Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's Historic Victory | Tour de France 2025 Stage 9 | THEMOVE Femmes

Summary

THEMOVE Podcast Summary: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's Historic Victory | Tour de France 2025 Stage 9 | THEMOVE Femmes

Episode Overview

In this captivating episode of THEMOVE, host Lance Armstrong, alongside co-hosts Mari Ali and guest Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, delves deep into the exhilarating conclusion of Stage 9 of the Tour de France Femmes 2025. The discussion centers around Pauline's historic and dominant victory, the implications for the general classification (GC), team dynamics, and the broader impact on women's cycling.

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1. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's Dominant Victory

The episode opens with the hosts celebrating Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's remarkable performance in Stage 9. Pauline's strategic prowess and sheer dominance were evident as she secured a commanding victory, reinforcing her position at the top of the GC.

• Mari Ali commends Pauline's unexpected yet masterful ride:
  "Pauline is like literal next level." [00:12]

• Pauline Ferrand-Prévot reflects on the intense nine-day race:
  "It has flown by. And I can tell you what else flew. Pauline was flying." [00:41]

• Lance Armstrong emphasizes Pauline's excellence across all race aspects:
  "She was head and shoulders above everybody else." [01:53]

2. General Classification (GC) Shakeup

Pauline's victory not only secured her the stage win but also solidified her lead in the overall standings, showcasing her superiority over competitors.

• Pauline highlights the significant gap she established:
  "She's 3 minutes and 42 seconds ahead of Demi, who's in second." [07:15]

• Lance underscores the breadth of Pauline's advantage:
  "Yellow jersey just triple reinforced that she was head and shoulders above everybody else." [01:53]

3. Team Dynamics and Support

The role of teammates, particularly Juliet Labuse, was pivotal in supporting Pauline's efforts. Juliet's relentless work in the breakaway group exemplified the importance of strong team dynamics in cycling.

• Mari Ali praises Juliet's dedication:
  "She was like Pauline's teammate too... She's getting Christmas cards from both those ladies." [21:30]

• Pauline acknowledges Juliet's contributions:
  "She crawls back on, gets the front, keeps working, sets Demi up to attack again, gets dropped." [21:44]

4. Sarah Gigante's Struggles with Descending

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on Sarah Gigante's challenges during the race, particularly her descending skills, which adversely affected her standing in the GC.

• Pauline analyzes Gigante's performance:
  "She struggled immensely. It cost her dearly." [13:00]

• Lance highlights the technical aspects impacting Gigante:
  "She just needs a lot of work on that repetition and going back through it over and over again." [15:26]

• Mari Ali empathizes with Gigante's situation:
  "She does not need some troll like critiquing her descending on the Internet. So please don't do that, fellas." [15:26]

5. The Impact on Women's Cycling

The hosts discuss the evolving landscape of women's cycling, emphasizing the increasing competitiveness and visibility of the sport.

• Pauline celebrates the achievements and growth:
  "If you just thought you were watching a sporting event, this was a much better race." [23:16]

• Mari Ali reflects on the future of the sport:
  "The sport is being elevated through this... inspiring the next generation." [27:15]

6. Future Prospects and Reflections

Looking ahead, the conversation turns to Pauline's potential trajectory and the promising future of women's cycling.

• Pauline contemplates her ongoing journey:
  "I'm telling you, it's super, super sketchy... there's a great future for." [16:46]

• Lance expresses excitement for upcoming events:
  "I'm super excited to see what they bring out for next year." [27:41]

• Mari Ali envisions continued excellence:
  "This is exciting racing... showing that the progression is going up." [23:35]

7. Memorable Moments and Reflections

The hosts share personal reflections and memorable moments from the race, highlighting Pauline's resilience and the emotional connections within the cycling community.

• Pauline shares a light-hearted moment:
  "I don't know what Pauline's doing tonight, wherever she is. And you own a bank in that area? I double lock the doors because this woman can just walk in right now and just take the money." [12:56]

• Lance playfully acknowledges his admiration:
  "He is fangirling for sure." [29:16]

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Conclusion

This episode of THEMOVE offers a comprehensive and engaging analysis of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot's historic victory in the Tour de France Femmes 2025. Through insightful discussions, notable quotes, and expert commentary, listeners gain an insider's perspective on the race's pivotal moments, the athletes' performances, and the dynamic evolution of women's cycling. Pauline's dominance not only showcases her exceptional talent but also propels the sport into a promising future, inspiring both current and upcoming generations of cyclists.

