Latest / Zone2Speak Podcast / A Conversation with Cyclocross Champ Sophie de Boer – Racing, Reinvention & Resilience

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A Conversation with Cyclocross Champ Sophie de Boer – Racing, Reinvention & Resilience · Zone2Speak Podcast

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Welcome to Zone to Speak. Today, I'm excited to chat with Sophie DeBoer,
4:16
a former professional cyclist who dominated the cyclocross scene and made waves in road cycling.
4:22
From winning World Cup events to riding for the prestigious Park Hotel Valkenburg
4:29
team, Sophie's journey is one of grit, grace, and a true passion for cycling.
4:34
In this episode, I explore Sophie's remarkable career, her transition from the
4:40
competitive world of cycling to embracing motherhood, and how she continues
4:45
to inspire others by promoting a healthy and active lifestyle.
4:49
I will dive into her thoughts on the evolution of women's cycling,
4:53
her own experiences navigating the challenges of professional sports,
4:57
and what the future holds for her both on and off the bike.
5:01
So, let's get rolling. Sophie, welcome to Zone to Speak.
5:05
Hello. Nice. Thank you. So good to see you. I met you at the migration race
5:10
in Kenya a few years back. Yes.
5:14
That wasn't my best experience on the bike, to be honest. Yeah,
5:19
I remember you were really sick.
5:22
Yeah, I got it. But then you went home and had some good news. Yes, exactly.
5:28
Surprising news. Yeah, it was quite a surprise. Well, I found out that we found
5:33
out I was pregnant, but that didn't have anything to do with the illness that was also there.
5:40
I remember the first night I threw up and I was so ill and the doctor,
5:46
she came to me and she was like, are you pregnant? And I was like, no, hell no.
5:52
I found out I was also pregnant. So yeah, that wasn't a very good experience,
5:57
but it was nice that we met. Yes.
6:00
Yeah, absolutely. I made so many friendships in that race.
6:05
You know, I think I'm a big fan now of the stage race because you get to hang
6:08
out with the cyclists for a few days. It's a very bonding experience.
6:14
Yeah, yeah. I keep in my mind that I might need to go back sometimes to Kenya
6:21
to do the race again and to experience it because now I did not really race,
6:25
but well, maybe in the future.
6:29
That's true. That's true. I would like to go back as well one day.
6:31
Take me back to what drew you into cyclocross and how did you get started in professional cycling?
6:40
Well, my dad, he was a cyclist. He actually was into racing on a mountain bike and I first tried that.
6:49
And even before that, I was into ice skating. I'm not sure if you are familiar
6:54
with this, but in the Netherlands, ice skating, it's quite famous.
6:59
It's like the sports that we do.
7:02
But the same with ice skating as it was with mountain biking.
7:06
You have to be quite technical and to have some really technical skills for these kind of sports.
7:13
And I don't know, it just didn't really suit me. So then I remember at around
7:19
the age of 15, someone said to me, you should try cyclocross.
7:23
And it's quite different from mountain biking.
7:26
It's still technical, but the skills are more like you need to corner or sand
7:30
sections. You need to run with your bike.
7:33
And it's not like mountain biking where you have these steep downhills and everything.
7:39
And I don't know, it really suited me well, cyclocross.
7:42
I remember one of my first races was the national championship
7:46
for junior girls and I was on the podium and
7:49
then I could join the national team and
7:52
it went it it it was very convenient it went well it was for me the first time
7:59
in sports that it just all worked out for me and then yeah year after year I
8:04
improved and yeah I did a lot of races with the national team as well.
8:10
Amazing. Yeah. It feels good when you actually excel at a sport and enjoy it and find yourself.
8:18
And that's what I tell a lot of people. You don't have to do cycling.
8:21
Just try different things. You find something you like.
8:24
Yeah, and especially at a young age, if you would have seen me ice skating,
8:29
you would have never thought that there would be some kind of talent that I
8:34
would have like skill for developing good aerobic condition or whatever.
8:40
No, and even with mountain biking, I was quite shy. It was all very new to me.
8:48
Also, we had to do a lot of downhill training.
