tour de france safety car

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Ride safely. Drive safely. With confidence

Continental: helping all road users stay safe.

When it comes to tyres, the Tour de France is a Franco-German success story. German tyre manufacturer Continental is a Main Partner of the world’s  biggest  bike race, official Tour vehicles are equipped with Continental tyres manufactured in Sarreguemines, France, and  a number of  World Tour teams  race  on tyres designed and hand-made in the company’s two-wheel tyre headquarters in Korbach, Germany.

These activities all have two things in common: dedication to premium performance and commitment to safety. Continental has been contributing to road safety for over 140 years and strives to make the Tour safer for participants, support teams and spectators. The ultimate goal: Vision Zero – zero fatalities, zero injuries and zero crashes – at the Tour de France and beyond.

Safety along the route

Tour de France riders and their teams can do a lot to stay safe en route, but they are never in full control of all risks. The right equipment is engineered to be ultra-safe and cyclists have to be alert and quick to react to challenges. However, they also need to have the confidence to trust their surroundings.

Official Tour de France vehicles, including those used by race directors, doctors, timekeepers and service professionals, contribute to route safety. To ensure that they, too, stay safe on the Tour, all vehicles are fitted with an exclusive edition of the Continental PremiumContact 6. The tyre’s exceptional grip allows the drivers to experience the route with the same feeling of confidence as the riders. After all, in their quest for a safe, smooth and successful Tour, they have to drive the same often treacherous roads the riders face and actually cover significantly more kilometres than the bikes throughout the Tour de France.

As anyone who has ever made the trip will know, watching the Tour de France up close and live is a thrilling experience. The crowd reaction and the enthusiasm of fans cheering on their favourites is part of what makes the race so special, but it can also pose a safety risk. Contribute to a safer route by following the advice in this official Tour de France safety video – for yourself, for the Tour and for the riders.

Join the Tour safely

If you want to get up close (but: not too close) with the pros during the challenging race, you can view the Tour alongside the route on any of the stages. This means facing the challenges of driving to one of the most-viewed sports events in the world and dealing with the ensuing traffic chaos. You can’t be prepared for every eventuality the roads may throw at you, but you can ensure that your car is ready to get you there safely. Prepare just as well as you would for a bike ride and also pay attention to what the official vehicle drivers watch out for on the Tour.

• Grip for a safe trip. Check the condition of your tyres, the profile depth and tyre pressure to ensure good grip, especially on rainy days and if you are heading into the mountains.
• Liquid levels. Check oil, water, coolant and fuel levels to ensure your car is ready for a long trip – without unexpected stops.
• Essentials. A banner supporting your favourite rider? Your team supporter jersey? A hat against the gruelling sun? These obviously need to go in the suitcase, but have you also thought of packing a first aid kit, high-vis vest, warning triangle and emergency tool kit?

Continental Brigade: Free car tyre checks

If you have arrived at the Tour de France and you are unsure about the condition of your car tyres, then have a look out for the Continental Brigade. These highly visible support vehicles featured in the video drive a few hours ahead of the peloton offering free car tyre checks to spectators along the route.

Vision Zero: the ultimate in safety

The global Vision Zero strategy, supported by Continental and Tour de France, is designed to eliminate casualties amongst all road users. The multi-national road traffic safety project is based on the belief that all road crashes, injuries and fatalities are preventable.

In this regard, Continental as an automotive supplier also develops a number of systems, such as the  turn assistant , for vehicles to spot cyclists better.

No matter how you are travelling, Vision Zero aims to make the road a safer place for everyone. We are confident that our research and technologies contribute to this vision – at the Tour de France and beyond.

Have a safe Tour!

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The Tour de France Trusts in Safety and Performance from Continental Once Again in 2023

• The official Tour vehicles are fitted with PremiumContact 6 and EcoContact 6 tires
• Six of the 22 teams choose cutting-edge technology from Continental
• Enno Straten, Head of Strategy, Analytics & Marketing – EMEA: “Continental is making a significant contribution to a safe and more sustainable Tour”

Available documents

Hanover, Germany, June 26, 2023. In the race for the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, it is not only the quality of the performances on the bikes that decides the wins and podium places, but the quality of the tires fitted to them. Continental is one of the main sponsors of the legendary event once again this year. As well supplying six of the participating teams with bicycle tires, the brand is also equipping the support vehicles with its premium car products.

