Bikellisima had recently the great chance to meet Jo Hogan for an interview when she was competing in Festival Elsy Jacobs in Luxembourg, a very prestigious UCI stage race for women. We speak about her achievements, her expectations and how harder it is for a woman than for a man to be a pro cyclist.
At the Time, ASO, the firm organizing the Tour de France just unveiled the details of La Course, a big step for women who claim to be allowed to race le Tour de France. This year, on 27th July, a few hours before the men's peloton arrives in Paris, the world's elite women cyclists will race the circuit in the historic heart of city before fighting out a final sprint at the finish line on the Champs-Elysées.
During the interview, Jo Hogan was very enthusiastic speaking about La Course but at the time was not sure if her team could be invited to race La Course. This week, ASO announced the names of the teams who will be part of La Course and Bigla Cycling Team, Jo's team, is on the list!
Bikellissima is looking forward to hearing about Jo's reaction. Pending, take a few minutes to learn more about Jo, a very passionnate pro cyclist...
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| «I developed a new sense of appreciation from being a cyclist because I had to go back to my nursing and those are two different life styles and two different worlds really, they are so far apart but I’m just grateful really to be able experiencing that kind of life. I didn’t have a contract really until December last year so it was very light and I really didn’t think I was going to be able to come back» |
You came late to pro cycling, how did
you come to pro cycling?
I
started cycling when I was 26, mainly for my family but my parents starting
cycling, first thing my Dad who wanted to get fitter and change his lifestyle.
After riding around for two years, he started racing in Australia to the State
level. He is very competitive… my family is very competitive. So after that,
when my Dad started, my mother started riding and she did a bit of competition
as well because there is a competitive streak in our family. I have also got a
brother and he also rides.
Before cycling, did you practice any
other kind of sport?
Yes,
a little bit of triathlon when I was at high school, at 16- 17 and then
running, also in high school. Running,
I did at State level at Australian level and I kind of felt that I wasn’t going
to get any better and I was interested in doing a nursing degree at the time
and I started to specialize in emergency nursing so was good running with my
study to keep fit as well after I had stopped competing and then I started
getting interested in cycling again and started doing a little bit of training
and I thought I’d like to test myself and do some racing. 2008, I had some
advice from some friends; I decided I would get a coach. And actually, my
parents were living overseas for 6 months and I took all the money out of my
bank account and bought a bike. And then from there, it just pretty much took a
race start. In Australia, I did it for two years; just to strenghthen my skills and
things like that.
And you started to race as a
professional in Europe in 2012?
Yes,
my first year was 2011, I came over with the Australian national team, I had a
scholarship with the national team, and that gave me a five-month trip with the
national team for experience. We didn’t do all the big races but I raced on the
Spanish tours and then, following that year, I got my first contract with
Bizkaia Durango and that was 2012. At the time when I decided to come back in
2012, it was difficult because the contract wasn’t for any financial award and
I had to pay for the whole season to be here.
Is it harder to race in Europe than
in Australia?
Much
harder, yes. We are still growing as a sport. Cycling is still growing as a
sport for women in Autralia but they definitely don’t have the competitive
level that we do over here.
It was no honeymoon with your
previous team?
No,
the first year in Europe, I came over as a
cyclist, I was not used to the different cultures and language and also, I
probably wasn’t as independent as a person, just with my own confidence and I
think once I came over, that started to grow but I find it really difficult to
learn another language (Spanish). And initially, I had a couple of promising
results and then, at the end of 2012, I was trying to decide what I wanted to
do, whether I could financially afford to come back again. I’ve had the support
of my family for the whole time I have been cycling.
You have to be very passionate to
pursue in these conditions?
Yes,
definitely. Moreover, I had a couple of crashes last year. Like this race last
year, I actually didn’t finish. I had a crash and hurt my back so I came and
really wanted to do well on this race but I couldn’t , couldn’t complete it so…
I’m looking to do much better this time. I actually live with one of my team
mates who is a fellow Australian rider, Taryn Heather, so just having that close
connection with her as well and we go along really well so it’s been good, just
sharing the experiences with somebody else. And I think feeling
more comfortable with myself and being happy sure lead to getting results as well.
So, you are a pro cyclist, you are in
a pro team but do you have the same conditions as the male? Do you earn a
living or will you have to work as a nurse when you are at the end of the
season of this time, is it really good?
I
do have a bit of salary . These
are better conditions than I have experienced over the last two years. When I
went back, I definitely had to work
straight. I was back in Australia for
four months and I spent three months working at the time, so it made it hard in
a way to pay for the European season. And also, when we go back to Australia,
we don’t have much time because our
national championships are in the same period so we don’t really get much of a
break after the European season as we go from summer to summer so that’s
difficult.But I developed a new sense of appreciation from being a cyclist because I had to go back to my nursing and those are two different life styles and two different worlds really, they are so far apart but I’m just grateful really to be able experiencing that kind of life.
I didn’t have a contract really until December last year so it was very
light and I really didn’t think I was going to be able to come back.
