THE Tour de France set off from Monaco on July 4. Today, July 14, it is about half way through, with participants racing the 194.5 km between Limoges and Issoudun in the center for France — just another 11 days to go.
This sporting event is highly popular both in France and abroad and sets in train a complex, well-honed organizational process, not to mention a significant budget. The organizer, a town and a sponsor tell their sides of the story.
The Tour de France is the world’s third-largest sporting event, after the Olympic Games and the football World Cup. It is to cycling what Wimbledon is to tennis or the Ryder Cup to golf. The race always causes a stir in the international media: It is broadcast on television in 180 countries. It also attracts representatives from 76 radio stations in 25 countries and 450 newspapers, photographic agencies and new media from 26 countries: A total of 3,600 accreditations. The event website, for its part, attracted six million visitors last year. The budget for the Tour is estimated at around 100 million euros, half of which comes from television rights, 40 percent from sponsors and the remainder from the fees paid by the towns where each stage starts and finishes.
The tour involves moving around, accommodating and feeding 4,500 people every day. A total of 2,400 vehicles follow the race. And of course there are the crowds, 20 percent of whom are foreigners that line the route. Managing such a caravanserai takes all the experience the organizer of the Tour de France can muster. Deciding on the route, dealing with logistics — Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) takes care of everything, along with the relevant authorities: Flyover permits, safety and security measures, work on the highway and more. ASO also creates the merchandise, handles marketing rights, manages the relationship with towns and sponsors and much more besides.
This year the Tour stops in 34 towns, passed through 560 municipalities and visits other countries. Apart from Monaco, it has already passed Andorra and Spain (Girona and Barcelona), and head to Switzerland (Verbier and Martigny) and Italy on Saturday. The international dimension will be all the more important in 2010, when the race will start in Rotterdam.
Every year, over 250 towns apply to host the Tour. At the town hall in Besançon, which will host a stage for the 17th time on Saturday, Denis Lazzarotto, who is in charge of managing the event, confides that “the race cuts the town in two and you have to call on all the resources of your imagination to make sure normal life carries on! We have been providing information about detours to minimize the impact.”
Based on a “100-percent clear requirement” and in consultation with ASO, the French police and the emergency services, the municipality has dealt with road signs, carried out road repairs, set up 8 km of safety barriers and... planted yellow flowers in its open spaces. The cost of the operation: 400,000 euros, of which 100,000 euros are covered by the tour organizer. Direct technical costs account for 180,000 euros, with the rest being spent on various items, including communications (with a handy guide) events. A concert and a cycle race on the eve of the day itself.
Unexpectedly, but no less importantly for the town authorities, the main beneficiary of the operation is internal communications. “The tour brings together departments that don’t usually work together with a real sense of team spirit and spontaneous enthusiasm,” observes Denis Lazzarotto. The main positive consequence for this beautiful but little-known town of 120,000 inhabitants in eastern France is, of course, economic. This year, television screens from across the world will showcase the region’s landscapes and cultural monuments. Besides promoting tourism, there will be a substantial increase in turnover in hotels, restaurants and shops. The tour team consists of almost 4,500 people and during the event an estimated 500,000 spectators are expected to spend an average of two euros a day.
From the sponsors’ point of view, investment is increasing all the time. For the four main ones — Vittel, Credit Lyonnais bank, Champion and Skoda — the sponsorship fees varies between three and five million euros. Other official partners come in at between one and two million euros. In all, 28 sponsors buy exclusive rights to use the Tour logo and map in their communications and publicity. The caravan of advertisers that accompanies the race, which no one can miss, has some 180 decorated vehicles, distributing 14 million branded items to all and sundry along the route.
French hypermarket chain Carrefour, which has grown rapidly in Saudi Arabia since it opened its first store in Riyadh in 2004, is sponsoring the spotted jersey for the best mountain climber. It will have 21 vehicles in the caravan. The company’s managers came up with a novel publicity plan. Spain is one of this year’s major themes and hostesses in stores have been wearing an outfit designed by one of the country’s famous fashion designers to attract female customers. The firm’s participation in the A chacun son Tour operation, launched by ASO to raise young people’s awareness of sport and health, is clearly conveyed via their stands. Tastings promoting local suppliers have been taking place before and during the race.
So too have signing sessions with former champions, along with the distribution of 400,000 caps and 20,000 tee-shirts. “The payback is incalculable in terms of image and internal motivation,” says its sponsorship manager. “It’s a unifying event that will really add a glow to our name.”
Why does the event still attract such popular enthusiasm and commercial success? Perhaps because, once you get beyond the figures, the Tour de France is also a wonderful local festival... and it’s free.