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Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we hope that wherever you are, you're taking a second to think about all that you lived through in 2024, what you gained and what you lost. And you can rest today knowing that you gave this year your best shot.

It's Tuesday, December 31st, New Year's Eve. And today we're on the road again with former pro cyclist, Catherine Bertine. This conversation happened back in August, just before the Tour de France FEMME. We talked about equality in the sport, the history of the tour and her fascinating journey from figure skating to pro cycling. That conversation is coming up right after this. Stick around.

Elf Beauty is a huge success story. But did you know they believe their success is in part due to the diversity of their board and the data backs them up? The Not So White Paper, created in collaboration with North Carolina A&T, connects the dots between diverse corporate boards and positive results, which can include a higher return on equity, better price-to-earnings ratios, and even fewer discrimination lawsuits. Read it yourself at elfbeauty.com slash not so white paper.

Hey, it's Bobby Bones. Join me and former NFL quarterback Matt Castle every Wednesday for our new podcast, Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle. Between us, we have over 17,500 passing yards, multiple New York Times bestsellers, and one mirrorball trophy from Dancing with the Stars. So where else are you going to find a show with that much athleticism and football insight?

We talk sports, but we talk pop culture and music and a little bit of everything. Listen to Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

We all have a moment that splits us wide open. On my new podcast, Wide Open with Ashlyn Harris, I'll sit down with trailblazers from sports, music, fashion, entertainment, and politics to explore their toughest moments and the incredible comebacks that followed. Listen to Wide Open with Ashlyn Harris, an iHeart Women's Sports production on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports.

I'm so sick of hearing men talk about women's basketball. This is Lexi Brown. And Mariah Rose. And we've got a new podcast, Full Circle. Every Wednesday, we're catching you up on what's going on in women's basketball. We've got you with analysis, inside stories, and a little bit of tea. Full Circle is an iHeart Women's Sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Listen to Full Circle on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Join Bobby Bones on the official Yellowstone podcast for exclusive cast interviews, behind-the-scenes insights, and a deep dive into the themes that have made Yellowstone a cultural phenomenon. Our family legacy is this ranch. And I protect it with my life. Listen to the official Yellowstone podcast now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Joining us now, cyclist, author, activist, filmmaker, former professional figure skater, and former professional triathlete. She turned professional in road cycling in 2012 and raced on world tour teams until 2017. Her biggest legacy, though, will be as an activist helping spearhead petitions to organizers to launch a women's tour to France.

a former ESPNW colleague, a fellow Ted Lasso lover, and a newly engaged woman. It's Catherine Bertine. What's up, Catherine? Hey, Sarah. Oh, it's so great to talk to you as always. Thank you for having me on your kick-ass show. It's an honor to be here.

You are welcome. And you're celebrating your engagement by following the Tour de France Femme, which is like so perfect and typical of you because you have made this so much of your life. But it wasn't always. And I love this part of the story. So it's not like you grew up being like cycling. Let's do it. You were actually a figure skater and you turned pro in that. But after your 30th birthday, you were like, let me find some other sports to give a go. And there's kind of a fascinating journey to get to pro cycling. So tell us about it.

Yeah, the short story journey to turning pro cycling actually stemmed from our ESPN days. And I was given an assignment of see if you can get to the Olympic Games in two years. Like you're the guinea pig, try a sport, see how badly you fail. It was kind of this setup to fail mission, right?

And, uh, the reality that happened condensing that story is that I found cycling. I found road cycling. I'd been a triathlete and my strongest of those three sports swim, bike, run was, was cycling. So I'm like, let me give this thing a try. Um, spoiler alert. Well, I didn't make the Olympic games in about 18 months. Um, I, I came remarkably close to it, but the big thing was that I fell in love with cycling. And as soon as the assignment ended, I was hooked. I'm like, I'm in.

I want to do this. I want to see if I can get to the professional level and race against the best of the best. But along the way, I also saw behind the scenes how many inequities there still were and are in pro cycling. For example, the women don't race the same events as the men. They don't race the same distances. We're like half the distance. And then, of course, the prize money conundrum. We are pennies on the dollar. So all these things didn't add up to the why, why, why, why is it like this?