8:52
I don't know it for me this was so
8:55
far out of my comfort zone so I'm happy
8:58
that other people and also my parents parents
9:02
pushed me a little bit into new directions so
9:05
to try new sports to try new things
9:09
and that's how I found out that actually
9:12
I was a good cyclist but not on
9:15
the mountain bike and I also did some
9:18
road racing but also in the beginning I was a little bit afraid of
9:21
racing in the peloton and i don't
9:24
know cyclocross it's an individual sports and it
9:27
it really really suited me i'm
9:30
not sure if we yeah i can see you smiling when you
9:33
talk about it and i was gonna ask like so road cycling came
9:36
after yes i you
9:39
were in a continental team sorry so
9:43
you were you were on a continental racing team right for the
9:46
first i think 10 years of my cyclocross
9:49
career i've always been in cyclocross teams
9:52
mostly in belgium teams and i've also been part of well i for a few years i
9:58
had my own team i was working with some private sponsors for instance rafa at
10:04
that time and i was working with colnavo some really cool brands and back.
10:11
Then it was not very nowadays it's more common that athletes work with private
10:17
sponsors Back then it was not really,
10:20
but cyclocross, you don't need a team to participate in the races.
10:25
It's nice, but it's not necessary.
10:28
And I've always been an athlete. I like to do my own thing. I like to make my own program.
10:35
I really, really like to do everything on my own terms.
10:40
So I was happy that I was also given the opportunity to race for myself.
10:45
And then I ended my career with road team where I did some more road racing as well as cyclocross.
10:53
Yeah. Would you have a preference between one or the other?
10:58
Cyclocross or road? Cyclocross, yeah. I was a much better cyclocross rider.
11:03
It's always been my main goal. And I did road cycling just in preparation for,
11:11
but I have to say in the last years when women cycling, and then now I'm speaking about 2018,
11:19
19, 20, when road cycling for women, And it was really becoming much bigger and more professional.
11:28
I noticed that it was also much more difficult to do the road races just as a preparation.
11:37
For instance, in 2013, I raced a Giro with a national team.
11:43
And then it was very doable to do a Giro as a preparation. And then in 2019,
11:49
I did it again. But the level in the race was completely different.
11:55
And then I think racing on that kind of level was not necessarily the best preparation for me.
12:04
For the cyclocross, you mean? Yeah, exactly.
12:08
I mean, cyclocross, hats off. It's so intense.
12:13
I love cycling, but that's something I know I'm not capable of. Yeah.
12:19
The jumps, grabbing the bike up the stairs, muddy sections, sandy sections.
12:25
It's really intense and usually goes, what, one hour, but it's full on.
12:30
Yeah, no, it is always around 50 minutes even.
12:35
Okay. The elite men, they race one hour and the elite women,
12:39
we used to race in between 40 to 50 minutes.
12:44
So it's about like six laps, depends a little bit on the lap.
12:48
Distance but mostly it's around six five
12:51
to six laps and yes it is very intense
12:54
and that's what I loved loved about
12:57
it it's always every week we had a new different course
13:00
and the course was really it
13:04
really depends on the weather how the course is and even
13:07
within the weekend it changes within the
13:10
hour it changes so you also need a
13:13
lot of skills for instance
13:16
with what pressure in your tires are you
13:18
going to race with which kind of tires you
13:21
are going to race and also a
13:24
lot of anticipation on how
13:27
you well what what line are you going to ride and a few weeks ago I did I was
13:34
working for the Belgium television and it was in Besançon it was a world cup
13:39
and I had to do the interviews sometimes I still do this and it keeps me involved in the cycling world.
13:46
And I had to interview my chief on the pool and it was after the race and he won the race.
13:51
And I asked him something like.
13:54
Well, how is it when you are so far in the front just doing your laps?
13:58
And he was like, yeah, every lap you come at the same point and then you know
14:02
the course changed after one lap.
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And every time you think, okay, what is the best line?
14:10
And then after riding the section, you think, oh, I should have taken another
14:14
line. I should have taken it, diffed the corner a little bit different.
14:18
And I don't know, this answer, it really, I could really visualize,
14:24
yeah, that's exactly how cyclocross is.
