed it at 40ks an hour.
Speaker B:And I remember being like, oh, they literally going twice as fast as me.
Speaker B:And I was a pro athlete at the time.
Speaker B:So I think Kelly, we'd probably have to give ourselves like double the time of whatever they're expecting the stage to take.
Speaker A:That's my guess.
Speaker A:I think we should do this next year.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:So one of our, one of our co colleagues who runs our cycling brand went to the Tour de France fans last year and I.
Speaker A:They were basically spend all their time like driving for like the logistics are just like crazy.
Speaker A:So I don't want to do that, but I would like.
Speaker A:So maybe we just go and we.
Speaker B:Just ride it ahead of our ride with our.
Speaker B:This is, like, one of those things that sounds easy in practice, but like.
Speaker B:Or in, like right now, but then in practice would be, like, ridiculously hard.
Speaker B:But, like, we could just, like, put our phones in our pockets and then go and ride ahead of time and then get beautiful videos of the French countryside and the riders coming through, and then just ride to a hotel, pay with our credit card, wash our cycling kit in the sink, do it again the next day.
Speaker B:That'll work, right?
Speaker A:Yeah, totally.
Speaker A:This sounds like something I would want to do.
Speaker A:I will say so.
Speaker A:Last year's Tour de France Femmes.
Speaker A:Super, super exciting.
Speaker A:Kasia Nuadoma ended up winning by four seconds, which is like, the smallest amount in any tormentor women's that anyone's ever won by.
Speaker A:And it came down to the very last stage.
Speaker A:And like we were saying before, you know, the people who are fighting for the win were not the winners of that day.
Speaker A:But she knew that Demi vollering was in second.
Speaker A:Demi vollering really wanted to win.
Speaker A: Demi vollering one in: Speaker A:And Demi had, like, had a crash earlier in the week, and it was, like, a big controversy.
Speaker A:People are still arguing about it.
Speaker A:Demi's still a little sore about it as she's been posting on her Instagram stories, because people.
Speaker A:Because she lost.
Speaker A:She, like, lost time after the crash, right?
Speaker A:So on that very last day, Demi, like, went off, took off, and knew she had to put in enough time on Cassia to take the overall lead, right?
Speaker A:And so she's going off the front, and then Cassia knows that she can't let too much time put in, so she's just trying to.
Speaker A:And she ended up.
Speaker A:And so she's behind Demi, but nobody knew, like, how much until she crossed the line.
Speaker A:And she crossed the line.
Speaker A:She had held on by just, like, four seconds.
Speaker A:It was crazy.
Speaker A:Where I was going with this was.
Speaker A:Kasia's husband is also a pro cyclist.
Speaker A:And last year, in order to watch her on all the stages and be ahead, like we said, it's really, like, logistically complicated, as like, all our colleagues will attest.
Speaker A:So he was riding ahead and camping, like, every night to, like, be able to, like, be up there before the roads got closed down to, like, be there for her.
Speaker A:And so, like, he was just, like, camping in fields, like, running on the side, like, it was crazy.
Speaker A:So there's this video of him just, like, running, like, through a field to, like, get to the finish as she's.
Speaker B:As she's finishing.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, I remember that.
Speaker B:Too.
Speaker A:And it was, like, crazy.
Speaker A:And I was just like.
Speaker A:I mean, I was, like, crying, but I also thought it was like.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:It was great, right?
Speaker A:It was like, this is.
Speaker A:And he, like, finds her, and they're, like, hugging through the fence.
Speaker A:It was very.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:And then so I saw somebody post it and be, like.
Speaker A:Be a tailor to someone's Cassia.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, go out there and do this for your partner.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:That's a wonderful story.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I don't know that we're gonna have that dramatic a tour this year.
Speaker B:Oh, I hope we do, though.
Speaker B:And we have nine stages this year.
Speaker B:Is that right?
Speaker A:Nine stages.
Speaker B:So it went from, like, seven to.
Speaker B:To nine, right?