The PremiumContact 6 and EcoContact 6 will offer another demonstration of their proven attributes at the 2023 event. Both tires bring together comfort, precise steering response, exceptional safety and good environmental credentials into a single package. This allows them to rise expertly to the challenge as the support vehicles negotiate the rain-soaked switchback bends of mountain descents at breakneck speed, as well as long miles on the flat and sunbaked climbs up to mountain-top finishes above the tree line. All of the passenger car tires fitted here feature the innovative ContiRe.Tex technology first unveiled by Continental in August 2021.

“As one of the five main sponsors, the Continental brand will enjoy a prime global media platform at the Tour de France. Our passenger car and bicycle tires will regularly occupy the same spotlight, giving them the opportunity to showcase their exceptional performance characteristics,” says Enno Straten, Head of Strategy, Analytics & Marketing – EMEA. “With our technological expertise and the ambitious environmental goals we are pursuing with the A.S.O., we are making a significant contribution to a safe and sustainable Tour de France.”

Top international teams use Continental tires

Six teams in total – INEOS Grenadiers, Movistar, Bahrain Victorious, Wanty-Gobert-Intermarche, UAE Team Emirates and Groupama-FDJ – will contest this year’s Tour on the Grand Prix 5000 S Tubeless Ready from Continental. This high-tech race tire was developed at the Continental plant in Korbach, Germany, and manufactured there by hand. The Grand Prix 5000 S TR is lighter and faster than its predecessors and has stronger sidewalls, enabling it to set a new benchmark in tubeless ready technology. The tire also stands out with its optimum balance between weight and mileage, speed and comfort, and speed and puncture resistance, making it the ideal race option. It provides a faster, more comfortable ride with increased puncture protection – key attributes for the conditions the riders and bikes will encounter in the Tour de France. Indeed, the progress made with tire technology has played a significant role in the ever-increasing average speeds recorded in the world’s original bicycle stage race: From 25 km/h in its inaugural edition, the figure has now exceeded 41 km/h, this despite the route profile getting steadily more challenging over the years.

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What it's like to ride in a support car at the Tour de France 

“It’s like hunting sharks. You know they’re there but you can’t usually see them.” The words of Tom, a mechanic in the Shimano neutral car at the start of the second stage of the 2022 Tour de France from outside Copenhagen for 125 miles (think London to Birmingham) across the flats of Denmark and then the 12-mile Great Belt bridge.

GQ has been invited along inside the car, with the driver Nico Verhoeven, a former professional cyclist who won the first stage of the Tour de France he ever raced. We leave from Roskilde, where Dua Lipa and other A-listers are performing in a major music festival. Residents have dressed in yellow in honour of the iconic jersey and hold impromptu parties. The mood is festival.

The job of the Shimano service car is to keep riders safe, deal with breakdowns and get them back in the race as soon as possible. There are five bikes on the roof, ultra-light carbon machines with £1800 wheels, that can be pulled down in a few seconds ready for a cyclist to mount. The car will travel in front of the peloton, in among the cyclists or behind it.

“Anything can happen,” explains Verhoeven, who has to watch out for enthusiastic spectators lining the streets for the entire route. “In a football match, for example, you know there’s a game that’s going to last 90 minutes with teams featuring 11 players and be played on a pitch. With cycling, there are more variables. Then add in hundreds of thousands of people standing so close to the action.”

He’s worried that there will be an incident between a fan and a rider, a team support car or one of the many motorbikes that make up the caravan which follows the tour, but he’s calm. Yet when he says the riders are “nervous today” he’s forming that opinion on the style in which they ride. There are so many external factors: the wind is strong in parts, the race is now in a new country, riders are jostling for position, yet we might not even see a single Tour de France cyclist in a country where cycling is big. By 2025, Copenhagen aims for 50 per cent of all trips to work and education to be done by bike.