14:26
Every lap you think, okay, how am I going to do this?
14:30
And then the next lap, it changed again, the course.
14:33
It changes because everybody else is passing by and the terrain is changing,
14:37
I guess. Exactly. Okay, so the lines change, obviously.
14:40
Yeah, exactly. So it's also quite a technical sport as well.
14:47
Absolutely. I just love watching and I'll keep it at that.
14:53
And what are some of the biggest obstacles that you faced, if you faced any,
14:59
as a professional cyclist? Oh, a lot.
15:04
So, where to start? Well, when I started racing back in...
15:14
Oh, 2014? No, no, no, no, no. 2004. Oh my God. 2004.
15:22
2005. Yeah. 2006. So that was the age I started racing. I was about 15, 14, 15 years old.
15:32
And then women's cycling, especially in
15:35
the cyclocross world it was just
15:38
it was not professional not professional at
15:41
all there was not a lot of money in it it
15:44
was very difficult to become a professional cyclist and
15:48
for instance during big races then
15:51
the elite men they would race at around two but then
15:54
the women's race would be at around 10 in the morning
15:57
so there would be no spectators it would was always
16:00
very early if you had to travel to a
16:03
race I would I had to wake up at four
16:07
or four thirty so during my career
16:10
there were a lot of changes that the
16:13
the time of the race it changed and this might
16:16
seem very little but first it was huge because
16:19
then all the spectators would also see our
16:22
race and this was a big change also
16:25
because now it was more easy to broadcast the
16:29
race on television so when that happened a
16:33
lot of people started watching the women's races and
16:36
then suddenly they you have fans you
16:39
have people starting to follow you and then that's
16:42
when it starts to get interesting to get
16:45
some money in the sport and so these
16:48
two things wasn't really these really
16:51
changed the sport so the obstacle
16:54
for me was when I started there was
16:57
not really the it was not really common.
17:00
To get to become a professional cyclist so I
17:04
did the combination with university I went.
17:07
To university but this was yeah this
17:10
was so difficult for me I was living on my own in
17:13
a student place and I had to do these exams and all the exams would always be
17:20
at the same week as the world championship was and yeah I remember it was just
17:26
a lot to combine racing every weekend to,
17:31
yeah to also try to finish and to get my bachelor's degree and yeah I really
17:38
I at that age it was all it was quite a lot for me yeah I was talking to Sonia
17:44
Looney here on the podcast she's a professional mountain biker and she was talking
17:47
about that as well because I was asking how is it to be a professional,
17:50
especially financially.
17:53
And yeah, I think she shared a little bit like you, having to juggle studies and things
18:01
trying to support yourself and show up to the races.
18:06
Yeah, I didn't have a driving license.
18:10
And I remember, so in the Netherlands, on Wednesday, we have this training for
18:16
cyclocross riders. It's organized by the Dutch team.
18:22
And it was always a very good training. We would be trained by Verben de Knecht,
18:28
old professional but also Richard Groenendal
18:31
also former professional and this training
18:35
was this was like you really have
18:38
to go there to become a better cyclocross rider but
18:41
this was about from where I lived two hours by
18:44
train but then well it was not even possible
18:48
to get there by train and I didn't have a driving license so
18:51
then I would I would go first I would go by bike then
18:54
to a train station that I would be for two hours and
18:57
bike in the train and then I would have to ride my
19:00
bike for like 30 or 40 minutes then I would
19:03
have to do the training and then I would have
19:05
to go back and get back home very late in
19:08
the evening tired and cold and it.
19:12
Was sometimes a little bit frustrating that the
19:16
guys they would have a car or
19:19
they would be more supported from the teams so
19:22
yeah that was sometimes a little bit frustrating for me to
19:26
see the big gap between women and men in
19:29
in sports and well I
19:32
think now if you see a lot of the young girls they don't even
19:35
go to school anymore because they can sign a professional contract at a young
19:40
age and they totally deserve it but it's very different from when I started
19:46
racing yeah I mean I guess it's good that things are evolving and women are getting more equality.
19:52
I think there's still ways to go and improve.
19:56
And I think you touched on something that is important because I guess men can
20:01
get more money because they have more exposure.
