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Famous Songs of Le Tour de France: Which One Do You Like the Most?

Here are some of our favourite tunes to get you in the mood for Le Tour 2017!

Tour de France by Kraftwerk

The symbiosis of techno and road-cycling may never be fully understood, but there are some obvious common themes – both require endurance, focus, a love of repetition, and an almost fetishistic reverence of the machinery that leads you to a transcendental plateau.

Released in 1984 by electronic super-group Kraftwerk, the song used state-of-the-art digital sound samplers to record vocal panting and chain noises. Anyone who’s exerted themselves on the bike can instantly identify the quintessential sound of the cycle ride. It doesn’t get more iconic that this.

Bicycle Song by Queen

The most iconic song on this list, Freddie Mercury’s love song to the bicycle and everything it represents – freedom, rebellion, and therapy. In a true rock’n’roll fashion, Freddie tells his audience he likes to ride his bike where he likes.

Inspired by Le Tour de France, the video infamously features some of the sexiest machinery any cycle fan could lay eyes on – Campagnola groupsets, Gitane steel framed and lug-welded frames. Beautiful. That is why Škoda is using this song to evoke all the joys of cycling in the video below.

Walking Indurain by Fred Poulet

Miguel Indurain won five Tour de France Yellow Jerseys in a row between ’91 and ’95, so arguably he earned a song in his honour. However, the song is as much a meditation on the pleasures of watching Le Tour as it is of Indurain himself.

Poulet stated that he actually watched Le Tour for the strange and crazy things that happen along the route, saying he preferred the parts like, “a stage in the Ardennes, slightly hilly, with a horse that runs next to the peloton for a while – it suits me”. The lyrics are minimal and you can hear the humour as Poulet mimics a TV commentator.

Le Champion Espagnol by Jean-Louis Murat

Not one to follow convention, Jean-Louis Murat penned what can only be described as a deeply spiritual song about the Toledo Eagle, Federico Bahamontes, winner of the 1959 Tour de France. Bahamontes also won the mountain classification six times and is widely regarded as one of the sports great climbers.

The lyrics to Murat’s 2011 opus are a tone poem of competitive life on Le Tour as well as a sympathetic portrait of one of cycling’s most popular characters – the Toledo Eagle is described as having kind eyes, of being tenacious, and of throwing everything into the beautiful madness that is Le Tour.

Vive Poulidor by André Verchuren

You’ll want to turn this one up loud – if this doesn’t get the blood pumping in anticipation of Le Tour 2017 I don’t know what will. The music instantly takes you back to Poupou’s heyday of the 60s’ and early 70s’, when French riders were very much in contention.

Poulidor’s career coincided with another French great – Anquetil, but this song is testament to Poupou’s enduring popularity with race fans who were happy to see him wear the Yellow Jersey in 14 Tours, including his final Tour de France when, at the age of 40, he finished in 3rd place.

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Tour de France TV theme races up iTunes ringtone charts

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With Egan Bernal set fair for glory, what better way to celebrate cycling's greatest race - and ease the inevitable withdrawal pains of its ending - than by setting your ringtone to the theme tune of ITV's Tour coverage?

The jaunty accordian melody (titled Beat Route, pub quiz fans) will be familiar to viewers of ITV's Tour de France coverage over the years - and now, iPhone users can download the tune as a ringtone.

Cycling fanatic Adam Tranter of Fusion Media worked with composer Jeff Ashitey to release the theme on Apple's iTunes store.

Adam describes the project as a "nerdy dream" - but it's going down a storm with fellow cycling fans. The track's currently sitting pretty in third spot on iTunes' ringtone charts, a welcome gatecrasher among the Love Island jingles.

At 99p, it's a small price to pay for a little shot of le Tour nostalgia each time your phone rings. And a great way to identify cycling soulmates in your workplace, local cafe or la boulangerie...

iPhone users can download the track now at itunes.apple.com.

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How the Tour de France is Broadcast To the World

Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! >","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}'>Download the app .

Watching the Tour de France is easy. You grab a beer, switch on the TV, and let the time pass by for the next five hours while the race meanders past 13th century castles, emerald green lakes, and panoramic mountain views while the breakaway hangs out to dry. Easy, right? Well there’s a fascinating technical solution and a detailed production plan that brings it all to your living room.

