Life Cycles: The Story of the First Women's Tour de France with Filmmakers Jill Yesko and Ally Davis

American Marianne Martine, winner of the first women’s Tour de France

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In 2022, the women’s Tour de France is back. What most people don’t know is that there was also a women’s Tour de France from 1984-1989. Uphill Climb is a documentary film that tells the story of that race and the legendary cyclists who competed in it.

My guests are the filmmakers behind Uphill Climb. Director Jill Yesko is a journalist, author and Fellow at the Center for Sports Communication & Media at The University of Texas. She represented the United States in cycling at the 1983 World University Games and competed in the Olympic trials. Jill’s previous films include Tainted Blood: The Untold Story of the 1984 Olympic Blood Doping Scandal and Broken Trust: Athlete Abuse Exposed. She is the host of the podcast The Bounce: Sports Talk With a Spin on WYPR and NPR.

Uphill Climb’s executive producer, Ally Davis, is a life-long serious cyclist, an entrepreneur who has started up three companies and an award-winning veteran of television, sports production, global marketing and brand partnerships, athlete marketing and brand development. Ally has held senior leadership roles at Fox Sports, E!, NBC Universal Sports and Red Bull. 

Go to www.uphillclimbfilm.com and @uphillclimb.film on Instagram to learn more and support the film. 

This episode is part of Life Cycles, a new series I’ve launched within Choose the Hard Way. Conversations in this series cover the topics you’ve come to expect from Choose the Hard Way with guests whose lives and careers have been shaped by cycling or whose lives and careers have shaped the world of cycling.

To suggest a guest or say hello, hit me at choosethehardway@gmail.com or @hardwaypod on Twitter or Instagram. 

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