20:04
So people want to see them more, they sell more.
20:07
So the women also need this support to get more exposure,
20:11
to have more of a following and more of a sales outlet so everybody in the chain
20:17
can make money and make the fans and people that follow happy.
20:24
Nowadays, with social media, it's easier for yourself to create some kind of
20:31
worth in what you can offer for brands.
20:35
And I think also now, what I see and what I experience with gravel.
20:39
There are a lot of brands who don't necessarily want you to be racing at top level.
20:44
They just want you to make some really cool, adventurous, inspiring content.
20:49
But on the other hand
20:53
the what I experienced in during
20:56
my career when our races started being
21:00
broadcasted on television I remember there was this
21:03
one particular race I think it was in
21:06
Leuven in 2015 I
21:12
think and there was this was a race just one
21:15
week or two weeks before the world
21:18
championship and i was in in the race fighting
21:21
for the win with sonic count and eventually this
21:25
was a sprint and it was a quite a it
21:28
was quite exciting to see and luckily i
21:31
i won the sprint but this race was watched by
21:34
over a million people because it was just before the
21:37
world championship and i remember winning that race
21:40
also being in the fight being in the front the
21:42
whole race was broadcasted and then
21:46
people are talking about it people love
21:49
to they they are moved by the race they are inspired and that's how you get
21:54
fans that's how people get to know you and that is what well drives also the
22:01
well then well the how do you say the evolution of the of the sport for women.
22:09
So that's what I really noticed, broadcasting it live on television.
22:13
Yeah, good point. A good point on social media too. I think it gives us a little
22:18
bit more of control and exposure and you can get a following and the brands
22:24
to pay attention to you. So that's great.
22:28
Absolutely on gravel now you have a lot of the privateers that
22:31
are not even part of a team they have different brands supporting them or
22:35
even people like me you know it's getting brand
22:38
support just for the lifestyle yep exactly yeah
22:41
yeah yeah but you stepped.
22:44
Away from racing at the peak of your career
22:48
what led that decision well
22:52
it was not completely my
22:55
peak I think in 2017 I won
22:59
the overall world cup classification I
23:02
had a really good year and from then in 2018.
23:06
I expected okay now I can I can
23:09
improve even more and I was on the
23:11
podium for quite a few national championships but
23:15
never on a world championship so I still had
23:18
my goals becoming world champion national champion
23:21
but I in that in that
23:24
pursue the pursue of these goals I don't
23:29
know I just lost all my happiness
23:32
and I got in
23:35
a mental well quite a difficult place mentally
23:38
it's also this also
23:41
was because I had an injury on my back injury
23:45
because we we mountain our bike on
23:48
I mounted my bike on the right side and well
23:52
so basically for a
23:55
few months a year you have a lot of pressure on
23:59
your right side of the body so this this sorry
24:02
this this this this gave me some imbalance in
24:05
my in my back so this caused the injury
24:08
and I don't know I it's it's I just could not solve this problem so it became
24:17
mentally very difficult for.
24:19
Me to yeah to enjoy riding and to enjoy racing and what I noticed in 2020.
24:28
21, 22 that yeah my
24:31
results also got a little bit less
24:34
and less and less so from racing at
24:37
the top three went to top five to top 10 top
24:40
15 so then I basically decided
24:44
at one moment okay I'm going to stop now because I'm
24:48
not happy anymore and I always kept the door open for a little bit I thought
24:53
okay maybe when I can solve this problem with my back when I'm feeling mentally
24:59
happy again when I'm enjoying enjoying racing and riding again or at least riding my bike,
25:06
maybe I can get back into cycling again.
25:09
But then I got pregnant, I became a mom, and then life also changes.
25:17
I think, I mean, I don't know what to say. I was never a pro,
25:20
but I think if you're not enjoying and not having fun and you have the capability,
25:26
the power to take a break, I think it's important.
25:30
You know, no one should go through
25:32
something that they're not enjoying and compromise their mental health.
25:36
But like I said, life also changed. You became a mother. And how has been this
25:40
transition from pro cyclist to motherhood?
25:44
Yeah, it's a really big change. There are so many things. Basically, everything changes.