Transcript

[Lance]

We all started talking about everyone else and not forgetting that she was there, but not talking about it as much, you know, and talking about Sarah, talking about Demi, you know, and I don't think she just came out and you know, she did.

[Mari]

I don't think we ever forgot about her for sure. We were watching and waiting, knowing how much she had prepared, of course. But I think that first day was her first. Kind of like, whoopsie, a bit like she kind of looks back and she was like, oh, no, where is everybody? Maybe I don't want to come out of the closet that soon. But I mean, like we said yesterday, it's just pure masterclass. And looking at all the interviews and what the writers are posting, I mean, Pauline is like literal next level.

[Pauline]

Welcome back to the Move podcast, Mari Ali. Thank you. So it's been a heck of a nine days.

[Lance]

It's flown by.

[Mari]

It has.

[Pauline]

It has flown by. And I can tell you what else flew. Pauline was flying.

[Mari]

Bravo, Pauline.

[Pauline]

I mean, what, what a. What a boss ride. And she was just so clearly dominant. But I didn't, I didn't see coming today coming. And you called it. Mari called it. As we were watching. But before we get into all the action for the last time, for 2025, Mel, what'd we do today?

[Lance]

Stage 9, Praz sur Harley Tout.

[Pauline]

What a way to end.

[Mari]

I know, but with Anna here in the studio, I feel like Mel should be here doing these live right now.

[Pauline]

Mel is not here, but. But Anna speaks French next year. That's a great idea. Yeah, I think we should do it. Pauline, Pauline, Pauline. And by the way, it was an exciting day. This wasn't just we had a GC shakeup. We had a yellow jersey just triple reinforced that she was head and shoulders above everybody else.

[Lance]

But it went from the gun. I mean, it did the green jersey going from the gun.

[Mari]

Yeah, we gotta dive into that. I mean, turning on the TV this morning, love on the weekends that we gotta watch from kilometer zero all the way to the finish, super exciting stages. But also, you guys, we would not be here watching the Tour de Francois Mabec. Zwift. Without Zwift.

[Pauline]

Without Zwift.

[Mari]

So I also, you know, obviously the title sponsor of the Tour de Francois Mabeck, Zwift, sponsor of our show. And I just wanted to start out just saying thank you to Zwift. Without Zwift, we wouldn't be here. We wouldn't be able to watch this master class of women's cycling on our TV screens. You guys listening? So I'M Peacock or wherever you're doing your podcast. And Zwift is just doing rad things in cycling recently. Rolling out their cog and click right here. And so you can just set, no cassette change, no bike drama. Literally, use any bike you have. Put on a Zwift ready trainer. Wahoo Kicker. Like I use Garmin Jet Black Elite Decathlon. And the prices start at only $299. And we got our money's worth watching today's race with that for sure. And don't forget to pair your Zwift companion app to get your outdoor rides to count to your indoor Zwift fitness score. And I'm seeing Lance's Zwift fitness score increasing with his chance of riding with Pauline soon, I think.

[Pauline]

Yes, I tell you.

[Lance]

Well, and mine's going up tomorrow morning because I have my ride at 7:30 Mountain on Zwift. Yes.

[Mari]

Find Mari on Zwift. Group ride.

[Lance]

Group ride. Yes.

[Mari]

There we go.

[Pauline]

Yeah, Pauline wants to go for a bike ride with me. I just need like 30 days notice. I'll be ready in 30 days.

[Lance]

So not a coffee ride.

[Pauline]

Let's just, let's generalize it for now. But give me 30 days, I'll be ready.