And how long does your current
contract last for?
I
have got a year contract.
And you will work when you go back ?
Yes. In my mind I’ve already made up that I really wanted
to come back again. Last year, I wasn’t so sure but this year, I feel like I’ve
stepped up again within myself and with my running I knew that I was at a level
that I wasn’t going to get any better but at the moment I really feel like I
still can get more out of myself so I would like to have an opportunity to go
back in pro cycling.
What about your living conditions,
training conditions in Switzerland, is that great?
Yes, I was lucky enough to live the last two years in
Gerona in Spain which is a beautiful place as well, so although many things weren’t
perfect around the last couple of years, I got to live in an amazing place,
with lots of cyclers, especially Australians which really makes it hard to
learn another language because you are always speaking English.
In Switzerland, I live near to Zurich so it’s quite central and the
scenery in that area is beautiful. I’m actually going to St Morritz to do
training in a couple of weeks: I’m really looking forward to going there.
And it is good for perfect your climbing with the mountains around you?
Yes, I love climbing, it's my specialty!
And what
are your goals for this year and after this race ?
Unfortunately, I got a little bit of a cold during the
week so I am trying to stay on top of that so that I can stay well. I would
really like to get top ten top five if possible, the prologue is not really my
thing but the two road stages I would really like to do.
Unfortunately, Jo was too sick to be able to race until the end in Luxembourg.
And after that?
I’d like on the long term to make maybe a
couple of games team in August for Autralia and the world championships.
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| «We should be able to continue to make steps forward to level the normal conditions of women cycling and then also step up to have the race progression . I suppose mainly those two things go hand in hand: having the recognition and the sports coverage and to get more the public interested in women cycling and wanting to support it…» |
So let’s
talk about women's cycling. This week, the Société of le Tour de France announced La Course,
what do you think of that, will you race it?
Unfortunately, I am not 100% sure if we will, I really
would love to, I am going to get very disappointed if we don’t get invited but
unfortunately only the top 10 UCI teams and the top 5 national teams get a
start into the race, so at the moment, we are ranked 16 so I am
not sure we are going to get invited. It is a big step forward for women
cycling to have the coverage and the recognition that I think we deserve on a
regular basis. This is a step forward, we will get the same prize money as the
male and to get the coverage of the race all over the world is
pretty spectacular so I’m really proud to be part of that.
And what
is the next step? A whole Tour de France for women? A big Grand Tour?
I think we really need to take steps. This is a great
step forward and a tour next year plus another race would be really good as
well but I think taking a step aside from that, we need to improve the
conditions for women cycling before we continue to make those steps. Obviously,
there is a wide range of teams, and the budgets for women cycling… you know
you’ve got the top teams and other teams
like I experienced last year. There is a massive difference in those teams and
the level of support that you get. I’d say 60-70% of women riders in these teams
would be running for no money. We should be able to continue to make steps
forward to level the normal conditions of women cycling and then also step up to
have the race progression . I suppose mainly those two things go hand in hand:
having the recognition and the sports coverage
and to get more the public interested in women cycling and wanting to
support it… We need to work with big businesses, that sponsor men’s cycling
teams to make them branch
over to women’s cycling teams, to have them running side by side. There are not
many teams that have a women’s team attached to the men’s team but I think that
would be a big step forward as well.
You say
there is a gap between the first female UCI teams women and the other ones?
Yes, there is
definitely a gap and the success
of the team are linked with financial conditions. For me in the past, when I
was worried about finances and things like that, it also starts to affect the
results, if you’re not happy with what you’re doing, if there is problems
within the organization and things like that, it definitely affects your performances,
there is no question. So I think to improve the level across the teams, I think
we need to give people that comfort that they are going to get paid at the end
of the day
The
president of UCI, Brian Cookson, would like to set a minimum wage for women
racing in professional teams. Do you think it could be a great idea to have
that?
It’s a difficult think because that might mean a lot
of teams cannot continue but at the same time, I think we do need to have a
standard so yes, I would agree with having a minimum wage. Especially coming
from overseas, in Australia where we are away for ten months a year and you can’t support yourself on
no money so it makes it really difficult for me to want to encourage other
women cycling in Australia to come over and know the hardship that I have had
to go through to do it and I’m lucky enough that I had the support of my
family; because I know that there’s a lot of people that would really like to
take that step, to take the opportunity but really can’t because of the
financial constraints.
What
about public opinion? Are they excited about women races?
Yes, in Australia, I get blown away with the support
that I receive. Sometimes, I don’t really realize that people follow me while I
am over here and I think that’s why I started the Healthy Cyclist website, the Facebook page and the
Twitter account to try and keep in contact with my family and friends but it
has become a bit more than that, it’s to try and advocate women’s cycling as
well and to try educate and show people that you can follow what you like,
follow your dreams I suppose because that’s what I’m doing.