The Tour de France started out as a publicity stunt designed to increase sales for the newspaper l’Auto. Journalists and photographers followed the race as much as they could, filled in the gaps, and embellished the rest into a story of heroism and grandeur. Coverage was largely through writing and nobody knew any different.

The first Tour de France started outside the Café Reveil-Matin in the village of Montgeron. L’Auto reported:

“The men waved their hats, the ladies their umbrellas. One felt they would have liked to touch the steel muscles of the most courageous champions since antiquity. Who will carry off the first prize, entering the pantheon where only supermen may go?”

A century later the Tour de France is a world wide phenomenon and the third largest sporting event in the world after the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics. There’s barely a moment that we don’t get to see as it happens in real-time. The first Tour de France that was broadcast to television was 56 years ago and it was done by using a motion picture camera and a mobile processing laboratory. Five minutes of coverage would be produced for each stage and it would be broadcast to the rest of France.

France Televisions and Euro Media France are the two companies at the centre of the host broadcast production. Euro Media France are responsible for the technical solution to bring the on-course audio and video images back to the production rooms. France Television mix and produce the images so the feed can be distributed to licensed broadcasters. France TV also produces their own programming for the TdF to show to its audience. I spoke with Euro Media France’s CTO, Mr Luc Geoffroy who was generous with his time to give me a detailed explanation of the technical solution behind broadcasting the Tour de France.

A few stats before we begin to give you an idea of the scale of this year’s Tour de France and its media following:

•    3,360km of racing

•    35 different start/finish town stages

•    broadcast in 190 countries

•    450 journalists

•    121 TV stations covering the event, of which 60 do so live, with 260 cameramen working on motorcycles, in helicopters and at the finish line

•    72 radio stations

•    560 accredited media organisations

•    2400 vehicles on course (organisation, media, publicity caravan, etc.)

•    4,500 people, from riders to organisers to media to members of the publicity caravan and so on

•    A 12km long publicity caravan that includes 180 vehicles, 600 people and that distributes nearly 15 million items to fans

The technical compound (“Zone Technique”) behind the  stage finish area contains dozens of production trailers, generators, support vehicles, catering and more. When set up and running, there is barely place on the ground where hundreds of kilometers of cables aren’t crossing over each other.

At the core of the live race broadcast is the use of five VHF wireless cameras on motorbikes, two journalists reporting from motorbikes, and images captured from two helicopters with Cineflex gyro-stabilised camera systems. The five cameras on motorbikes capture the drama of the race from within while the helicopters cover the race but also capture much of the beauty of the French countryside which is such a large part of the production. At the finish line there can be between 1 to 20 additional cameras in place (depending on the broadcaster’s production) to capture rider interviews and the post-race action. Also new this year is a camera mounted on the Tour de France race director, Cristian Prudhomme’s car.

Images from motorcycle and helicopter cameras are transmitted via VHF links to relay helicopters flying at ~600 meters altitude. The signal is then retransmit them to aircraft flying at 3000-8000 meters (dependant on weather). These aircraft (some are unpressurised) need to circle very slowly therefore the turbulence can be highly uncomfortable for the pilots and technicians. If the weather turns bad then the use of the aircraft flying above the clouds becomes integral to the broadcast. In this case the GPS system on each bike becomes very important so that the aircraft can actually locate the motorbikes from 25,000 feet in the air.

Once the signal is sent to the helicopters and aircraft they are then relayed onto intermediate points sitting along the course (trucks which relay the signal onwards). In a typical stage there are two intermediate points. If it’s a very complex course with difficult terrain, there are sometimes three. These intermediate points are needed because stages can be as long as 225kms and the video signals need to be relayed from start to finish. The first intermediate points receives the signal and send it up to satellite. The second intermediate point forwards the signal to the town where the finish line is located via 4 receivers mounted on a crane 50 meters high. The eight camera signals are then decoded at Euro Media France’s OB truck ( outside broadcast truck ) which then performs some signal processing and minor colour correction to then send onto the France Television’s production truck sitting next door.

Time gaps that you seen on television are measured via GPS transponders mounted on the television motorcycles. This is not the time gap information used by the race officials however. You might notice the time gaps changing wildly on television. This is because the motorcycles are moving quickly, not because the gap is changing. Read more about how the time gaps are measured here .