And that's when I realized like, we, we need to change the sport, you know, a little bit. And that came from a place of love and being, as they say, being in the arena. I was like, what can I do? I love that though, because I think it's a lesson for people. It's like,

There are so many people who see other people step up and do something and think that they must be different in some way. And you're not. You're not a lifelong cyclist. You weren't at the top of cycling in the Olympics. You were a participant and you were very good, but you were also just someone who was keenly aware of how things weren't right. And you wanted to do something about it. And boy, did you. So before we get to what you did,

Can you give us a brief summary for those who don't know about the history of the Women's Tour de France? This is an impossible task, but like 60 seconds-ish on the clock, what was it before? And go. First thing, there are four renditions of the Tour de France femme that we know today. The first one started in 1955, and that was actually a setup to fail. Back then, the race director of the Tour de France said,

I don't think women can do any stages. And he gave the women a five day course. And in 1955, the women, there were 41 women from different countries and they not only did it, they crushed it. They did amazing. And apparently that must have scared the race director because it went away. It didn't come back. Right. Right.

So not until 1984. So from 55 to 84, nothing. Then finally, a more progressive race director with the Tour de France said, let's give the women another shot. And this time, let's not make it five stages. Let's make it 18 stages, which is almost the same amount as the men. The men had 21. So the women raced on the same course the same day, slightly before the men, from 84 to 89. And it was called Tour de France Feminine.

And in 89, it went away. And people ask why. And the short story is it's about that time around 1989 that media coverage, TV coverage, which is what we had back then, was the only option for coverage in the media. It was basically gearing everything toward the men. And the race directors were given this opportunity to say, OK, well, let's include the women in this.

But they didn't. And instead of saying, hey, we've got a men's and women's field, they just let go of the women's race to focus solely on the men. And that was so sad. And a lot of the racers were saying, you know what? Screw it. We will make our own Tour de France. We have to take a quick break. Plenty more with Catherine Bertin coming up right after this.

Hey, it's Bobby Bones. Join me and former NFL quarterback Matt Castle every Wednesday for our new podcast, Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle. Between us, we have over 17,500 passing yards, multiple New York Times bestsellers, and one mirrorball trophy from Dancing with the Stars. So where else are you going to find a show with that much athleticism and football insight?

Based in Nashville, we're more than just your basic NFL show. We talk sports, but we talk pop culture and music and a little bit of everything because we got lots to say. I texted you and you texted me back. Now, I don't know if you have the update, but like all the little thumbs up and heart and stuff, like it's all colored. They changed it. And the heart's a little pink.

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This season, join me on my journey through addiction and recovery. A story told in 12 steps. Listen to Crems as part of the Michael Lura Podcast Network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Tisha Allen, former golf professional and the host of Welcome to the Party, your newest obsession about the wonderful world that is women's golf. Featuring interviews with top players on tour like LPGA superstar Angel Yen. I really just sat myself down at the end of 2022 and I was like, look, either we make it or we quit. Expert tips to help improve your swing.

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on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, y'all, this is Reed from the God's Country Podcast. We had the one and only Bobby Bones in the studio this week, and we cover everything from his upbringing to his outdoor experiences with his stepdad, Arkansas Keith, to the state of country music. We may even end the episode with a little jam session led by Bobby himself.

Y'all be sure and listen to this episode of God's Country with Bobby Bones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Don't go shopping to Target with khaki pants and a red shirt on. Don't go shopping to Target with khaki pants and a red polo shirt on. That's what you have. Song right out of the book. That's good. Song right out of the book. An old lady came up to me. She said, how much for this cream of wheat?

It's Julie Stewart Banks. I'm doing a new podcast from iHeart Podcast and the National Hockey League, and I'm paired up with one of my favorite players, the always quotable Nate Thompson. I wore nine NHL sweaters, and I have story after story to share. And believe it or not, I have plenty to say, and not just about hockey. Believe me, he does. Energy Line with Nate and JSB is the name of the podcast, and it's going to be quite the ride. We're officially line mates, Nate. We're the

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I'm vibing, Julie. I'm ready to roll. Listen to Energy Line with Nate and JSB starting on February 4th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A lot of the racers were saying, you know what?

screw it, we will make our own Tour de France. And the owners of the Tour de France said, nope, you do not have access to the name. You can do what you want, but you can't call it the Tour de France. And of course, the whole world knew that the Tour de France was a name brand. It was a bike, you know, a bike race in France. So sadly, when the name went away, there was another edition. It was called the Grand Bouclet, but it didn't have the same name. It lost the sponsors that made it a worldwide event. It didn't have the media coverage.