25:50
And well, I have to say I'm very happy now. I'm in a very good place now.
25:56
I really enjoy being a mother.
25:59
And when Maxime, my daughter, when she was born, it's almost two years ago,
26:04
I got back on the bike quite fast because I really missed riding and racing.
26:10
And I started doing some gravel races. And then even last year, I was offered a
26:17
contract again to start racing professionally so
26:21
cyclocross no gravel yeah so
26:25
with the whole upcoming world of gravel there was this new team they offered
26:31
me a gravel contract however yeah this also ended because we got in a conflict
26:37
and well I'm not going to talk too much about it But also the team doesn't exist anymore.
26:44
And well, it was a shame because I thought, okay, it would be really nice.
26:50
Now as a mom, newly mom, I can do some gravel racing again, which I really like.
26:56
But well, it didn't happen. And last year I had a really fun year doing all some other activities.
27:01
And I had a good look at what I want to do also with my life and my career.
27:08
And so I'm in a happy place now and I'm still, for this year,
27:14
I'm still going to do a few gravel events again.
27:18
Is to know more because during this transition before
27:22
motherhood you were already exploring gravel
27:25
because that's how we met yeah and so now
27:28
you're coming back you're going to do some some racing yeah yeah
27:32
i'm going to do well the plan the plan was
27:35
to do the grand ganache i think it's
27:38
i think it's pronounced audax or something
27:41
like that yeah it's the gravel event it's
27:44
the end of March and last year I did the Basajaun it's
27:47
a similar event it's an ultra gravel event so
27:51
it's about 800 kilometers and about 16 to 70,000 meters in altitude and then
28:00
yeah you have around four days five days to finish it but now I just and I did not tell anybody yet,
28:10
but i just registered also for two
28:13
uci the gravel series the world series
28:17
in the netherlands well no one is the first
28:20
one is in belgium it's in like seven weeks and
28:23
the other one is in the netherlands falcon birth it's in may and then i also
28:27
want to do the another ultra race in mallorca it's called Hermes 53 if I'm correct
28:36
and so for now I have four events planned but I'm.
28:42
Feeling a lot of inspiration to be back on the bike to improve my level my level
28:48
is very low at this point but I have to say I do not really care I just love
28:55
the process of becoming better I put the time in where I can. I'm doing my efforts.
29:03
I'm doing some VO2 max training, some intervals, and trying to get that,
29:10
well, to improve my power and my, what is it, FTP.
29:13
But not a lot of pressure. I'm just enjoying the process. I'm going to race
29:17
in my age group. This is a bit new to me.
29:21
I always thought, oh, I'm never going to race in an age group.
29:24
I will always race with elite women.
29:27
Because for now, I totally accept that this is the point where I'm at now and
29:34
hopefully I can climb my way up again to a better level.
29:40
Will you have such a positive and growth mindset I
29:45
can see you glowing you know I can see how happy you
29:48
are to go just to get back on the scene and you
29:51
climb up your you know that ladder and
29:54
your level of strength again it's in.
29:57
You it's gonna come back yeah and I
29:59
have to say it's also I just started my
30:03
coaching business and I have to say
30:06
it's also a very interesting experience to
30:10
start from well kind of
30:14
zero and to get back in shape I also
30:17
find it interesting to see okay what
30:20
are what am I experiencing now how
30:23
can I deal with this it's also a very nice learning
30:26
experience which I where I can help other
30:29
athletes with as well yeah I
30:32
think as a coach as I'm also a coach and nutrition and
30:36
balance alignment coach
30:40
like setting goals life transitions
30:43
things like that and I feel like I learn so much from
30:46
every person I work with it's an
30:49
amazing experience I I'm very curious
30:52
to see what you come up with what type of coaching are
30:55
you going to be doing is that cycling well a little
30:58
bit of both so last year i started in and
31:01
i just started with people
31:05
in my area people i know and i
31:09
told them hey i want to coach and
31:12
if you want to work with me please reach out and this
31:15
happened all quite naturally and i
31:19
did some track what is it a traject like how
31:22
do you call it when you few sessions i did a few sessions with.