Denmark has paid the Tour a reported €10 million to stage the first three days. It drew some criticism, yet it acts as a giant advert for a country. Or county, as was the case in Yorkshire in 2014. Those in cycling circles still talk about the vast crowds that day. Overhead, three helicopters film, capturing the peloton’s twists, turns and changing shapes, like starlings before dusk.

We set off ahead of the race: four hours of smiley happy people by the roadside. Young and old, they all cheer as we whizz past. Workplaces stop to watch the tour pass: firemen stand proudly outside their station, there are eccentrics dressed in naked suits and mankinis. Pensioners stand up from their chairs and smile. Danish flags proliferate in the sun, football shirts too, but there are even flags of sponsors unknown in the British market: E.Leclerc (a French hypermarket chain), French LCL (Credit Lyonnais, a French bank), Krys (French opticians). Team sponsors Cofidis (French money lenders), Quick Step (floors), Groupama (French insurance) and Movistar (Spanish telecoms).

Then there are the flag-waving soft power sponsors: Astana Qazaqstan, Bahrain Victorious, Israel-Premier Tech and the UAE Team Emirates, whose Tadej Pogacar, the 23-year-old Slovenian, is a favourite for a third consecutive tour.

While a Dane wins the first sprint of the day amid tight country lanes and 90-degree turns, no rider has his name marked more along the road than Briton Chris Froome . The four-time winner, 37, is 6 ft 1 inch and weighs just 69 kilos. These physically primed athletes need to be so light for the mountain stages. Froome is popular judging by road markings, while anther Chris, the Dane Chris Anker Sorensen who was killed last year while cycling, is remembered with a huge “Chris Always in our hearts, Never to be forgotten” flag with Denmark flags around it. 

Four cyclists break and, for the first time, we see actual cyclists from the car. These are the sharks we know the crowds have come to see, who’ve been lurking behind. “What’s the logic in breaking away so early in the race?” we ask.

“Publicity,” comes the reply. “They’re a small French team (B&B Hotels-KTM). If they can stay at the front and be the focus for millions.”

The two B&B drivers are dropped themselves. It happens so quickly it’s like they’ve pushed the reverse button on an escalator. We pass the two dropped riders and they scowl at us. They know they’re to be swallowed back up by the peloton. Verhoeven tells us all about each one (their ages, best wins), his encyclopaedic knowledge of the sport apparent. While all the time he has to drive at speed along tiny roads. We listen to the race radio, in French and English.

“Adam Yates puncture.”

Two minutes later.

“Adam Yates is back in the pack.” Yates, 29, from Bury, Greater Manchester, finished fourth in the 2016 tour as British riders enjoyed their greatest ever decade in the race.

Bradley Wiggins, the first British Tour de France winner in 2012 when he won GQ ’s lifetime achievement award , speeds past on the back of a motorbike, working for a TV channel. Denmark flags fly from cranes, flags saying “Vive Le Tour – Love from the Danish Farmers”.

For a few sparse kilometres, there are fewer fans. We screech to a stop and have 30 seconds to take a pee and stretch legs. Riders do the same or pee while on the bike.

“There’s a crosswind when we turn south,” observes Verhoeven, as he zips up. “The peloton will be nervous when we turn because of the crosswind. When the peloton is stressed they go fast. Today there’s a lot of stress. Nobody wants to be dropped.

The vast bridge comes into view.

“Now in the Peloton they’re nervous, pressing together. And it’s impossible to ride where you want because of fans.”

“Chris Froome has stopped,” comes over the radio. But he’s soon back up. This is not the place for any health and safety officer, but the accessibility makes it what it is – there are no barriers to entry, no tickets needed. Anybody can watch the tour – and they do. It’s a wonderful outdoor occasion amid pretty towns and fields of poppies and corn. And the vast bridge, where there’s a crash involving several riders. All get-up and finish.

Two hundred metres from the finish, the car takes a sharp right off the course. Job done. We jump out and crouch behind a Gendarme with Escort Presidentielle on his helmet. The French Gendarmerie escort the entire tour, including outside France.