So that was in 89. And fast forward, when I came onto the scene thinking like, hey, what can we do here? And again, like you pointed out, I'm not a gold medalist.

I did make it to world championships, but I didn't make it to the Olympic games. I don't have a national title with the U S but what I did have was organizational powers and I'm, I can be very annoying in a good way, maybe also a bad way, but most of the time it comes from a place of love. And I kept saying, what can we do? So I banded together with three other gold star gold medal winning, uh, Olympians and national champions and said, okay,

If the three of us, the four of us bond together, maybe we can really make change here. And that's when we organized to launch a petition to finally include women in the Tour de France. And we went viral for that time, which was just about 100,000 signatures.

But it wasn't just a petition. It was a website. It was a manifesto. It was everything. What we wanted to do is sit down with a parent company of the Tour de France called ASO to sit down with them and guide them in how we can do this productively, lucrative for them and for the athletes themselves.

And this is the part of the book that took a good hundred pages to write. So I'll condense it to saying like, hey, we won. We got our foot in the door. And even though we lobbied for equal inclusion for every day, they started by saying, you know what? We don't know if anyone will watch. We'll give you one day in 2014. Well, so really quick, the book is called Stand. And if you are not even remotely interested in cycling, it does not matter because I only read it because I'm

Catherine is a friend. And she sent it to me and I was like, I want to learn about this activism and how she got this done, even if I've never watched the Tour de France a day in my life. And it's a fascinating look at any kind of activism and how to rally people around something that you care about. And also just...

A reminder, Catherine, again, you are not a normal person. You are extraordinary, but also you are much more normal than we imagine we need to be to make the kind of change that you have. And I think it's really inspiring to other people to fight for things like this. If they see someone like you, like rally the right people at the right time, figure out the right tricks to pull so that you're getting public support or public shaming, which is often a huge part of getting shit done, which you very well did. So it takes us to 2014. So we get this first edition, this La Course book,

by Le Tour de France. So on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, ahead of the final stage of the 2014 Tour de France. It's very cool. It's very pretty. It's very fancy. You actually got to be on the starting line on your bike, racing in it. Very cool. But that wasn't what you were asking for. So finally, 2021, we get Tour de France Femme, eight days over 2022. They announced it's going to happen the next year and everyone's excited, including you, but still shorter. It's

still less prize money, still less TV coverage. So what are we still fighting for as we celebrate that we do have this race now, but not exactly what we want yet? You know, that's such a great question, Sarah, because it brings up the concept of progress being a wonderful thing, but it also has to serve as a reminder that we cannot settle for breadcrumbs. You know, in the bake shop of progress, we need to keep vying for the whole pie, the whole loaf, whatever you want to call it. But right now, the

The beauty is that we have this eight-day race. It's actually moving to nine days next year, of course, which I poke fun at. I'm like, oh, great. About 30 years will be equal if we keep adding one day. But the reality is that what we need to keep pushing for...

is the fact that women have eight days, men have 21 days. So we need more days. Yes. But we also need to remember too, that the distance of each of the women's race, um, it's shorter each day than the men's. And it's because of this antiquated system of like, Oh, well the women couldn't possibly do a longer race. Um,

And we all know that's crap. We all know that the, you know, sports physiologists have proven that women excel in endurance events. So it's just hogwash to say, oh, we'll give the women half or two thirds. They couldn't possibly, you know, the whole their ovaries will fall out.

Right. So longer distance, longer days. But also the big disappointment is the fact that the prize money per day for women compared to the men's eight days to eight days, women only make twenty nine percent of what the men are earning. And that needs to change, too.

So we still have some battles to fight and we want to remind people that we can celebrate the progress, but also use the word and to ask for more. Well, and it helps when we ask for more if we're supporting the thing we're demanding that they make longer, bigger and better. So what do we watch for if we are getting first timers who are listening to this show who are saying, OK, I'm in. I want to watch Le Tour de France Femme. What do they watch for? How do they appreciate it?

