With her 2018 World Supersport 300 Championship victory, motorcyclist Ana Carrasco not only became the first woman to win in the Superbikes WorldSPP300 category, she became the first woman to win a motorcycle road racing world championship in the sport’s 100-year history. In our exclusive clip of “Ride Your Dream,” a documentary about Carrasco, the athlete explains that she has complicated feelings about being a trailblazer. “My goal is 100 percent sport, my goal is personal,” she says, adding, “I do know that in some way I am contributing to this, helping other women to gain more opportunities, making it easier for them to get to where I am.” She emphasizes, “I like that.”
Carrasco is proud that her success is empowering other girls and women, but doesn’t tend to think of herself or her career in terms of gender. “I never stop to think that I’m a woman. I don’t care. I’m me, I’m Ana,” she clarifies in the spot. “This is the way I am, end of story.”
But even though Carrasco doesn’t see herself as a woman first, motorcycle racing is still heavily dominated by men and sexist attitudes. Women are often looked down upon or mocked, even when they win. “The may say it as a joke, but you hear the typical remarks. ‘How could a girl have beaten me?’ She beat you because she’s better,” a friend of Carrasco says. “It’s not about being a guy or a girl.”
“Ride Your Dream” launches for free today on Rakuten TV’s “Rakuten Stories.”