[Mari]

Well, we've talked to Pauline. We feel like this is going to happen. Yeah, for sure. We'll get on that. And our last sponsor here that I'm talking about is Hyperice. And watching the start of the race, I'm going to say a lot of those ladies were using some Hyperice products last night because that race went ballistic from the gun. So Lance, you've been using Normatec boots since, I don't know, dark ages, I think 15 years. Yeah. But now they're definitely the gold standard of compression. They're now cordless, compact and powerful. And so these ladies were probably in their buses on their transfer last night, you know, using the Normatec. And then they also have this hyper boot, which, I mean, I am wearing combat boots today, but I could be wearing hyper boots and you can wear them at breakfast on your way to training. So it's all about just keeping that blood flow moving your legs fresh between stages life, you know, maybe on your way to your golf match later. Lance. But for the listeners, the move, use the code the move for 15% off. So the code, the move for 15% off of all Hyperice tech and a hundred dollars off of the new hyperboot recovery. And Liz, our beautiful photographer has been using the products because on taking pictures is really exhausting. So the code, the Move.

[Pauline]

She thought it was 56 days. As we were watching that, she said, well, I'm on day 56 and I'm like 28 maybe. I think it's been 28 days.

[Mari]

You were like impressing us with your math this morning.

[Pauline]

Actually, no, I was, you know, playing the way senior high, baby. We can, you know, know how many days it takes to do two tours. But back to Pauline, I mean, it was just, we were reflect, reflecting, like even going. As I look back at those early stages, she looked, look, I guess there's some, probably some question marks. She. She jumps over to the road, she states her goal to win the Tour de France. Fam of Ex Wift. So you never know, right? This is even the career she's had. She had to have some questions. She just, upon reflection, she was in control the whole time. Not just, and I mean in every aspect of the game. Uphill, downhill, positioning, in the peloton.

[Lance]

But she played it so smart too. I mean, we saw what she did today. We saw her acceleration on the first day and what she did in. And everyone was talking about it, but then she hit out and really just kind of played it cool. And we all started talking about everyone else and not forgetting that she was there, but not talking about it as much, you know, and talking about Sarah, talking about Demi, you know, and I don't think she just came out and.

[Mari]

You know, she did. I don't think we ever forgot about her for sure. We were watching and waiting, knowing how much she had prepared, of course. But I think that first day was her first kind of like whoopsie, a bit like she kind of looks back and she was like, oh, no, where is everybody? Maybe I don't want to come out of the closet that soon, but I mean, like we said yesterday, it's just pure masterclass. And looking at all the interviews and what the writers are posting, I mean, Pauline is like literal next level. I mean, at first they're disappointed that they're not up with or they're losing so many minutes on this climb yesterday. And then they're like, their post race interviews immediately is, oh man, I had a bad day this and that. They download their power files later and they're like, that actually was the best day of my life career day.

[Pauline]

Just to put it in context, Demi Vollern gets second. She's 3 minutes and 42 seconds behind. Cassia Niodoma moves up into third. We'll talk about that because there was a lot going on for this fight slash drama for this Fight for the podium, primarily in and around Sarah Gigante, which. Lots of thoughts there and lots of understanding, too. I mean, this is a hard game, and it's. It's. Yes, you have to go uphill, but you also have to go downhill.

[Mari]

Yeah.

[Pauline]

So lots of thoughts there. But if you frame it up, right, so she's 342 ahead of Demi, who's in second. If you just doubled that, you went another 342. Between second and sixth place are within 342. So that shows you where the field is. And then there's, you know, sort of up here in the stratosphere is Paul Lane. I mean, it's that. That.

[Lance]

That much better in every discipline of our sport.

[Mari]

Yeah, yeah. Gravel road, mountain bike. But like, it said, Lance said BMX better watch out.

[Pauline]

Yeah, agreed. But.

[Mari]

But this morning, though, I thought it was just so exciting. We knew it was gonna be hard. Stage started on that 15k descent. We know where SD works. And Cassia said last night, like, it's game on on these descents. I'm gonna make my time up in GC on this. We're going full gas and kilometer zero. Weebus attacks from the gun. She's like, just. I know. I don't want to call her the Hulk, but it is great in that green jersey. And SD Works, like, woke up. And I said, I'd give one last kitten analogy, Lance, but, like, my cat. SD Works woke up this morning and just chose violence. They were just like, violence. Yes. Here we go. And they went and attacked and attacked Anna Vanderbragan. They gave no pucks.

[Pauline]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Lance]

Anna was impressive.