The riders sprint past at 70kms per hour, a bunch finish where one of the sprinters will pounce from the group, timing his maximum effort to cross the finish line first. Mark Cavendish, the greatest sprinter of all time, would have been the favourite in these circumstances, but he was left at home, to much dismay in the cycling world since Cavendish is only one stage win away from surpassing Eddy Merckx’s 34-stage win on the tour record.

The man who replaced him, young Dutch sprinter Fabio Jakobsen, vindicated his own selection after a life-threatening crash. It didn’t make him any less brave as he bumps shoulders with a fellow rider 200 metres from the line. They look like they should crash but the high-speed collision is part of being a sprinter. They pounce.

 Geraint Thomas in the peloton

Ten minutes later, GQ speaks to 2018 tour winner Geraint Thomas as he winds down on a bike by the Ineos Grenadiers team bus, reducing the lactic acid which builds up in the big sprints at the end of the stage.

“Normally those stages can be really stressful but it was OK today,” says the rider from Cardiff, with 11 previous Tours to his name. Not bad for someone who used to run home from school to watch the tour.

“The wind was in a direction where it wasn’t too dangerous so that settled everyone down a little bit. A cross wind on the bridge could have split the race, but we had a headwind and it didn’t affect the race at all. But it was still super nervous with the threat of crashes. I was just happy to get through unscathed.”

The crowds?

“It was incredible. Every time the tour leaves France it gets bigger. It’s rare for those places to have the tour, it was the same in London in 2007, and Yorkshire in 2014. It was similar here today, super noisy. You could hardly stop for a wee because people were lining the route, all 200k. It’s just that some of them get a little too close. They forget we use the whole road or they’re standing on the hard shoulder or have a pram. It was a bit dodgy at times, but luckily there were no incidents.”

Thomas, 36, isn’t the favourite, but he’s strong and experienced in a team which is the same.     

“I want to take any opportunities which arise and try and win,” he says. “I haven’t really put a position on it for the overall, it’s just about being in the best shape I can be in and helping the boys or taking any opportunities that I can.”

He climbs off the bike and the bus will take him to a nearby hotel. That’s different to some mountain stages where the riders have to cycle back down the mountain, or to a major transfer stage. On Monday, the whole circus had to get from Sonderberg in Denmark to Dunkirk for Tuesday fourth stage to Calais.

And then the sunburned circus moves on with the first of the mountain stages looming on Friday.

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11 artists and activists on the state of trans rights around the globe

From Freddie to Heartstopper : GQ writers pick their landmark British queer cultural moments  

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What the hell is neutral service at the Tour de France?

First Published Jul 14, 2023

Besides producing bicycle components, Shimano is also the neutral service provider for the Tour de France – taking over from Mavic in 2021 – along with other major Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O) races such as Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Everyone sees the blue cars following the race, but who and what is in them and what do they do?

Shimano has been running its neutral service since 2001, and in 2021 began providing neutral service at the Tour de France. Shimano now has six neutral service teams across Europe, covering the biggest professional road races in the world.

The blue neutral service cars are present at all three Grand Tours, the Tour de France Femmes, the World Championships, all five cycling monuments, and many other races on the UCI men's and women's calendars.

In the Tour de France, each team has two cars following the peloton that are able to assist the riders throughout the race with a mechanic in the back seat and spare bikes on the roof. 

One car will stay near the team's GC contenders and the second car will stay further back. The team cars are assigned a specific number based on the overall GC rankings to keep them in order at the rear of the peloton. 

So, where do the blue Shimano cars fit into this? 

The blue Shimano cars and motorbike that you see amongst the team cars are also support vehicles that provide assistance to riders during the race, regardless of their team or equipment sponsors.

The Shimano squad in every race is made up of three cars and one assistance motorbike, making up what we refer to as the neutral service, with the primary purpose of ensuring all riders have access to support so they can carry on racing without too much interruption. 

> Psssssst! What happens when a rider punctures in the Tour de France?

Two cars and the motorbike will be at the front of the race with the other car at the back behind the riders. 

