Skoda continues its support of world’s toughest cycle race
SKODA is proud to be supporting the world’s most famous cycling competition as a main sponsor of the iconic Tour de France.
It’s the eighth time that SKODA has backed the Tour, which started on Saturday 2 July in the western region of Vendée on the Atlantic coast. Taking place for the 98th time, it sees scores of competitors battle through 21 stages and 2,100 gruelling miles to reach the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 24 July.
SKODA is the official vehicle supplier and has provided organisers with almost 300 vehicles from across the whole model portfolio. One of the most important and most visible is a red SKODA Superb for Tour Director Christian Prudhomme. For the first time in history, a replica of this car is being displayed in the daily ‘Departure Village’ before the start of each stage.
A special fleet of white SKODA Superb Estates is being used for VIP guests, with others reserved for international media. SKODA is a partner of nine professional teams plus the technical assistance staff, and sponsor of the White Jersey for the best under-25 rider.
SKODA is also part of the ‘advertising caravan’ which passes through each stage about two hours before the field of riders. This unique element has been part of the Tour since the 1930s and is regarded as a huge attraction and part of the experience.
After football’s World Cup and the Olympics, the Tour de France is the world’s third most widely followed sports event. An estimated 15 million fans line the route with approximately two billion watching on TV.
“The Tour de France is one of the world’s great sporting events,” said SKODA brand Director Robert Hazelwood. “The riders put in top-class performances and we are proud to be supporting this fantastic event for the eighth time. It provides us with the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the engineering excellence of our vehicles in front of billions of people worldwide.”
Together with ice-hockey, in which SKODA has supported the World Championships for the last 18 years, cycling is one of the main pillars of the brand’s sporting sponsorship strategy.
SKODA has a long association with cycling, with the company starting out life building bicycles back in 1895. Today, SKODA is better known for its multi award-winning cars, but its passion for cycling remains.
SKODA has been the official partner of the Tour de France since 2004, and also partners with Giro d’Italia, and Tour of Britain, and is the official vehicle of choice for Rapha-Condor Sharp and Team Raleigh in the UK.