31:25
Different people and yeah we and this was all i
31:29
would say life coaching a bit of a career coaching.
31:32
And basically what i
31:35
i saw what i
31:38
saw with a lot of women i worked with is that
31:42
a lot of ambitious women with very
31:47
nice big goals that it's difficult
31:50
to get into more into
31:53
their lean into their intuition to trust to.
31:56
Really embrace like softer part of
31:59
yourself where we can feel as as a
32:02
women feel things naturally where we can lean
32:05
on our intuition where we can trust ourselves because I know I've always been
32:10
working in quite a masculine work field so sometimes it's really difficult to
32:15
embrace more of that femininity and it was really cool also to help these women with...
32:25
I'm trusting more on their intuition, their feelings, their gut feeling.
32:30
And so that's how I started. What I'm going to offer now is a little bit of
32:36
this, like live coaching, high-performance coaching.
32:39
But I'm also going to, because I would also love to work with athletes again
32:44
and people who are also into racing.
32:46
So I'm going to offer them also mental coaching, but also just the training part as well.
32:53
So it's a mix of few things I
32:57
think it's wonderful and I think it's holistic right being
33:00
an athlete it can't just be one-sided it's
33:03
a whole picture and I think I think you'll be amazing because you have
33:06
the experience you've been through it and I
33:10
mean I don't know you super well but a little bit that you share in
33:13
Instagram I mean you have so much insight and positivity
33:16
in life and you've been through so many changes
33:19
not just the cycling but you know finding out you're
33:22
going to be a mother suddenly and completely adapting to
33:25
that and yeah you know happily and
33:28
yeah and well the word you've
33:31
been using holistically i i really like
33:34
that when i was trained during my career
33:37
i it was what i missed
33:40
in my coaches and my trainers was
33:44
that it was always very science
33:48
based like okay everybody is doing this you have
33:51
to do that and well i'm what
33:54
i'm going to work with at least it's also science based but also with a very
33:58
huge part will be personal very personally to see okay how's this person and.
34:05
Even with the science a lot of the the science in the physical physio physio.
34:12
Because you're all legit i can't
34:15
say any other now a lot of the science is
34:19
is is has been done with men
34:22
men with male athletes and well
34:26
my approach is more okay one of
34:30
my vision of what one of my main points
34:34
what i use is like if you for for to
34:36
become professional athlete or to have your success you
34:40
have to be resilient and resilience
34:45
requires happiness it's really
34:48
important to that your
34:51
foundation is some kind of happiness
34:54
of appreciation for who
34:57
you are where you are where you at in life what
35:00
kind of athlete or person you are and
35:04
from that's the foundation from
35:08
where you're going to build brick by brick by brick with a mindset of okay I'm
35:14
going to show up today that's what's most important I'm going to do my best
35:19
and it's okay and one of the things that I struggled with a lot is really the
35:25
the fear of failure and I'm.
35:28
Bar this high that it was almost impossible to succeed and I always thought
35:37
oh and that's also the the mindset I'm coming from and how I've been raised
35:42
also that if you put the bar too low.
35:47
That's not exciting and that it's it's kind
35:49
of weak you have to put it really really high and
35:52
tell people and now I'm learning oh
35:55
my god no just put it put it low just going
35:59
and then reach it and then you put it a little bit higher you go and
36:01
then reach it and then and then brick by brick by brick day by day it has to
36:06
be achievable and I think you have a very nice idea and recipe because I think
36:11
it's a niche that it's missing in the market it's like a lot of science based
36:16
and science has been very patriarchal.
36:20
I think now there are some studies coming out on women, physiology,
36:24
and I think you get better for us women, but we're still not there in so many levels.
36:31
No, no. And I love that there are more studies now are also on women.
36:36
And one of the things, for instance, I'm learning now is that back when I was training,
36:43
even with eating and with food and with getting enough food in during training,
36:49
this was always a little bit also like weak.
36:53
You don't eat too much during training. It's very cool if you go out,
36:57
you do your four-hour ride and you have like two bars and that's it.
37:02
And now I'm learning the importance of really fueling all the work that you are doing.
37:10
But also for women, I think it's...