In the event of a breakaway, the Shimano motorbike will follow first and when the gap is more than 35 seconds, one Shimano car will join the breakaway so the motorbike can return to the peloton.

> 2023 Tour de France bikes — your definitive guide to what the top pro cycling teams are riding this year

The responsibility of supporting riders falls primarily on the teams themselves and if a rider in the peloton gets a flat or needs water, their team car is radioed and allowed to drive to the front to help the rider. 

This system doesn't always work though, and when the race is split into multiple groups, Shimano's neutral service can help and acts as a backup option to ensure rider safety and fair competition. 

A closer look...

The neutral service cars are essentially a mobile workshop and you'll see them with multiple bikes on the roof and spares inside the car too. 

Today’s peloton sees arguably the largest number of standards that there has ever been with brake types, different speed drivetrains and numerous integrated components so providing help is no easy task. 

"Shimano’s mechanics carry up to nine pairs of wheels, with two pairs for use with rim brakes, four pairs for use with Shimano’s disc brakes, including 140mm and 160mm rotors, as well two to three sets made for use with other manufacturers’ drivetrains," says Shimano.

> Should you run a 1x set-up on your road bike?

The motorbike is also equipped with extra wheels and Shimano's neutral service cars will also carry four to six spare bikes on the roof, covering four different frame sizes. 

Right now some teams race on 11-speed groupsets and some on 12-speed, some teams use 140mm disc rotors and some use 160mm and some combine both. Different teams also use different cleat systems so neutral service bikes are equipped with different pedals. 

Shimano doesn't make bike frames, so all of the bikes that you'll see at races with neutral support provided by Shimano are made by another brand and rebadged.

As reported by  Cyclist , the current crop of neutral service bikes are from the little-known French brand Origine, and the framesets are its Axxome GT model (you can find it on the UCI's list of approved models of framesets). All bikes come fully equipped with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupsets and Dura-Ace wheels, with the option of different wheel rim depths. 

During the Tour, one spare bike will always be set up for the GC leader and will be placed on the corner of the roof rack to ensure maximum accessibility. The other bikes have quick releases so that riders can adjust their saddle heights. 

Of course, riders would prefer to have access to their spare bike rather than waiting for a repair but would use neutral service if they are unable to get immediate assistance from their own team vehicles so that they can carry on in the race. 

What support can neutral service provide?

Mechanical support

As mentioned, neutral service vehicles provide mechanical support to riders who have been isolated by their team cars. If a rider experiences a mechanical issue during the race, neutral service is equipped with tools, spare parts, and experienced mechanics to help with bike repairs and adjustments. 

Shimano's mechanics are some of the best in business with decades of experience in the sport and some ex-pro racers. 

Wheel changes 

> Best road bike wheels

With the many wheels loaded up onto the motorbike and inside the cars, riders can use neutral service to request a wheel change.

Shimano's mechanics can change a wheel in less than 30 seconds allowing the rider to continue without losing too much time. 

Spare bikes

In some cases, a rider may need to have a complete bike change to continue the race, and the neutral service bikes cater for all of the riders. 

We don't often see riders on the blue Shimano bikes from neutral service and when we do, riders will often only use it for a few miles or until they can get a bike from their team car. 

> Affordable* pro race bikes from Specialized, Canyon, Trek, Pinarello, Cannondale and more

Food and water supplies

Team cars can also provide nutrition and bottles to riders and neutral service cars include the provision of essential supplies too. 

There are designated areas in a race where riders can collect food and drink to replenish their energy which they would ideally get from their team cars. 

In the case of emergencies, neutral service often carries extra water bottles and energy gels that they can distribute to riders who require them. But, if you're anything like me, I like to know that I've trialled and tested the gels that I'm using. 

> Best road bike saddles

Neutral service vehicles may be important for riders but, arguably, they’re even more important for all of us fans because they keep the action going. 

They are also a useful addition for team mechanics, as they often go to Shimano's neutral service if they encounter problems they can't fix. 

Have you noticed Shimano's neutral service at the Tour? Let us know in the comments section below...

