Although Brasil 2014 has been the major sporting focus for the past month, July also plays host to the biggest annual sporting spectacle in the world – the Tour de France. ‘La Grande Boucle’ is played out on a truly epic scale. This year’s edition, the 101st, features 198 riders from 34 countries competing to complete the 3,664km route in the fastest time. Watched on TV by a staggering 3.5 billion people in 190 countries (allegedly), le Tour is hungrily consumed by fans in a growing number of ways.
Being more than 100 years old, the event is of course steeped in tradition – the yellow jersey being perhaps the most iconic emblem in sport. What fascinates me is how the race manages to marry tradition with constant innovations in both technology and, perhaps to an even greater degree, media.
This year has seen the arrival of on-bike cameras, which bring the viewer closer to the peloton than ever before, and teams are even sharing the power stats of some of their star riders.
Unless you’re lucky enough to be at the roadside, TV is still the best way to witness the action unfold – a feat of broadcasting which I only recently discovered involves not one, but three helicopters and a plane. Where it has come into its own in the past few years, though, is the unprecedented access that the teams provide via social media. Every team has its own Facebook page and the majority of the riders are to be found on Twitter, which often provides more drama than the race itself.
The sport is set to become even more open to technological advancements, but it will perhaps be more interesting to see how media coverage of the event develops and to wonder what watching le Tour might be like in the years to come.
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