As you can imagine, coordination of all of the vehicles is very complex. All of the moving vehicles need to communicate their exact co-ordinates to each other via GPS so their antennas can automatically move in sync with each other via motor mounts.

(It’s in French, but a good animation of the technical solution is from 1m50s onwards)

Why not use satellite?

A question you might be asking is why they don’t simply transmit the terrestrial signals to satellite in the first place instead of using relay helicopters and aircraft? It seems the obvious solution, however it’s not so simple. Receiving a satellite signal is one thing. Transmitting to satellite is another.

Satellites cannot be used is because the camera motorbikes and helicopters are constantly moving in and out of obstructive areas and there is approximately a 1% tolerance to aim the transmitted signal to a satellite. One Intermediate Point will transmit to satellite however because it is stationary and a sufficient power supply is more feasible. The other Intermediate Point will transmit the signal via microwave link to the finish line as discussed above.

A little more technical…

Because of my previous career as an engineer, Mr. Geoffrey and I were able to geek-out on some of technical aspects of the HF Long Distance system. For all you propeller heads out there, this is for you. If you’re not familiar with technical jargon, skip to the Production section, because there’s some more interesting things taking place there.

Euro Media Group spent three years developing their own modulation technique and chipsets that would deliver the special requirements of broadcasting a moving circus like the Tour de France. Mountains, valleys, heavy foliage, buildings, and multipath require dynamic modulation methods depending on signal conditions. Their proprietary digital modulation technique (based on DVB-T ) uses QPSK, QAM16/32/64 combined with 16 bit time-interleaving over a carrier with 10MHz bandwidth achieving 15Mbps (14Mbps video, 1Mbps audio). It might sound complex, but compared to modern day cellular communications, this is relatively straightforward.

The MPEG4 1920×1080 HD bitstream is encoded and modulated at the camera end. The digital signal is preserved by being encoded and decoded only once throughout the whole chain of events (encoded at the camera and decoded at the OB truck at the finish line).

There can be only one video feed that gets distributed to the licensed broadcasters of the race, otherwise there would be hundreds of cameras and multiple sets of infrastructure out on the course. That raw video feed is done by Euro Media Group and then passed onto France TV to mix and create a single feed for the rest of the broadcasters to wrap up in their own production. Pre and post race shows, interviews, commentary, on-screen graphics, advertising, etc. For example, NBC had 75 staff working at the Tour de France and 15 others back at the studio in the US putting the whole production together. In comparison, SBS for the first time had two crews at the Tour with with less than a dozen people bringing you all of their coverage.

Jean-Maurice Ooghe is the production director of France TV for the Tour de France. By his side is Ronan Pensec who watches the multiple camera images in the control room and helps Ooghe and his production team understand the nuances and race situation within the Tour. Pensec, a yellow jersey winner himself, has the intimate knowledge of bike racing so that the viewers don’t miss a moment of the race itself. Inside the France TV production trailer there are as many as 20 ingress camera feeds coming into different monitors (helicopters, motorcycles, multiple fixed cameras, audio) that need to be assembled according to the production plan. The race obviously takes priority, but for many of the people who tune into the Tour de France, it’s not about the bike race. For a wide audience it’s a opportunity to discover the regions of France from the sky.

For each stage a very detailed production plan (or script) is created by Jean-Maurice Ooghe. From January until the end of May Mr. Ooghe scouts the geographic and cultural points of interest within a 10-15km radius of the race route. Castles, lakes, waterfalls, tourist attractions, and celebrations put on by the towns (those large displays in the farmers fields don’t happen by accident). He will then create a shot book so that every church and other landmark they deem worthwhile is in the script. All of these points of interest are also given waypoints so the helicopters follow the shot list and the production plan for each stage.

[royalslider id=”11″] Back in production trailers for the various broadcasters, commentators such as Phil, Paul, or Matt Keenan are given a Speakers Book which give detailed information about almost every single kilometer near the race route of different points of interest that will be covered. The Church of Saint-Pierre will be shown at kilometer 3.4 of the race (not necessarily along the race route – it could be 15 kilometers adjacent), a waterfall at kilometer 16.3, etc. The commentators see the post-produced race feed with all graphics, commercials, etc and are free to decide how they want to speak to their respective audiences.