37:14
That we don't go training on an empty stomach also
37:18
not in the morning and where I come from it was
37:20
always like you do one to two maybe
37:24
three trainings during the week in the very early
37:26
in the morning on an empty stomach but now
37:29
they are also well seeing results that
37:32
for women for their hormones and everything it's it's
37:36
it's better not to sport to not do an activity on
37:40
an empty stomach just eat and take care of yourself
37:43
so yeah I'm really happy these things are changing
37:46
it's also even now while I'm building again
37:49
I'm working on myself I'm really
37:52
happy that I'm open for new approaches
37:56
and also a new way of
37:59
seeing the sport because even such a simple
38:02
thing as eating during training it
38:05
it really makes my training much more
38:08
fun because in the last hour i still feel good and
38:11
my recovery is much better and this might
38:14
sound very simple and maybe a little bit stupid but it's a huge game changer
38:20
for me yeah no it's not silly or stupid it's it's important we have to feel
38:26
our bodies and they're you know i am very cautious and.
38:32
About exercising an empty stomach or fasting. There is a lot of that thrown
38:39
out there, out of context.
38:41
And it's different for men and for women, how we do those things.
38:45
And it can be actually even dangerous if you do it repeatedly as a woman.
38:51
But anyways, we could go on forever on this.
38:57
It's really well it i i love i love
39:00
seeing it that it it is changing it's it's
39:04
it's changing in a good way i think yeah it's
39:07
i'm happy i have to i have i'm happy to see these changes
39:10
likewise yeah not just in nutrition but i
39:13
think also in sports and cycling you
39:16
know there has been more happening for
39:19
equality and visibility for women as we
39:22
just talked about and do you see that
39:25
what you experience in that
39:28
now that you are also a tv presenter and how
39:31
does that came out anyways that you are
39:34
doing this now so well to answer your first question it's well one of the things
39:41
is that i think it was about two years ago i was invited then it was the first
39:45
time the the women's the the tour de france the tour de femme was it was broadcasted
39:51
live on television and then And during the Tour de France,
39:54
there are always these programs.
39:58
Talking programs on the television.
40:00
And now I was invited for a program, which was about Tour de Femmes.
40:04
So this was really nice that the television thought, okay, for the men,
40:10
we organize a program to do the after talking and everything.
40:15
We're going to do it as well for the women.
40:17
So I really appreciated that. It was really fun to be part of it.
40:21
So, yeah, this is, well, an example of the changes.
40:26
And what was the second question? Yeah, like since you are behind the scenes
40:32
now working as a TV presenter full time, how do you see this has grown,
40:40
the broadcasting of women?
40:42
Well, I think that there is much more time for the television,
40:47
on the television that's a pro that not even
40:50
the race but now also the programs around it the yeah even for women it is it
40:57
is improving that we now have much more television time that's what i wanted
41:01
to say yeah yeah and i love it and i you know my husband i'll
41:08
I don't get when people say, like, it's not interesting or why are they broadcasting women.
41:14
There's still a little bit of the mentality that needs to change because it's
41:17
super interesting. I mean, Tour de Femme last year, it was insane. Insane.
41:22
Yeah. Oh, and also even within cyclocross, I think the women races are always
41:28
very spectacular. I love it.
41:31
I love it. Cyclocross is my favorite watch. watch yeah and
41:34
I think these so you know one of my main frustration
41:37
always was when people would say
41:40
oh the girls and then I was like we are
41:43
grown we are adult adult women and now
41:46
I wanted to say the girls no so I'm so going
41:50
to say the women now in
41:52
cyclocross they are all very the level
41:56
of they are very close to each other which it which makes
41:59
it very fun to watch and yeah i
42:02
think you can also see that the level of is it's it's improved but it's also
42:09
broadened is that how you say it like there are the top 30 riders are all very
42:17
capable riders also mixed off at least who also do a lot.
