CARMEN SMALL: My name is Carmen Small.
I'm from Durango, Colorado, and I've
been racing professionally since 2007.
I started teaching straight away out of college
and taught for four and a half years.
And I decided to quit my job and become a professional bike
racer at the age of 27-- so that doesn't happen too often.
But I was really naive to the sport when I got into it.
I didn't know what to do.
I just acted off of instinct.
When I would train for triathlons-- so
you train for swimming, running and cycling.
But if I ever had a day that I could choose
what I wanted to do, I would always pick the bike.
I think maybe it was the freedom.
It sounds so cheesy, but like the freedom when you were a kid
to jump on your bike and go-- it really brought that back,
and you could just go wherever you wanted.
I also enjoyed going fast.
I don't know what that's about.
It's a little weird.
Personally, I love Specialized products.
It actually fits properly, because they've
done the research on how women's body geometry is different.
The course is the last day of the Tour de France.
As an American, you grow up watching these races
and you watch the last stage, the Champs Elysee,
you see them toasting the champagne,
you see the incredible backdrop of the race,
and you think that's Paris.
That's what I wanted to do-- to race on the same streets
as the men, to have that same opportunity.
It's pretty big for women's cycling.
ELLEN VAN DIJK: I started racing, I think,
when I was 10 years old, but just a local race.
In the Netherlands, everybody learns
to ride their bike on a pretty early age.
I was going to a race where my older brother was competing
and I was like, oh, look at all these kids here.
I can beat them.
So then I was like, next year I want to compete as well.
That's actually how it started.
I used to ride with Carmen and with Specialized-lululemon
over the past two years.
Last year I changed teams.
I went to Boels-Dolmans.
It's really weird to race against my teammates
from last year.
It's a race, and you have to do it.
So the first time I did it, actually, I felt really,
really bad, but now it's just OK.
But it's weird, yeah.
CARMEN SMALL: When a gun goes off
and we're ready for the race, I always look for a teammate.
So it's always easier to ride with a teammate in the pack.
It's better to ride as a unit.
ELLEN VAN DIJK: The special thing about cycling, I think,
it's an individual sport and a team sport.
CARMEN SMALL: You're definitely working as a unit, for sure,
or you're not going to be successful.
ELLEN VAN DIJK: When we started the race,
you have all these spectators along
and they're all cheering for you.
And the first lap, you're a bit overwhelmed with all
this attention and all these people,
because normally we don't have so many people
to watch the race.
I saw myself on the big screen coming by, I was like, wow,
this is cool.
Back in the day, there was a Tour de France
for women-- somehow they canceled it.
I just hope that with La Course it's
a start to get something going again
like a Tour de France for women.
I've heard some rumors that maybe next year they
wanted to do two days instead of one day.
So maybe in 20 years we will have
a Tour de France for women.
CARMEN SMALL: It's a huge platform, La Course.
So if we can use that platform, the media,
to showcase women's cycling, we're
already heading into the right direction.
Because all these fans that weren't fans before,
now are going to be fans.
The racing is just as exciting as the men's,
so why wouldn't they become fans?
It's kind of a no-brainer, right?