As you can see the technology behind the Tour de France broadcast is equivalent to broadcasting a moving AFL Footy Grand Final for 22 days straight. It’s an enormous task that is just about to begin its planning for 2013. The production of the live feed to broadcasters is meticulously planned months ahead of time to meet the needs of many commercial objectives and almost every moment of imagery is scripted. As you can see, there’s much more than a simple bike racing going on behind the scenes.

This article was originally published in Oct 2012.

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\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/richard-carapaz-roars-to-stage-win-in-tour-de-romandie-as-race-leader-juan-ayuso-blows\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"carapaz roars to stage win in tour de romandie as race leader ayuso blows\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/richard-carapaz-roars-to-stage-win-in-tour-de-romandie-as-race-leader-juan-ayuso-blows\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"carapaz roars to stage win in tour de romandie as race leader ayuso blows\"}}\u0027>\n carapaz roars to stage win in tour de romandie as race leader ayuso blows\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"sea otter randoms: riser handlebars, nifty racks, and tubes aren\u2019t dead","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/sea-otter-randoms-riser-handlebars-nifty-racks-and-tubes-arent-dead\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/sea-otter-randoms-riser-handlebars-nifty-racks-and-tubes-arent-dead\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"sea otter randoms: riser handlebars, nifty racks, and tubes aren\u2019t dead\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/sea-otter-randoms-riser-handlebars-nifty-racks-and-tubes-arent-dead\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"sea otter randoms: riser handlebars, nifty racks, and tubes aren\u2019t dead\"}}\u0027>\n sea otter randoms: riser handlebars, nifty racks, and tubes aren\u2019t dead\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"mathieu van der poel realistic about quest for monument sweep: \u2018even with roubaix legs i cannot follow 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\u2018even with roubaix legs i cannot follow poga\u010dar\u2019\"}}\u0027>\n mathieu van der poel realistic about quest for monument sweep: \u2018even with roubaix legs i cannot follow poga\u010dar\u2019\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"xpedo\u2019s new power meter pedals are ready for the spotlight","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/xpedo-new-power-sonik-omni-and-thrust-omni-meter-pedals-sea-otter-classic\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/xpedo-new-power-sonik-omni-and-thrust-omni-meter-pedals-sea-otter-classic\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"xpedo\u2019s new power meter pedals are ready for the spotlight\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/xpedo-new-power-sonik-omni-and-thrust-omni-meter-pedals-sea-otter-classic\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"xpedo\u2019s new power meter pedals are ready for the spotlight\"}}\u0027>\n xpedo\u2019s new power meter pedals are ready for the spotlight\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"8 new shoes from giro, q36.5, shimano, fizik, lake, and crankbrothers","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/8-new-shoes-from-giro-q36-5-shimano-fizik-lake-and-crankbrothers\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/8-new-shoes-from-giro-q36-5-shimano-fizik-lake-and-crankbrothers\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"8 new shoes from giro, q36.5, shimano, fizik, lake, and crankbrothers\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/8-new-shoes-from-giro-q36-5-shimano-fizik-lake-and-crankbrothers\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"8 new shoes from giro, q36.5, shimano, fizik, lake, and crankbrothers\"}}\u0027>\n 8 new shoes from giro, q36.5, shimano, fizik, lake, and crankbrothers\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"highbar wants to revolutionize your helmet straps","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/highbar-wants-to-revolutionize-your-helmet-straps\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/highbar-wants-to-revolutionize-your-helmet-straps\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"highbar wants to revolutionize your helmet straps\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/highbar-wants-to-revolutionize-your-helmet-straps\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"highbar wants to revolutionize your helmet straps\"}}\u0027>\n highbar wants to revolutionize your helmet straps\n \n \n \n \n \n\n 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looking","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/cadex-race-integrated-bar-first-look\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/cadex-race-integrated-bar-first-look\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the cadex race integrated bar is as light as it is good looking\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/cadex-race-integrated-bar-first-look\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the cadex race integrated bar is as light as it is good looking\"}}\u0027>\n the cadex race integrated bar is as light as it is good looking\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"there are three marquee off-road races in the us this weekend. who\u2019s going where and why","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-racing\/best-off-road-races-north-america\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-racing\/best-off-road-races-north-america\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"there are three marquee off-road races in the us this weekend. who\u2019s going where and why\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-racing\/best-off-road-races-north-america\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"there are three marquee off-road races in the us this weekend. who\u2019s going where and why\"}}\u0027>\n there are three marquee off-road races in the us this weekend. who\u2019s going where and why\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"the thesis n1 wants to be your sole drop bar bike for everything","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/thesis-n1-do-everything-drop-bar-bike\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/thesis-n1-do-everything-drop-bar-bike\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the thesis n1 wants to be your sole drop bar bike for everything\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/thesis-n1-do-everything-drop-bar-bike\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the thesis n1 wants to be your sole drop bar bike for everything\"}}\u0027>\n the thesis n1 wants to be your sole drop bar bike for everything\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "}]' > >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>advertise >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>privacy policy >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>contact >", 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All About the Virtual Tour de France on Zwift