[Pauline]

I thought that was a. That was a gutsy ride. I mean, why not, right? With all her experience and I don't know what. You know, look, they're going to leave with a green jersey. There's thought, you know, I think they probably leave a little disappointed overall. Right. But so Anna, being the warrior that she. She is, she said, no, I'm gonna send it. And I thought that was a heck of a ride.

[Mari]

She attacked so many times. Finally, the peloton was just like, basta. Like, go up the road, please. This is hurting.

[Lance]

And, I mean, it was a great way to play it because, you know, say something had happened and Sarah had gotten back. Those girls might not have chased so hard on her, and maybe she would have survived a little longer. You know, it would have changed the whole game. So being up front like that and pushing was. Was awesome for SD Works. I thought they really came out to. To go for it.

[Mari]

They did chose violence this morning. Just like gave no pucks, especially when.

[Lance]

They had three riders up there at one point.

[Mari]

Yeah, Lotta's attacking. You got one, two punches. It was. It was really exciting. And Anna had a beautiful ride. I did see, like the two chinks in Pauline's armor I saw today was. She did say she felt a little pressure in the yellow jersey. She did get gapped off in that beginning. There was like two pelotons forming and she said that she just kind of got in her head and then she was like, wait, what am I doing? I'm gonna get at the front and then I'm gonna win in yellow.

[Pauline]

I'm not sure I buy that.

[Lance]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pauline]

She's pretty in control. Yeah. The second chink, she got a little isolated.

[Mari]

She did. She got isolated. Second chink. She sat in the podium, like, post race thing, and she said, I think I'm just gonna sit here for a while. She got a little tired. I think after today she was.

[Pauline]

Yeah, these were. I think we watch and we saw it yesterday and you also saw it today. That's the first. Those two times are the first times her face looked different where that was sort of a grimace. It was kind of a, you know, TV speculating. Oh, she's cracking. A small smile is like. I actually think she's going as hard as she can go right now.

[Lance]

That was a suffering smile.

[Pauline]

And that's a suffer smile. Like, where's the finish line?

[Lance]

Yeah, but I think that smile came at about 200 meters to go when it became an actual smile.

[Mari]

But what a champion. Oh, my goodness.

[Pauline]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mari]

You're telling her to go. And I'm like, she is going as hard as she can.

[Pauline]

You can't help yourself. Like, you're watching and you're like. And yeah, you're like, go now, go now. Go harder. Of course, not listening, but. And I think it takes. It takes a certain character. She doesn't have to do that. Right. She has minutes in front and there is. I'm sure there's a part of the world's like, oh, why don't you just ride in and let somebody else have the stage? And, you know, it takes some guts to say, no, I'm in the yellow jersey and it's not always popular to just go back out and just destroy people Again, the little bit that I know about her, she doesn't care about that. She wants to win by grace.

[Lance]

Woman in France winning the Tour de France. I mean, I think she wants to get in front of her people and put on a good show.

[Pauline]

Boy, the amount of people out and the signs. I mean, we talk about it a lot and I think maybe early on the listener would think, ah, they're just. No, these, I'm telling you, the base of Joplin that looked like the Tour de France period. And then there were people all day long. And obviously she's. I can't imagine another female French athlete that's bigger in that country right now. Her people were out, they were out.

[Mari]

Everybody was out for her, including us. And, you know, it's kind of fun. I bet, you know, she. When she said that she's going over to road signs this contract with Visma Lisa Bike leaving Ineos that didn't want to invest in women's road cycling. I bet Ineos is sitting there somewhere going, huh, maybe I should have done a women's routine. Also, she had this really cute interview. I. I did the Pauline hair yesterday. I have long blonde hair. I'm a big fan. Liz and I are, you know, are blondies here. And Anna too. And it's really cute though. I. She signs this contract and she wins Paris Roubaix, her first. And they put a cap on her and she was like, crap. My agent and I didn't put, like a no cap clause. Like, she didn't want to wear a hat. She's so used to doing her top knot and her tight ponytail. And now she's like, I feel like a policeman in my. In my hat. But now she said she's getting used to it. That's an update on Pauline's hair for everyone.