Speaker B:Through these first four years.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And starts this Saturday.
Speaker A:The first.
Speaker A:So many stages are technically, like, flat, but kind of like Kate said, they're very up and down, up and down for the first three days.
Speaker A:So it's definitely a little punchy, a little steep, punchy climbs.
Speaker A:Then there's like, two actual, like, very flat kind of sprinter stages where I think we'll see some of the sprinters.
Speaker A:And then starting at the very end of next week.
Speaker A:So it starts this Saturday on the 26th.
Speaker A:So it ends the following Sunday on August.
Speaker A:What is that?
Speaker A:Third, fourth.
Speaker A:But starting the end of the week, that Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it gets progressively crazier.
Speaker A:And so there's a bunch of climbing stages at the end there.
Speaker A:And the Queen stage is the Saturday, where they end on a famous climb, like Cold du Madeleine.
Speaker A:And it's going to be very, very epic on that Saturday.
Speaker A:But then it's not over then it's like, they still have another day on Sunday.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:They do like the men do.
Speaker B:They, like, do a little.
Speaker A:No, it is not a.
Speaker A:So the men do a little, like, celebratory lap around.
Speaker A:This is not celebratory.
Speaker A:On the Sunday.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:Still a big climb.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:So basically, if it's, like, close, then someone will try and go for it on.
Speaker A:On the very last day.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And we're making a little bit of guesses about who will be there, because teams.
Speaker A:Because every team could bring whatever they want on their team.
Speaker A:But I think we assume, like, Demi really, really, really wants to win.
Speaker A:She's a little hostile about not having won last year, and she's a very, very big deal at home.
Speaker A:Like, Nike sponsors her.
Speaker A:Nike's put a lot of money into her.
Speaker A:Casia will be back.
Speaker A:We also have some people who have, like, really shown their form in, you know, the Giro.
Speaker A:Like, we were Talking about a couple weeks ago, Tortoise, Swiss.
Speaker A:We also have, which I think is fascinating, some people who retired and then have now seen how big the Tour de France Femmes exlift is and are coming back.
Speaker B:Interesting.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:And you have, like, Pauline Frank Prevost, the French mountain bike champion, has made the switch over to road.
Speaker A:Back to road.
Speaker A:Like, she was a road cyclist 10, 15 years ago.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because she's like, this is too big a deal.
Speaker B:Because she wants to.
Speaker B:I mean, totally.
Speaker B:I would do that.
Speaker B:That's a. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I feel that in my bones.
Speaker B:Like, if suddenly, if like the sport that you were, you know, that you just, like, struggled, you like sofa surf to make it happen, and you made your career like that.
Speaker B:And then we're like.
Speaker B:And then suddenly you have this and you.
Speaker B:And you're still young enough to go out and have a crack at it and you get on a team.
Speaker B:I would do that, too.
Speaker B:I thought it was really interesting what Kate said that, like, women's cycling, like, at the beginning when she was like, because she had to go and pitch to Zwift to become the title sponsor of the Tour de France Femmes and like, that women's cycling would not be viable without the Tour de France Femme.
Speaker B:And that was like an interesting connect the dots point.
Speaker B:I think that, like, it's like, okay, you had all these other women's cycling events going on, but, like, the Tour de France was so big in the cycling psyche that you had to have, like, a women's version in order to, like, grow the sport.
Speaker A:And I think otherwise people are like, what are you talking about?
Speaker B:Yeah, and she's kind of been right about that.
Speaker B:Which, like, just ties back to.
Speaker B:To these riders, these retired riders who might still have it in their legs coming back and, like, let's go.
Speaker A:You know, like, Anna Vanderberg came back.
Speaker A:The other thing I think is interesting about Zwift's sponsorship is that they committed to five years.
Speaker A:It's through next year.
Speaker A:Because.
Speaker A:And I think one of the things we've seen a lot of times when people are like, oh, we want to get more women in.
Speaker A:They commit for like a year, and then they're like, oh, we didn't.