It’s official: the world’s first Virtual Tour de France will be held on Zwift, beginning this weekend!

In some ways, this event looks like the traditional TdF: most of the same teams and riders, broadcast on the same networks, competing in July on French roads for iconic leader jerseys. In other ways, it will be completely different: all the racing will be done on indoor trainers, after all! Plus there are only six stages, with smaller teams, and riders are competing for charity instead of a prize purse.

This is truly a Zwifty celebration of the TdF, and that is exactly what it should be. Let’s look at the details of the world’s first virtual Tour de France, including the Virtual l’Etape du Tour , where all Zwifters can ride stages on Zwift’s just-released France and Paris maps.

New Zwift Maps

The Zwift community has been abuzz with news of new virtual tarmac to ride thanks to two new maps built specifically for the virtual TdF. We are still putting together the details of the new routes, but here are some screenshots and other teasers released today by Zwift.

According to Zwift, “The French map takes inspiration from the country and should evoke strong connections with the country as Zwifters pass through vineyards, over Roman aqueducts, and through sunflower fields. The new map also plays host to a virtual replica of Mont Ventoux. Zwift’s Mont Ven-Top, meaning snowy peak in gallic, is a punishing climb that is sure to test the legs of any rider.”

The Paris map is much smaller than the France map, “taking in the finishing circuit we’ve all come to associate with the final stage of the Tour de France. Zwifters will be able to ride around the famed Arc de Triomphe, navigate around the Place de la Concorde and sprint down the cobbled Champs-Élysées just like the best sprinters of the Tour de France. Zwifters will be able to join events on the new maps during the Virtual Tour de France.”

Virtual Tour de France Stage Details

The pros will be racing on Saturday and Sunday for three consecutive weekends beginning July 4th. In contrast to the TdF’s grueling 21-day schedule of long daily events, the virtual TdF races are meant to “deliver the best virtual racing experience for both competitors and viewers,” so each stage is only about an hour long.

Every stage is designed to mimic iconic portions of La Grande Boucle. Here is the schedule as we know it (we will update with additional links once route details for the new Paris and France maps are published):

• Saturday 4th July, Stage 1 : Nice, 36.4 km (4 x 9.1 km, hilly stage) – Watopia Hilly Route (Reverse) – Watch Highlights
• Sunday 5th July, Stage 2 : Nice, 29.5 km (682 m of ascent, mountain stage) – Watopia Mountain Route – Watch Highlights
• Saturday 11th July, Stage 3 : North-East France, 48 km (2 x 24 km laps, flat stage) – France R.G.V. Route – Watch Highlights
• Sunday 12th July, Stage 4 : South-West France, 45.8 km (2 x 22.9 km laps, hilly stage) – France Casse-Pattes Route – Watch Highlights
• Saturday 18th July, Stage 5 : Mont Ventoux, 22.8 km (finish at Chalet-Reynard, mountain stage) – France La Reine Route – Watch Highlights
• Sunday 19th July, Stage 6 : Paris Champs-Elysées, 42.8 km (6 laps of the circuit) – Paris Champs-Elysées Route – Watch Highlights

Gender parity is a hot-button issue in pro cycling, and the virtual TdF is clearly planned to delivery equal coverage and competition for both men’s and women’s teams. In fact, the women will kick off the virtual TdF by racing first on July 4th, followed immediately by the men!

Men’s and women’s stages will be held on identical courses over the same distances, and both events will receive equal broadcast coverage.