[Pauline]

Let me just say something. I don't know what she's doing tonight, but. No, no, listen, don't get weird, all right? I know it's been nine days. Y' all are tired. It's been a lot of days for me. I'm tired. Don't get weird. Not so. Let me say this again.

[Lance]

I don't even know where you're going with it.

[Pauline]

I know you don't.

[Lance]

I'm not getting weird.

[Pauline]

She has her mind in the gutter.

[Lance]

I'm off the back.

[Pauline]

I don't know what Pauline's doing tonight, wherever she is. And you own a bank in that area? I double lock the doors because this woman can just walk in right now and just take the money. I mean, in France, like, it's just up. You want it? All right, door's open. If you own the bank, better stand guard.

[Lance]

National hero.

[Pauline]

National hero.

[Mari]

So do you want to dive into the ascending yet, or do you want to?

[Pauline]

Well, let's look. I mean, it was, I think it's, it's, it might be the biggest, I mean, look, we expected Pauline to hold on to yellow. We didn't expect her to just stamp it like that. But great for her. But I think the biggest story of the day is Sarah Gigante and her not just her lack of descending skills. And I want to talk about this, and I want to honor the fact that this is, these are some, I said it yesterday. The descent off Juplan is terrifying. It really is. And thank God the roads were dry. You throw some rain on those roads, everybody is terrified. And so, but she, she struggled immensely. It cost her dearly. Right? She goes from second in gc. What do we see? Second down to six on GC because of descending, right? You think that that happens in cycling when somebody gets dropped badly or bonks on a climb and just can't that happens to see it happen on a downhill. That I felt for her because I think, and we were talking a lot about this, descending is, I think, sort of 50% genetics, where, you know, they're just folks that are just a little more coordinated, a little more fearless. And then there's another 50% that you can train, right? You can know the course exceptionally well. If you're, if you can't descend, then you have to spend time knowing every inch, not of the climb, but of the downhill. Cause you know you're going to get dropped. Um, and then there's just ways ride with other people, learn their tricks of the trade, like learn how to descend. This was brutal.

[Lance]

I mean, that's kind of the point. I know she went and trained on some of the descents is what they had been talking about. But, but being on them with people who are really good and trying to push it at speed, because there's a differ riding it, you know, slowly and kind of understanding where the turns are versus trying to take things at speed. And it just seems like she needs a lot of work on that repetition and going back through it over and over again, trying to, you know, push the limit, like out of her comfort zone.

[Mari]

Yeah, I, I, my heart goes out. I mean, she's such a talented rider. I mean, she's been riding a long time. I mean, she's national champion. She's a great climber, obviously. And I mean, she did say that there's been some hate on the Internet and you know, she does not need some troll like critiquing her descending on the Internet. So please don't do that, fellas, because I assume that is that. But, like, I mean, I was. I've had some really hard crashes. She's had hard crashes. It does make it difficult. I was definitely not born with that fearless gene. And Mari's been my director, so he knows I can struggle at descending. And, and so, like, I do know you have to work on it, but also, like, it was so painful to watch, but also, people, be nice, please. Well, and I mean, you've.

[Lance]

I've seen, We've all seen it before where you have people who struggle with the descending, and it is something that's trainable. And also if the team, you know, knows that that's an issue. And how much are they gon to building a team around her? I mean, she's only 23 years old. She obviously is a great climbing talent. She's just coming back from her iliac artery surgery in January, so I think even improving that much in that short period of time, but really spending some time working on the descending is really going to help her. And there have been women before, like Luperini, who was winning all kinds of races in the 90s and 2000s and couldn't descend at first and then got much better through her career. So, I mean, I still think there's a great future for.

[Mari]

Of course.

[Lance]

And so it's like, I hope she doesn't get down on it too much and just takes it as a, you know, something that she can learn from and really move forward and be motivated.

[Pauline]

In that learning can 100% learn it, learn it 100%. And look, she. She's probably never going to get to a place where she's going to never. And I think it's safe to say she's never going to go downhill. Like Pauline.

[Lance]

Well, she's like £100, right? Well, Pauline's very little, too, but that's okay.

