The Italian Grand Departure of the Tour de France Shows That the Costs of Organising the ASO Event Are Significant

On Saturday afternoon, French cyclist Romain Bardet won the first stage of this year's Tour de France… in Italy.

Surprising as it may seem, cycling's greatest race has begun to establish a consistent tradition by holding its first stages, known as the Grand Départ, outside of France's borders. It is a change of scenery which gives other countries the opportunity to share the event, but above all it is a financial opportunity for the race organizers.

As with other major sporting events around the world, the 21-stage Tour de France seeks bids from cities to select the start and finish locations for each stage. Some venues are frequent repeats, and French cities pay (in the six figures for a stage finish), but none of that compares to the millions of dollars it costs to stage the itinerant Grand Départ.

The costs ultimately come in several parts. Foreign cities pay the race organizer, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), a hosting fee that in recent years has topped $5 million. Bid winners also foot the bill for preparation (clearing roads, repaving asphalt, routing traffic, insurance, and crowd infrastructure), which typically more than doubles the cost. When Brussels hosted the 2019 Grand Départ, for example, the city would have paid ASO about $5.7 million (€5 million), then spent another $6.82 million (€6 million) on the hosting itself.

There are three full stages in Italy this year, all part of the Grand Départ, including starting Saturday in Florence and finishing Sunday in Bologna. It is not clear what Italian cities paid; a message sent to ASO was not returned.

Cities bid for different reasons, some seek prestige and others an increase in tourism. After hosting the Grand Departure in 2007, London calculated that it received around $147.6 million (£73 million) from the visit – far more than it paid for it. THE breakdownaccording to the city's mayor's office, $82.9 million (£41 million) was spent by those staying in hotel rooms, $26.3 million (£13 million) by foreigners staying with friends, $24.3 million (£12 million) spent in town by locals and $14.1 million (£7 million) spent by members of the media, teams, sponsors and organisers. It separately calculated another $70.7 million (£35 million) in media coverage.

Although economists would certainly criticize this framework, the Grand Départ remains a prize sought after by European cities. Earlier this month, ASO announcement Barcelona would open the 2026 Tour. The city's mayor said he was paying ASO between $7.5 million and $8.6 million (€7 million to €8 million) for the right, according to Wheeler.

The largest of three “grand tours” in the annual cycling calendar, the Tour de France is managed by ASO, a unit of the Amaury Group, whose portfolio includes newspapers The teamthe Paris Marathon and the Dakar Rally. The Amaury Group is a private company, and secret on his finances, but Bloomberg reported Earlier this month, the group announced its 2023 revenue of around $640 million (€588 million). According to the report, ASO accounted for 53% of this revenue.

The Tour de France began in 1903 and took place within French borders for its first 40 iterations. In the 1970s, he occasionally held the first stage in other countries, and the frequency has only increased since then. The Grand Départ has started in eight countries over the past 11 years, including Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

The Grand Départ selection impacts the rest of the race. Starts in countries near northern France, such as Belgium and the Netherlands, allow easier access to the popular, flatter stages once the race enters its national phase. Because the 2024 race starts in Florence, there are not enough days between mountain stages for the race to reach northern France. (That ended up working out well this year. Due to preparations for the Olympics, the race will not finish in Paris as usual, but instead in Nice on the southern coast of France.)

Sometimes a city decides the price tag isn’t worth it. The Tour has started in the UK twice, but for the 2017 race, ASO asked London’s Department for Transport to pay €5.5 million to host the three-day Grand Départ, according to the city’s mayor. The government estimated the total cost would be around $54.1 million (£35.8 million), and while it claimed the total cost of the race would be $5.5 million (£35.8 million), the government estimated the total cost of the race would be $5.5 million (£35.8 million). evidence As the long-term economic benefit would outweigh the cost, he decided to forgo the initial overlay to focus on other local cycling infrastructure projects.

“As part of the spending review, I have taken the difficult decision, working with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, that London cannot afford to host the Grand Départ,” Mayor Boris Johnson said. said at the time. “My priority is to protect frontline services and invest in long-term cycling projects. Following this decision [the transportation department’s] bicycle budgets will not be affected.

With the help of Jacob Feldman.