I love it. Great question. A lot of people think that bike racing is a whole group of people and the fastest person wins. But here's what's really exciting about cycling. It's like a moving chess game. And within the peloton, and that's the group of cyclists, we've got sprinters, we've got climbers, we've got

best young rider category. And within stage racing, there are multiple areas in each race where a climber might win a certain amount of points, a sprinter might win, the best young rider might win. And then there's the team classification. So there are multiple races happening within a race. And once a viewer tunes in and understands those dynamics, you have a variety of people to root for.

And that makes the sport so exciting, as does the fact that these athletes on the women's side of pro cycling have such extraordinary stories and backgrounds. You know, many of them have had to work two to three part time jobs just to make it, whereas the men have more of a pipeline track into the big leagues. So amazing backstories. We've got like doctors, lawyers, professors who are also pro cyclists. Really fascinating stuff.

And of course, the global outreach now cycling is huge. You know, if you had gone back maybe 20 or 30 years, you might see that like it's all Dutch or all Belgian or all European athletes. And now it's just a rainbow of accomplishment of different countries. Like the top 10 are all from different countries. And and that goes down top 20. So it's really, really amazing that we can actually get behind us globally to support these athletes. Yeah. Yeah.

Awesome. Well, we're all excited. And if you want to watch Catherine's documentary, Half the Road from 2014, or if you want to read her book, Stand, which I highly recommend, there's a lot in there besides just cycling stuff from her life and her dramatic brain injury and all sorts of other hiccups along the way.

Also, her Homestretch Foundation, which assists female pro athletes who struggle with the gender pay gap. I've actually been to the house, which is gorgeous, where the athletes live and train and get a leg up as they try to live out their dreams. We're going to put links to all those things in our show notes. Catherine, enjoy the Netherlands, enjoy the race, and thanks so much for making time for us. Sarah, thank you for all you do for women's sports and all of sports. We so appreciate you. Okay, count her as a slice, y'all. She's in.

We hope you enjoyed that conversation with Catherine. Tomorrow, our Best of 2024 series continues with Hooper Leija Clarendon. See you then.

Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart Women's Sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network. Our producers are Alex Azzi and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rutter. Our editors are Emily Rutter, Brittany Martinez, Grace Lynch, and Lindsay Cradwell. Production assistance from Lucy Jones. And I'm your host, Sarah Spain.

Elf Beauty is a huge success story, but did you know they believe their success is in part due to the diversity of their board and the data backs them up? The Not So White Paper, created in collaboration with North Carolina A&T, connects the dots between diverse corporate boards and positive results, which can include a higher return on equity, better price-to-earnings ratios, and even fewer discrimination lawsuits. Read it yourself at elfbeauty.com slash not so white paper.

Hey, it's Bobby Bones. Join me and former NFL quarterback Matt Castle every Wednesday for our new podcast, Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle. Between us, we have over 17,500 passing yards, multiple New York Times bestsellers, and one mirrorball trophy from Dancing with the Stars. So where else are you going to find a show with

that much athleticism and football insight. We talk sports, but we talk pop culture and music and a little bit of everything. Listen to Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

We all have a moment that splits us wide open. On my new podcast, Wide Open with Ashlyn Harris, I'll sit down with trailblazers from sports, music, fashion, entertainment, and politics to explore their toughest moments and the incredible comebacks that followed. Listen to Wide Open with Ashlyn Harris, an iHeart Women's Sports production on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports.

I'm so sick of hearing men talk about women's basketball. This is Lexi Brown. And Mariah Rose. And we've got a new podcast, Full Circle. Every Wednesday, we're catching you up on what's going on in women's basketball. We've got you with analysis, insight stories, and a little bit of tea. Full Circle is an iHeart Women's Sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Listen to Full Circle on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports.

Welcome to My Legacy. I'm Martin of the Kingdom Third, and together with my wife, Andrea Waters King, and our dear friends, Mark and Craig Kilberger, we explore the personal journeys that shape extraordinary lives. Join us for heartfelt conversations with remarkable guests like David Oyelowo, Mel Robbins, Martin Sheen, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and Billy Porter. Listen to My Legacy on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is My Legacy.