[Pauline]

It's more. It's not about gaining an advantage. It's about minimizing your losses or eliminating your losses. But just to go back to the. And they referenced this in the coverage on Peacock. Whoever's throwing shade at anybody that's going down these, these descents in any of these tours, I'd love to put them at the top as you plan. And so go ahead, fire away.

[Mari]

It's.

[Pauline]

I'm telling you, it's super, super sketchy. Plus, you're at the end of nine days, you're at the end of your rope, you're tired. This is also a mental game, right? You have to focus. You have to. It makes it that much harder. But look, what I would say to Sarah Gigante is, is it's learnable European roads. And we were chatting about this during the race. The European roads, not that I'm some sort of roadologist, they are built differently than we built roads here in the United States, for example. And she comes from Australia, so they're, you know. Yeah, but she comes from Melbourne. That's not the Alps and that's not the Rockies. Right. And so it's probably grow up riding these things and being trained to figure out ways to do them. But there are ways to go downhill. Look, European roads are very predictable. What you see going into the corner almost all the time is what you're going to see coming out of the corner. And if that's not the case, if it is a surprise, they will let you know, right. In Europe, it does a very good job of this, that if there's all of a sudden some sneaky corner, they let you know, right? There's fleshes. And even the race will let you know. You have to trust the signs and trust. And if you want to get really granular here, trust the center line. That center line is going to tell you what is happening going into the corner and coming out of the corner. But there were times that there were corners, they weren't even corners. And you could see her stop pedaling, start to hit the brakes. I'm like, no, no, no, no, full send. Like you just have to go. And if you get in there and you get in trouble, you got breaks, right? And so then you can use these break. By the way, too, we're on disc brakes now, right? These things work really well. She can absolutely learn this, whether that's with being with other people or just, you know, having somebody train her up. But you take that one downhill out of this, she's on the podium.

[Lance]

Yeah, that's crazy.

[Mari]

I did like that you said that the European roads are romantic lands. I thought that was a good comment.

[Pauline]

They're more romantic on the way up. Right. So, you know, and in my. We were sort of joking, but it's true. Like, as in America, when we built roads, we're like, ah, we're going there, just pave it, you know, so that our, our climbs in the United States are not consistent. You go ride European roads, that's why you see climbs that are, you know, 10, 12, 14 kilometers long at 8% the whole way right here. They're, you know, they're steep, flat, steep.

[Lance]

Or they're just so Wide open. You don't need to be controlling your bike at all.

[Pauline]

We just. We just built them different. But. But non. Nonetheless. They are racing over there. So it's, you know, these roads are.

[Lance]

Which is another reason why it's so important for kids to get over there racing early and learning how to race on these different types of, you know, terrain and stuff. Yeah, it's just you start to expect it and learn how to adapt.

[Pauline]

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[Mari]

Yes.

[Lance]

Is he relaxed?

[Pauline]

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[Mari]

I think we got to talk about Juliet Labuse. I mean, teammate of the year today. So impressive. She was like the bus of that breakaway group for a long time.

[Pauline]

You said she was Pauline's teammate too, but.

[Mari]

Yeah, that's what you said.

[Pauline]

I mean, that's. That's the way.

[Mari]

Yeah.

[Pauline]

Yeah. Hey, thank you. I mean, she's getting Christmas cards from both those ladies.

[Lance]

Exactly.

[Pauline]

For sure.

[Mari]

Seriously.

[Lance]

And every time Demi attacked and she would come back and then like, be on the front again.

[Mari]

Yeah. For. I felt bad because Demi would attack, and then, of course, the first person she drops is Juliet Labus, her teammate. The only teammate in the group all day. And then she crawls back on, gets the front, keeps working, sets damie up to attack again, gets dropped. Man, Dominic domestique.

[Pauline]

Life is towards the end. She was on the front. I think we had it. I mean, she. That was like a 30.30K. That was a 30 minute. It was a long. Nobody else took a poll?

[Mari]

No.

[Lance]

No.

[Mari]

Well, she was a good teammate for all in that group to ensure that the. They got higher up in GC and.

[Pauline]

Right. And. And that's there. But look at it now. If you go down between Cassio 409 Gigante 6:40. So I mean she didn't even need to be doing.

