The teams are happy, but will it mean less insight and the complete avoidance of gaffs?
Television broadcast of team race radios will continue for a third year in this year’s Tour de France, Escape Collective can reveal, but with a notable concession made over the selection of which clips to be aired.
Towards the end of the 2024 Tour, both Visma-Lease a Bike and Ineos Grenadiers pulled out of the scheme, citing frustration with the process, including claiming that important tactical information was made public with potential ramifications for the race’s outcome. UAE Team Emirates had voiced similar concerns in 2023, the first year of the project in the men’s race (the project piloted at the 2022 Tour de France Femmes) in which Tadej Pogačar’s radio quip of “I’m gone, I’m dead” became one of the defining moments of the race.
Teams, represented by Velon – the organisation owned by 10 WorldTour teams – have been discussing with ASO, the organisers of the Tour de France, for several months to come to a new agreement, with the initial two-year contract lapsing last year.
For Visma to take part in the project in the 2025 race, they wanted a different vetting procedure to be put in place, with the final decision over what audio is selected for a worldwide TV audience decided by representatives of the teams as opposed to ASO, as was the case previously.
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