Speaker A:We didn't solve systemic sexism in like a year and a half.
Speaker A:That's weird.
Speaker A:And then they're like, they're done.
Speaker A:They're like, well, we didn't see it.
Speaker A:And so it takes.
Speaker A:And so it's only now, I will say it's like even a year or two ago.
Speaker A:We were not seeing the ripple effect yet.
Speaker A:And now we're seeing, okay, there are more women riding.
Speaker A:There are more.
Speaker A:Like, Lottie Kopecki is, like, massive in the Netherlands.
Speaker A:And literally, like, more girls are signing up for cycling now because they saw.
Speaker A:But it took.
Speaker A:It takes a little while, right?
Speaker A:Like, you can't.
Speaker A:It doesn't happen overnight, right.
Speaker B:And then it takes a little while for a company like Zwift to see an ROI on that.
Speaker B:Because, like, not just so you're.
Speaker B:You're like, you're making a play that grows the whole sport right.
Speaker B:For women.
Speaker B:And then the trickle down is onto your tech platform is a.
Speaker B:Like, is another level.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:But you can see, I will say a lot of them do.
Speaker A:They do do, like, swift, like, team, like, rides and stuff, which is kind of fun.
Speaker A:Like, I'm not a big indoor rider because I'm in California, but, like, they do do.
Speaker A:A lot of.
Speaker A:You can ride with some of these people, like, some of these athletes, which is kind of cool.
Speaker A:You can also follow on the Monstrava and you can see they're like, after the day, after the stage.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And they're like power numbers and all that.
Speaker A:So that's cool.
Speaker B:It's the like of watching a twitch stream of the WNBA totally the same weekend.
Speaker B:It's like, like the behind the scenes, like, how fast were they riding?
Speaker B:Where did they ride?
Speaker B:Who did they ride with?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And people.
Speaker A:For people who are in the weeds and love, like, the power numbers and the heart rate data, you could like to see it after somebody also, like, wins a stage is cool because then you can be like, oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Well, I was gonna say then you can be like, I could do it, but actually you'd be like, oh, yeah, no, I can't.
Speaker A:I can't do that.
Speaker B:Kind of like me living in France.
Speaker A:So I will say the last thing I want to say, though, about the Tour France fabs.
Speaker A:Super exciting.
Speaker A:We will have some coverage on the Feisty media Instagram accounts and on our Girls Gone Gravel Cycling account.
Speaker A:We have, like, some people we're collaborating with over there on the ground.
Speaker A:I will say that a couple weeks ago on the podcast when I said that I think women's racing can be more exciting because it's developed into its own thing.
Speaker A:It's punchier, it's faster.
Speaker A:There's not a lot of wasted days.
Speaker A:And that I find the men's Grand Tours boring.
Speaker A:Holy.
Speaker A:Did I trigger a bunch of dudes?
Speaker B:Oh, no.
Speaker A:Like, oh, my God.
Speaker A:The amount of dudes in my in my notifications telling me that I obviously don't understand cycling well.
Speaker B:And you weren't saying that, like, oh, I can.
Speaker B:I can hear Ollie.
Speaker B:You weren't.
Speaker A:My skin is crying.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You weren't saying that, like, men's cycling is boring.
Speaker B:You were saying that the format, like, it's like, they didn't even take it, like, the format of the three weeks, and it's just like.
Speaker B:It just, like, drags on a little bit and it's not as punchy.
Speaker A:I just thought it's.
Speaker A:Yeah, there's a lot, like.
Speaker A:And the reason I know there are a lot of empty days is because when I was 25, I watched every single stage of the Tour de France and I read, like, the preview booklet every year.
Speaker A:And partially, there wasn't a women's tour to watch, so I watched the men's every day also.
Speaker A:I was 25, and I had four hours a day to devote to watching cycling.
Speaker A:And so part of me is like, wow, dudes, like, chill out.
Speaker A:Someone can call your thing boring.