[Lance]

I think Gigante was a little off today anyways. I mean besides the fact of her descending on the climb when they started to go, she didn't really have that kind of jump that she had the other day. And you know, but it was obvious that none of them did vollering or you know, Katya. They were all on the limit.

[Pauline]

Been a hard tour.

[Lance]

Yeah.

[Pauline]

And she got stuck in the worst place ever. I mean because of the downhill. She was truly in no woman's land.

[Lance]

Yeah.

[Pauline]

Like all alone.

[Lance]

We all felt for her.

[Pauline]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mari]

I would just be like, take those TV cameras off of me, please.

[Pauline]

They're not leaving.

[Mari]

But how exciting this is. I realize that this is our fourth time here, guys in Aspen covering the Tour de France femmex which thanks for having us. And we've had four different winners. Yeah, that's exciting.

[Pauline]

Yep. And similar. Well outside of Pauline, I mean pretty similar podiums but four different winners.

[Mari]

Yeah. On a. Makes sense. Retired. But like, I mean that's. That's exciting racing.

[Pauline]

Yep.

[Mari]

It's just showing that this progression is going up where we're watching these rider hit their all time power numbers yesterday and going, oh, the level's going up and it keeps going up. And I think Casio said something about how, oh, I guess it's not good to have just. It's not good enough to have a little bit of improvements. You need to be like keep leveling up. Which Pauline just showed everybody. Obviously.

[Pauline]

Well they didn't. That was. That was new addition to the race. So that, that begs the question. I mean Pauline came in, said I want to win the. The Tour de France fam of ex wife. Which she very handily did. I'm assuming she wants to win again. Right. I mean is there a world where she goes back to mountain biking? And I mean the lady that I saw today or the last nine days, she could show up to any mountain bike or any World cup race, any Olympics, any worlds and win like she's that strong.

[Lance]

And possibly Rwanda would be an interesting.

[Pauline]

We took a sneak peek of the world championships in Rwanda. It's you know, 11 more than 11, 000 bird on the ladies side. I think we thought 17 or 18,000 vert on the men's side.

[Mari]

Yeah. You might be watching another bike race, five star favorite. But you know, I mean can you.

[Lance]

Imagine winning worlds on the road, winning the tour and winning the Olympic gold medal? All within you know, 12 months.

[Pauline]

12 months, yeah.

[Mari]

Well, I think she can imagine that, actually. I don't think it's that hard.

[Lance]

It's kind of mind blowing when you think about it, you know.

[Mari]

But yeah, we've talked to Pauline a little bit, so I think we might have to bring her on the show to ask her what's next.

[Pauline]

And just when I thought I was done talking about cycling for 2025 and.

[Mari]

Would you complain to talk to Pauline and ask her.

[Pauline]

Listen, I, I, I, I, in my heart of hearts, I was going to retire for the rest of 2025. I'm done talking about cycling. But Pauline's coming on. I'll be here.

[Mari]

Good.

[Pauline]

Okay, pfp. I'll be here. Yeah, I will. She's amazing.

[Mari]

Just taught the world a lot about bike racing again, just year after year, and it's just incredible. So we're fortunate to have athletes like this.

[Lance]

I also think, like saying one more time how incredible it is how the French women rode in this, this Tour or two. I mean, they won so many stages and the overall, it's just kind of mind blowing when a couple years ago, the French were not really on the radar.

[Pauline]

I mean, you have four French women in the top 10. Look at the top 10, right? Four French women, two Polish riders, two Australians. It shows you, I mean, the sport, it is cyclical, so countries come and go, but four riders from France in the top 10.

[Mari]

I do want to give a little tilt of the hat to Dominika. The ended fifth that was in that breakaway today. Polish rider. This is only her second year racing World Tour. She has a science degree and she's from a small Polish town and she actually was leading in her first World Tour race. She started last year in Tour down under and she started leading the UCI World Tour points. And she was like, I literally just came from Poland, from a tiny town, and now I'm leading the Women's World Tour. And now she's fifth at the Tour de France, following back Swift. And so again without her team leader, we're looking at Squibbin, who was so close to getting the Queen of Mountain jersey. Damie was like sprinting like a madman, trying to, like, keep it for Chabi, but that's questionable. But, yeah, it's just, it's a good story, a good writer to watch.