On social networks, special webpages, a
few pro women are pushing for recognition…
Yes, without them, we would be in a different
situation. There is Sarah Connolly, she’s got a Twitter account, I forgot what the actual name is,
but yes, she is a huge advocate of cycling. She’s always twitting about the
results and it’s encouraging other… it’s a case of us encouraging each other as
well. I try and get into conversation that other female cyclists have a retwitt
pieces of what they have said or share things because we need to help ourselves
as well: we can’t say you know “oh poor me”, we’re not on the same level as the
men and we need to be able to push forward ourselves. I think that is really
important as well.
In the peloton, between racers, do you speak about what you need to do to
improve media coverage?
Not really, I think, this week with the launch of La Course, a lot of people share the same thoughts and it’s been voiced for but I
think we need to continue to talk to each other and try to encourage each
other. I think we have some really good ladies like Marianne Vos or Emma Pooley that are
ahead, trying to do that.
And you
personally, what are you trying to do to raise awareness about women in
pro-cycling?
I think just sharing my story about how I got into
cycling and being honest and realistic about the lockers of being a pro cyclist, especially coming
from Australia living
without your family for 10 months of the year. I recently missed out on
my best friend’s wedding and with little things like that, you realize that I
have been quite far away so I’d like to help other female cyclists whether from
Australia or Europe to maybe learn from some of the things that I have done or
gain experience from the positive things that I have done.
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| «we can’t say you know “oh poor me”, we’re not on the same level as the men and we need to be able to push forward ourselves. I think that is really important as well». |
Let’s go
back to racing in Europe, is it really different from Australia? The wind, the
cobbles, the cold?
I always explain Classic races for me are the probably
most difficult races in the season because we just don’t have those kind of
racing conditions in Australia, the amount of women that ride: from anywhere
from 150 to 200 people would take the start line. In Australia, you know, a big
bunch would be 70. I just look straight for the girls, since they’ve been
riding since 05, they have the skills and the level and the strength behind
them to be able to ride in a good position and to ride the cobbles. I think
I’ve been happy with my progress this year since I didn’t actually do that many
of those Spring classic races last year. I did a few the year before but these
races are a challenge to me.
La Flèche
was a very interesting race for you?
Yes, that was a big goal for the beginning of the
season. I was a little bit disappointed with the result, I was hoping for a bit
better but at the end of the day, I did my best and I felt like I ran a really
perfect race up until the bottom of the Mur de Huy but I didn’t have quite the
legs to go with the girls, so looking back, it’s so hard to watch and then know
the moment when you just didn’t have enough to quite go but hopefully, that’s
the start for big results to come.
You say
“I’m really far from my family. How do you race thinking always about it? Is it
difficult?
I don’t really get homesick that often, my coach
actually used to race in Europe many years ago and they didn’t have Skype, they
didn’t have social media, they didn’t have mobile phones: they had letters and
things like that so I kind of count my blessings that I’m in this day and age
and I have Skype . There are many different ways you can call family and
friends, it just sounds like they are around the corner so I’m lucky that I
have that contact.
Do you have
any contact with the men BMC team ?
Not really, we have contact a little bit with their
social media: some of their results, pictures and things get shared on their
social media but that ‘s all. If we could share that relationship and maybe
that infrastructure, that could be a good push.
You are not sharing the same
infrastructures?
No, they are very separate.
Let’s
talk about recognition: the men procyclists, what do they think about women procyclists?
I’m not sure if they realize how hard it is sometimes,
especially from a financial point of view and like I said, the structure in a
men’s professional team and the budget allocated for that is very different to
the women’s. So I think that they probably don’t realize how hard it is
sometimes. I’ve got certain friends that I think realize what it’s like to be a
female procyclist but others definitely have no idea. So I think, when we are educating
the public, we are probably going to be educating a lot of the men’s
professional teams as well. I did a bit of cycling last year with some of the
men and I think they were a bit surprised of my level, so if we can keep
surprising them, that would be good!
Copyright of the pictures : Julien Garroy
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| «I did a bit of cycling last year with some of the men and I think they were a bit surprised of my level, so if we can keep surprising them, that would be good!» |
Last details about La Course
ASO has announced the 20 teams that will take part in La Course. The one-day women’s event will take place on the Champs-Élysées ahead of the arrival of the Tour de France.
The 20 teams for La Course by Le Tour
Orica – AIS (Australia)
Equipe Nationale Australienne (Australia)
Lotto Belisol Ladies (Belgium)
Bizkaia - Durango (Spain)
Optum P/B Kelly Benefit Strategies (United States)
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team (United States)
Specialized - Lululemon (United States
Poitou Charentes Futuroscope 86 (France)
Equipe Nationale Française (France)
Wiggle Honda (United Kingdom)
Ale Cipollini (Italy)
Astana Bepink Womens Team (Italy)
Estado De Mexico Faren (Mexico)
Hitec Products (Norway)
Rabo Liv Women Cycling Team (Netherlands)
Boels Dolmans Cycling Team (Netherlands)
Team Giant-Shimano (Netherlands)
Equipe Nationale Hollandaise (Netherlands)
RusVelo (Russia)
Bigla Cycling Team (Switzerland)
