Since last year, radio communication between teams and riders during the Tour de France has been shown on television. Two teams are now refusing to do this.
Out of anger over the TV broadcasts of the Tour de France, the Visma team of defending champion Jonas Vingegaard is refusing access to his radio traffic during the Tour de France. Marketing manager Jasper Saeijs confirmed this to “Cycling Weekly” at the start of the 20th stage in Nice. They are dissatisfied with the content shown on TV, saying that team strategies are revealed too often.
In addition to Visma, the British team Ineos also pulled out of the deal for the time being. A total of six teams had complained about the content shared on TV. However, this is not the end of the project, stressed Saeijs. They are open to anything that gives fans more participation in the race. “At the moment, however, we cannot trust the process. After the Tour, we want to see how we can do better,” said Saeijs.
Only 5000 euros for the teams
A team of three employees from the Tour organizer ASO receives the radio traffic from 15 teams. From this they choose what is shown during the stage. The radio messages are normally shown with a delay of 15 to 30 minutes. The teams receive 5,000 euros for this. Even this relatively low sum caused resentment.
The ASO had copied the transmission of radio traffic from Formula 1. The most famous radio message was sent by Tadej Pogacar on the queen stage last year when he lost contact with the leading group. “I’m dead. I can’t go on,” the Slovenian told his sporting director.
Source: Stern
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
