“Just doing TV interviews after the race or before the race, as well, that was something completely new to us.

“We had the whole media fleet,” Barnes says. The experience, she explains, was nothing like she’d had at any race before. Riding for American outfit UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling, the then 21-year-old was the highest placed British rider on the day, finishing in the first bunch on the road, in 21st place. What’s her lasting memory of the race? “Just yellow everywhere,” she tells Cycling Weekly, “and polka dots.” “They said they’d do one day and we said: ‘You need to add three to five days incrementally if this one is a success,’ which we knew it would be, and they agreed.”įor Hannah Barnes, a future British national champion, the 2014 La Course was her first time visiting Paris. “They were nervous that no one would watch,” says the Saint Kitts and Nevis former cyclist. With the pressure mounting, the race organiser agreed to a meeting with Bertine and promised a one-day trial event for 2014. The petition went viral, collecting almost 100,000 signatures from around the world. “We seek not to race against the men,” it read, “but to have our own professional field running in conjunction with the men’s event, at the same time, over the same distances.” Under the moniker Le Tour Entier (‘The Whole Tour’), the quartet rallied together to expose inequalities in women’s cycling and, in 2013, penned an online petition to the ASO. Alongside her racing, she formed an activist group with three other athletes: the then road world champion Marianne Vos, Olympic silver medallist Emma Pooley and Ironman triathlete Chrissie Wellington. Bertine would not be deterred by a lack of response.

The Road Less Taken by Kathryn Bertine