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The Mur de Bretagne and Mont Ventoux; Alpe d’Huez and La Plagne — the wires are buzzing with speculation over which famous battlegrounds will be at the heart of next year’s men’s Tour de France, the route of which is announced in the Palais des Congres on October 29.
But while promoters ASO fuel the sense of anticipation for the 2025 iteration of their global juggernaut, the reality is that cycling is increasingly under fire in France.
The cash-strapped French racing scene is struggling, stricken by a long-standing lack of major success and of major sponsors, while the battle for space between cars and bikes across the country, particularly in cities such as Paris and Strasbourg, is intensifying.
In recent weeks, stories of French teams facing collapse and violent confrontations between cyclists and drivers have made headlines, all of which comes as something of a shock to the nation that hosts the world’s most famous bicycle race, against a backdrop of festivities, celebration and bonhomie.
As ever, the announcement of the 2025 men’s and women’s Tours de France routes will fuel anticipation, excitement and speculation among fans and sponsors around the world.
That’s because the Tour’s magnitude, more than ever, drives the sport’s funding, yet the global fascination with the race can also sometimes hide the reality of what is happening on home turf.
For most of those working in the French scene, the significance of the race all too often highlights the shortcomings of domestic under-achievers. Recently, Emmanuel Hubert, manager of the Arkea B&B hotels team, warned that “in five years, 60% of French teams will have disappeared.”
“The model is no longer viable,” Hubert said, who added that his team’s long-term future, beyond next season, is in the balance.
‘A rich kid’s sport’
Marc Madiot, veteran manager of the Groupama FDJ team, believes cycling in France is increasingly inward-looking and is also alienating young talent, partly due to the costs of equipment.
“Today, if your parents don’t have the money, you can’t really get going in cycling,” Madiot said. “If I was a kid starting now, my parents would not have had the money to get me a good enough racing bike. Cycling has become a rich kid’s sport. It’s got expensive.”
But Madiot also argues that French cycling’s structures needs significant investment, while also achieving a better return on the investment that is already being put into the sport.
While cycling’s super-teams expand their budgets and harvest the talent, as well as most of the success, the lesser French-based teams are left to fight for the scraps. And Madiot is right: who was the last major talent, capable of winning a Grand Tour, to sign for a French team?
“We know too well that French teams are not in a position to be competitive with some others,” Madiot said. “Our cycling economy is based on a return on investment for our sponsors. What can we do to save French cycling? Find millions…”
Death in Paris
There’s no doubt that, with an ageing demographic and the French domestic scene on the wane, the Tour, in order to sustain its omnipotence, has had to move into global territories.
Foreign Grand Departs are now a cornerstone of this strategy, as is striking deals with streaming services such as Netflix, organizing exhibition races in the Far East, and moving deeper into subscription-based rights deals.
But the growing disdain in France for cycling is also reflected elsewhere.
Following a horrendous incident in Paris in mid-October, in which a cyclist called Paul Varry was killed by the driver of an SUV, the cars versus bikes debate has now intensified even in France.
Varry’s death has already become a cause célèbre and has fueled public protest and even governmental intervention. The 27 year old was a well-known member of the Paris en Selle (Paris in the Saddle) campaigning group.
What happened to him late one autumn afternoon, newspaper Le Monde wrote, said “a lot about the state of French society.”
The driver, a 52 year old father of four, was taking his teenage daughter to the optician when he and Varry crossed paths on the Boulevard des Malesherbes, a stone’s throw from the Tour’s showcase finish line on the Champs Elysees.
The driver has been charged with murder, after it was reported that he’d used his car as a weapon, and run over Varry deliberately. Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, described it as unacceptable “in this day and age for someone to die on a bicycle in Paris.”
Varry’s death has sparked outrage among cycling groups across France, who have been sharing their own experiences. The French Cycling Federation said: “The road is a space for sharing, where intolerance and violence cannot be the rule.”
‘We are not all Pogačar’
Meanwhile, as the Tour sells itself against a backdrop of bonhomie and cameraderie, of past exploits, of chateaux and mountains, the years of domination by foreign riders is again having a withering effect on the home scene.
After all the fanfare over domestic success in the Paris Olympics, there appears to be little to look forward to for the French in the Tour itself. Tadej Pogačar’s stranglehold on the peloton has grown and Jonas Vingegaard is now seen as his only genuine rival.
The French have, of course, had plenty of time to get used to this feeling.
That said, three stage wins, and Romain Bardet’s brief stint in the yellow jersey, made the 2024 Tour a better vintage than some others. But some of the French kids that do make it in pro racing are losing their appetite for the fray, even in their teens.
Take Gabriel Berg. He is just 18 and had a place in the Soudal Quick-Step development team. But a litany of injuries and a cold pragmatism, in respect of his own potential to progress further, have combined to end his career.
“Teams do not want to miss the next nugget,” Berg said, “the future Pogačar, the future Evenepoel. Except that we are not all Pogačar, not all Remco.” You can say that again.
Tuesday’s Tour presentation in Paris, largely for the benefit of hosting authorities and VIP sponsors, will unveil the race routes for the men’s and women’s races with great fanfare. The French meanwhile, will watch on, just as they have done for too long now, from the shadows.