[Lance]

And, yeah, fourth in the Tour.

[Pauline]

Fourth. She moved up. Yeah, she moved up to fourth.

[Mari]

Crazy things happen when I look away.

[Lance]

Well, don't look away.

[Pauline]

Yeah, crazy things happened on the down. That changed everything. Yeah, right. Final thoughts and impressions of, of the 2025 Tour de France fam of X Swift, by the way, huge win for and huge shout out. I mean, I know where I talked about it, but Zwift is, this is cool. Like the, what they've done for women's cycling. And it's, you know, rare that you can kind of brand an event like that. They. They've owned it and good for them. Hats off to them.

[Mari]

Yeah. I think it's just we're in such an exciting place to watch these incredible athletes and then keep pushing that level of what it's going to look like in the future. And then we're seeing all these messages coming into how it's inspiring the next generation. I get a lot of questions. We don't have time to go through them all. Like Lance's favorite sandwich. Sounds named after you, Lance. But final thoughts is I think this is just the watch. The femme is like, it's not just a movement anymore. This is just reality. And the sport is being elevated through this. And Zwift's investment in it is showing that really, like, the more we watch women, the more women win. And hopefully we have some people that are very motivated watching what just happened out there in France.

[Lance]

I'm super excited to see what they bring out for next year. Are they going to add a time trial or how are they going to change this up a little bit and make it longer? But I'm excited to see what they bring out.

[Pauline]

Yeah. I think finally for me, if you didn't, if I compare, because I sat here for a month and I talked every day about the men's race and I talked to everybody every day about the women's race. Both of them have two really strong similarities. One, first and foremost, they both were won by people that were so far better than everybody else, including second place. But if you didn't look at gender and you didn't, if you just thought you were looking at robots, you said, I'm just going to watch a sporting event. Right. And I mean this, this sporting event that we just watched, however, it shook out and again, polling was that good. But we didn't know that till yesterday. Right. We were waiting for that. So the way that it was set up, the way that it was structured, so if, if you didn't know and you were just watching sports, this was a much better race. Right. And. And this was as a fan and maybe I, maybe it's easier for me to watch women's cycling because I, I have so much history within cycling. But If I didn't know anything and I was just watching a sporting event, this is a better sporting event. And I can't say that enough times and I can't say it loud enough. And I mean, was exciting. And so I'm with you. I don't know what. What. What they bring us for 2026, but I can't wait.

[Lance]

Yeah, it's going to be good. And it's been fun. I mean, for us to sit here and talk about it and just have you, like, enjoying it the way you have been. It's been a fun time.

[Mari]

He's fangirling.

[Lance]

He likes fangirling. Definitely fan.

[Mari]

He is fangirling for sure.

[Pauline]

I had a lot of reflections in 2025. No, I did. I did. About that I'm not going to get into.

[Mari]

But how many incredible stories did we come out? We have Kim lacourt. We've got maa. We have. I mean, this is. Oh, come on. It is such a beautiful sport. Yeah.

[Pauline]

There's a lot of stories. And you know what sports, whether. It doesn't matter the sport. Sports are built on stories and sports are built on the backs of people and the athletes and the stars and. And whether they could be heroic stories, they could be tragic stories, they could be comeback stories. That's what. That's. Sports are the best place to tell these stories, and we saw a lot of them. I mean. I mean, been a heck of a nine days. Lots of stories.

[Mari]

Time of our lives.

[Pauline]

All right, Anything else?

[Mari]

Watch the femme.

[Pauline]

Watch the femme. All right, well, I guess one, we're not going to be back tomorrow. We might be back soon. When Pauline wants to chat. It wants to chat. I hope she will.

[Mari]

She will, yeah.

[Pauline]

She'll be busy.

[Mari]

Right, Final boomstick for Pauline. I'm sorry, you get it two days in a row, babe. But it.

[Lance]

She deserves it.

[Pauline]

You deserve this boomstick today and overall.

[Mari]

And it was suggested. And she might want this sent to her, so we might need to make her her own boomstick. Okay, okay, okay.

[Pauline]

We can do that. All right, one final time. Thanks for tuning in and thanks everybody at Peacock. And three, two, one.

[Lance]

Bye.