Pro Team Participation

The world’s top cycling teams will be lining up to battle it out in the virtual TdF. For each stage, teams will select four riders to compete. Riders can be rotated in and out for different stages, so we will certainly see a variety of top pros taking parts on routes that best suite their strengths.

Confirmed teams for the virtual TdF include:

Men’s Teams

AG2R La Mondiale Arkéa Samsic Alpecin-Fenix Astana Pro Team B&B Hotels-Vital Concept Team Bahrain McLaren Bora Hansgrohe CCC Team Team Cofidis Circus-Wanty Gobert Deceuninck – Quick-Step EF Education First Pro Cycling Groupama-FDJ Israel Start-Up Nation Team INEOS Team Jumbo-Visma Lotto-Soudal Mitchelton-SCOTT NTT Pro Cycling Rally Cycling Team Sunweb TOTAL Direct Énergie Trek-Segafredo

Women’s Teams

Alé BTC Ljubljana Team Arkéa Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team CANYON//SRAM Racing CCC-Liv Team Ceratizit – WNT Pro Cycling Drops FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope Lotto Soudal Ladies Mitchelton-SCOTT Parkhotel Valkenburg Rally Cycling TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank Trek-Segafredo Women TWENTY20 Pro Cycling Team Sunweb Valcar Travel & Service

Confirmed riders from Zwift’s press release include the past three winners of the TdF (Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal) plus Greg Van Avermaet and other top pros for the men’s race. Marianne Vos, Chloé Dygert Owen, Kirsten Wild, and Anna Van der Breggen are among the big names confirmed for the women’s race.

In an interesting twist, DC Rainmaker did a little digging and learned that no male riders are allowed to race more than 3 stages total, and no female riders are allowed to race more than 4 stages total. This makes it even more of a team event since no single rider will be able to dominate the series.

Jersey Competition

Anyone who follows Le Tour knows about the “race within the race.” That is, there are multiple classifications or competitions happening concurrently during and across all stages. The virtual TdF will be similar, but competition will be entirely points-based . During each stage, riders will score points on specific climbs, sprints, and across the finish line. These points will be totaled on a team basis and used to designate a leading team in each classification:

• Best Sprinter classification (green jersey): for the team holding the most sprint points
• Best Climber classification (polka dot jersey): for the team holding the most KOM points
• General Classification (yellow jersey): for the team holding the most points overall

The teams leading each of these classifications will choose one rider on the day to wear the classification’s leader jersey.

Each stage will also see a rider awarded the Most Aggressive rider award, sponsored by Antargaz. A Best Young Rider classification (white jersey) will be awarded to the rider with the most points under 25 years old.

Current Standings:  Women  /  Men

Keeping It Simple

Since this is a charity event, anti-cheating controls are being kept to a minimum. Zwift says that pre-race validation checks will be done to ensure accurate equipment and rider weights. No post-race performance verifications will be done.

Where to Watch

The virtual TdF will be broadcast to over 130 countries, with broadcasts taking place every Saturday and Sunday, July 4-19, from 3pm-5pm CET (9am-11am EDT/6am-8am PDT).

• Worldwide : GCN App, Zwift.com
• Pan-Europe (incl UK): Eurosport & GCN
• Denmark: TV2 Sport
• Norway: TV2 Sport/TV2 Sumo
• France: FranceTVSport
• Belgium Walloon: RTBF
• Belgium Flemish: VRT
• Netherlands: NOS
• Portugal: RTP2
• Spain: Teledeports
• Sub-Saharan Africa: Supersport

Highlights will be available on Zwift’s YouTube channel  after each stage.  

• Canada: FloBikes
• Australia: SBS
• Japan: J Sports
• China: Zhibo.tv
• New Zealand: SKY Sport
• Pan-Asia-Pacific: EurosportAsia & GCN

Virtual L’Etape du Tour de France

Each year, L’Etape du Tour de France provides cyclists with the opportunity to get a slice of the Tour de France experience through a mass participation cyclo-sportive held on one of the Tour de France mountain stages. The Virtual l’Etape du Tour de France will be no different, allowing participants to test themselves on the same roads as the professionals!

Get all the details here >

Discover France!

Want to ride Zwift’s new French roads as soon as possible? There will be “Virtual Tour de France Discovery Rides” where you can ride the exact stage the pros raced the weekend before. See this ZwiftHacks search for a list of upcoming Discovery Rides (more will be added soon).