Speaker A:It's fine.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But secondly, when I said I don't have four hours a day to watch cycling for three weeks, every woman I know was like, yeah.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:All these guys are like, you just don't understand.
Speaker A:If you have four hours a day to watch cycling for three weeks, you should ask yourself who is taking care of things in your life to give you that time.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Especially if you have kids.
Speaker A:I'm just saying.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:No, I mean, it's gonna happen, Kelly.
Speaker B:We're gonna trigger.
Speaker A:Apparently.
Speaker A:Apparently these.
Speaker A:These dudes have a lot of time.
Speaker B:Is all I'm saying.
Speaker B:And enough time to argue with you about it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Not just to watch.
Speaker B:In addition.
Speaker B:In addition, because, like, the men's tour is on.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:So it is currently on.
Speaker A:And it's, you know, it's.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:They've been good tours, but, yeah, there's a lot of downtime in between the highlights, so.
Speaker A:All right, to finish up, Sarah, what are your feisty picks of the week?
Speaker A:Are you ready for mine?
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:Let's do yours.
Speaker B:Go ahead.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I'm low key, obsessed with American Ninja Warrior.
Speaker B:I love.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And there's all these different things, like, women.
Speaker A:Women are very popular, but they don't.
Speaker A:It's, like, hard, right, for, like, the women to do as well, because, like, upper body strength and size and all that.
Speaker A:Anyway, just the fourth woman ever to make it through semifinals.
Speaker A:National semifinals went through last week, and it was like.
Speaker A:And she hit the buzzer Very exciting.
Speaker A:And then last night after recording this, the fifth woman ever did.
Speaker A: years ago in: Speaker B:Yeah, I remember.
Speaker A:And like only two other women had done it in the decade since.
Speaker A:So then you get the fourth woman a week ago in the first semifinals.
Speaker A:And then yesterday this 17 year old became the fifth woman ever.
Speaker A:And abuse.
Speaker B:She's 17.
Speaker A:She's 17.
Speaker A:And she.
Speaker A:And I gotta say, like, she doesn't.
Speaker A:She looks like a normal 17 year old.
Speaker A:I think she's just like very good at the skills, like the hand.
Speaker A:And has excellent hand grip strength.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And if you don't watch these things, they are just like very, very exciting.
Speaker A:It's like a very exciting four minutes because you just don't know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:What's gonna happen?
Speaker B:I do.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:You got me into American Ninja Warrior and I, I do also love it.
Speaker B:So I'm gonna, I'm gonna tune into this now.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So Taylor Greene's 17 year old Isabella Folsom was the woman, the fourth woman.
Speaker A:And so they're both through to the national finals which will air in two weeks.
Speaker B:So, yes, it's very exciting.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:My pick of the week was Sabrina and Eskew in that three point competition we talked about a little bit at the top of the show.
Speaker B:But like, I forgot.
Speaker B:Well, first of all, we remember her.
Speaker B:Was it last year or the year before taking on Steph Curry two years ago?
Speaker B:Yeah, two years ago.
Speaker B:And like really coming within three points of like she came second in the NBA three point competition.
Speaker B:So I like just.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:There's something so satisfying if people have not watched this.
Speaker B:Something so satisfying about watching someone just hit like three pointer after three pointer and like swish, swish, swish.
Speaker B:And then they go to the next station.
Speaker B:Swish, switch.
Speaker B:And like I can't.
Speaker B:I don't know that.
Speaker B:I cannot.
Speaker B:You have to watch it to understand like the deep satisfaction that comes with that.
Speaker B:But that's my pick of the week.
Speaker A:Okay, good.
Speaker A:All right, next week we will be back with Tour de France Femmes updates and we're going to CrossFit games.
Speaker A:We have CrossFit champ joining us, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Can't wait to talk to Arielle and we'll bring you that next week.
Speaker B:And yeah, that's it.
Speaker B:So subscribe to the podcast Review us Rate us Share with your friends.
Speaker B:We're in week five.
Speaker B:We're trying to grow and if you like us, share us and come join the women's sports movement with us.
