ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how the media – most particularly television – have been active in shaping and changing the formation and production of the Tour de France. The Tour de France is an annual cycling race which has taken place on the roads of France since 1903. The French context and organizers Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) – formerly La Société de Tour de France – provide a core production in the form of a race and an audiovisual signal produced by French television for all broadcasters with the right to transmit the event. Currently, the Tour de France is the largest free annual sporting event in the world, accumulating 10–15 million spectators along the roads every year. The relationship between television and the Tour de France was established in the wake of Second World War. After the Second World War the Tour de France faced increasing financial difficulties, with the newspaper and bicycle industries both suffering from declining sales.