It appears that Sunday, July 12th, will see the first Discovery Rides events on the France map (for stages 3 and 4).

“Tour de France United” Charity Initiative

The virtual TdF kicks off a charity initiative in celebration of the Tour de France that will run until the conclusion of the rescheduled Tour de France in August. Called “Tour de France United”, the initiative has been created to raise funds for five charity partners: Emmaüs , Secours Populaire , ​ Jeugdfonds Sport and Cultuur , BiJeVa ​, and Qhubeka .

Questions or Comments?

Share below! We’ll do our best to answer questions and comments as more information is released in the coming days.

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2024 Could Be a Make-Or-Break Year for the Tour de France Femmes

I f there’s one depressing fact I’ve learned in nearly two decades of covering women’s cycling, it’s that, sadly, there’s rarely a moment to rest on one’s laurels in this sport—and that’s particularly true for race organizers, and team owners.

Just because a race does fantastically well one year in terms of unprecedented levels of viewership and media coverage or because a team is arguably the absolute best in the world doesn’t guarantee anything. It’s all easy come, easy go. That’s why I’m nervous about the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and why I believe that this year could be the most pivotal year for the race.

But why am I worried about the Tour de France Femmes in year three? After all, viewership numbers have been high, enthusiasm hasn’t waned, and sports bars are full of fans screaming for Demi Vollering and Kasia Niewiadoma. And yet... There are a few important factors to consider.

Last year, Zwift’s Kate Verroneau told me that the second year of the TDFF was scary for her: The first year, you’re riding a wave of hype. In the second year, the race has to stand as a great race, not just a “first.” What about the third year?

“There’s no kind of resting on the fact that last year was really successful,” Veronneau said then. “I look at it and think, ‘Last year was pretty easy sell: It was the first women’s Tour de France in over 30 years. That was easy to get the media on board, easy to get sponsors on board. It was the first time that that huge of an audience watched women’s racing.”

Year two was hugely successful, but what about year three?

The sponsorship dynamics at play

First, there’s the simple fact that this is year three of Zwift’s four-year commitment to the Tour de France Femmes in partnership with ASO. That means if Zwift isn’t planning to continue its support or is going to cut back its sponsorship budget, this is the year the race needs to look for a new sponsor.

Leaving it entirely to next year, the final year in their contract, is foolhardy. So I have to imagine that there’s some buzz happening behind the scenes already. I haven’t heard any scuttlebutt about them giving up their title sponsorship position, to be clear, but considering Zwift just had a round of layoffs and a shuffle in their C-suite , who knows where they’re heading? Hopefully into another lengthy contract, but it’s unclear. My fingers are crossed.

Viewership challenges

Viewership this year will also be more important than ever. High viewership numbers mean a better chance of securing new or renewed sponsorship dollars, and TdFF viewership has been undeniably impressive. But this year is going to make that tricky. The men’s Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes are separated this year by the Olympics. That means three weeks between the races, rather than the men’s race ending on the day the women’s race began.

In the past two years, it was easy to just continue tuning in if you’d been watching the men’s race. This year, viewers will have to actively seek it out starting August 12—the day after the Olympics finish. That is a lot of TV watching for cycling/sports fans to contend with. While serious fans will still tune in, those ‘medium’ fans may not.

The state of the cycling industry

Then, there’s the cycling industry landscape. Brands like Trek and Specialized are slashing budgets , and Shimano is reporting quarter after quarter of losses . To blithely assume that there’s a cycling company capable of taking Zwift’s place as title sponsor in the current landscape is a mistake.

I say all this not to be discouraging. It’s meant to be a rallying cry. What does this all mean for you, the person reading this?

I want to believe that this race will survive and thrive in the same way that Le Tour has for over a century. But I also know that it takes more than love to keep a race of this magnitude running. It takes cold, hard cash. It takes commitment from big businesses that often see women’s cycling as a line item that they can scrap when it’s time to tighten up their belts. It took decades to get back to a point where we have this race. It’s happened before, it’s been lost before. Let’s not let it happen again.

It’s time to get fired up and ensure that the Tour de France Femmes isn’t just a blip in the cycling history books. Mark your calendars, set a Google alert for the Tour de France Femmes, follow racers on social media, and plan watch parties—let’s make this the loudest Tour de France Femmes yet.