42:22
Of road racing were also very good at road
42:24
racing and back in when I
42:27
was racing it was more of a top 10 top
42:30
15 girls and then the other
42:33
girls they would be working part-time or they
42:36
had to do to have they had to find a job besides cycling
42:40
so yeah this is also a big change yeah so
42:43
now everyone it's I guess they have more support so
42:46
they can be fully dedicated and the field is really strong
42:49
yeah yeah yeah it's a it's a lot of
42:52
fun to watch yeah and sophie what's
42:55
next for you we talked about coaching tv presenting gravel racing you have a
43:02
two-year-old at home i think you also run an airbnb which is so adorable yeah
43:09
so you you're very busy yeah.
43:13
What's next well for the upcoming months
43:18
i'm really hoping to
43:21
start working with around 10 to
43:24
15 athletes or non-athletes to
43:28
coach them that's my goal for my coaching
43:31
business i really want
43:34
to launch the podcast i have the i
43:37
have in mind an idea for a very long time
43:40
to call to get a podcast the inside out this
43:44
is all going to be about how well happiness
43:47
is an inside job and it's well what
43:50
I already said to be resilient you have
43:53
to be happy and I really want to.
43:56
Teach people a lot of things that I've been learning so that's
43:59
on my calendar for this year now obviously the
44:02
races the gravel races are on my mind
44:05
and then I have a wish also
44:08
to expand our family a little
44:11
bit wow yeah and well
44:14
it is it is something i'm really excited about i would
44:17
love to have another baby i'm also
44:20
it it is also well if
44:23
you're an athlete i think for female athletes
44:27
they probably can relate that it's quite a process where you go through with
44:33
your body so but then yeah that's also what makes me sometimes like a little
44:38
bit anxious as well but on the other hand the the wish to have a little brother or sister for Maxime.
44:45
It's so big. So I would love that to happen if it's, well, if it's given to us, of course.
44:52
So these are the things that are on my mind for my future. A lot of big projects.
44:59
Very excited for everything that it's coming can't wait to listen to the podcast
45:04
i'm sure there's going to be
45:05
a lot of good insights there and hopefully i see you in one of those races,
45:11
am i going to see you i'm not racing as much i'm doing more like lifestyle bikepacking
45:19
i am i do have one big race this year but i'm not i guess when i started i always
45:25
want to i say i'm not I'm going to be racing, but then when I'm racing, I'm racing.
45:28
But anyway, it's Ultra is in Portugal. It's called Gravel Birds.
45:32
It's 750 kilometers all gravel.
45:35
I think it's about 8,000 meters climb.
45:37
Oh, wow. So, yeah, I'm doing as a pair with Juliette Eliott that was also in Kenya with us.
45:44
So, yeah, we just want to have a good time. Yeah.
45:48
Oh, that's really nice. I also have the, you know, the bikepacking trail, Torino Neve?
45:55
Yeah. it's on my wish list I really want to do it this year but well with a
46:01
family it's a little bit more difficult to well incorporate all these adventure
46:06
plans but yeah I love it I hope I can also do that.
46:12
This yeah challenge this year I hope so too, it's so nice I'm hoping to get more bikepacking,
46:19
trips in my calendar even if it's just for the weekend because like you with
46:23
the family it's a challenge But I'm just trying, you know, like,
46:27
okay, let's, like you said, you know, brick by brick.
46:30
So if we cannot do four or five days, let's just go for the weekend.
46:34
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Or all day cycling, you know, just do something.
46:39
Yeah, yeah. Do something adventurous. And then it's, I mean, exactly what you say.
46:45
Just sometimes one day out on
46:46
a bike, it's so very different from all the other days, the working days.
46:52
So then you feel completely different after one day and it's a very nice way
46:58
to get some adventure into your life in an easy way.
47:03
Yeah, it feeds our purpose, our mind, our health.
47:09
At least for me, I just need that time otherwise I start to get a little bit uneasy.
47:15
Yeah, same for me, same for me.
47:19
Well thank you so much for taking the time from your super busy calendar again
47:24
wish you all the best on the 2025 season in life and in cycling and hopefully
47:30
i get to see you in one of those trips,
47:33
thanks it was an honor to be on your podcast thank you very much thank you sophie.
47:40
And that's all for today's episode i want to thank the listeners for tuning
47:44
in your support means everything.
47:46
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider following, leaving a review,
47:51
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47:55
Music.