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Emily is our track and road racing specialist, having represented Great Britain at the World and European Track Championships. With a National Title up her sleeve, Emily has just completed her Master’s in Sports Psychology at Loughborough University where she raced for Elite Development Team, Loughborough Lightning.

Emily is our go-to for all things training and when not riding or racing bikes, you can find her online shopping or booking flights…the rest of the office is now considering painting their nails to see if that’s the secret to going fast…

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The all-new ford ranger plug-in hybrid unveiled in hannover, china is first country to sell over a million electric vehicles in a month, new smart #5 electric suv officially unveiled, skoda enyaq and superb phev serve as the ‘red car’ at this year’s tour de france . this year, the czech car manufacturer is providing 205 mainly electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to the race organisers ..

Skoda Auto marks its 21st consecutive year as the official main partner of the Tour de France. The 111th iteration of the world’s most famous cycling race begins on 29 June with the Grand Départ in Florence, Italy. For the first time, the event will not finish in Paris this year, due to the Olympic Games starting in the French capital just a few days later.

On most stages, the all-electric Skoda Enyaq will be serving Tour director Christian Prudhomme as the ‘Red Car’, leading the peloton throughout the race. The route will take the 176 riders and 205 Skoda support cars across 21 stages and nearly 3,500 kilometres to reach Nice on 21 July. Through the carmaker’s social media channels and the WeLoveCycling website, fans can access exclusive background information and compete for exciting prizes.

In February this year, Skoda Auto underlined its commitment to cycling, extending its partnership with the cycling event’s organiser, A.S.O., until 2028. The Czech carmaker is also supporting the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift for the third consecutive year.

The race director Christiane Prudhomme will lead the peloton in the Red Car equipped with special features such as a panoramic sunroof and state-of-the-art communication technology. This year, the all-electric Enyaq and the brand’s flagship Skoda Superb will serve as his mobile command centre. The official fleet of the Tour comprises 205 Skoda vehicles, which will accompany the peloton of 176 cyclists in 22 teams over the entire 3,492 kilometres across four countries: Italy, San Marino, Monaco, and France. The 21 stages include eight flat sections, four hilly stages, seven mountain stages, and two time trials, passing through the Italian Apennines, the Italian and French Alps, the Massif Central, and the Pyrenees.

Skoda and the Tour de France – a 21-year partnership Since 2004, Skoda Auto has continuously supported the world’s largest cycling event as the official main and vehicle partner. Additionally, for the 14th time, the Skoda Design Team is responsible for crafting the crystal glass trophies for the overall winner and the leaders of the points, mountain and young rider classifications in the Tour de France. For ten years, the Czech car manufacturer has also sponsored the green jersey for the leader of the points classification.

Chance to win a trip to the Tour de France 2024 On the WeLoveCycling website, fans can take part in contests to win exciting prizes, such as premium bicycles, original signed green jerseys, cycling gear and much more. The grand prize is a Skoda-organised three-day trip to this year’s Tour de France. This incredible experience includes accompanying the peloton in a Skoda car, flying in a helicopter over the route and riding with cycling legend and Tour de France winner Andy Schleck. As part of the ‘What’s Your Tour’ campaign, former British professional racer Cameron Jeffers will provide exclusive background information, atmosphere and interviews directly from the race. Fans can access this content under the #whatsyourtourde hashtag on social media channels. Additionally, through the Tour de France Mobile App powered by Skoda, supporters can follow the live action on the track, receive the latest updates, and enjoy captivating behind-the-scenes stories.

Skoda’s commitment to cycling rooted in the company’s history The history of the Czech automaker is closely linked to bicycles: In 1895, Václav Laurin and Václav Klement founded a bicycle factory in Mladá Boleslav, and bicycles and cycling accessories have been part of the company’s extended product range for many years. Skoda Auto has recently renewed its partnership with A.S.O. and supports a total of 20 international professional and amateur sports events. Additionally, the carmaker sponsors the Czech stage of the national amateur race L’Étape du Tour de France. Since 2022, Skoda Auto has also supported the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, which this year starts on 12 August in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and concludes after eight stages on 18 August in Alpe d’Huez.

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Škoda Auto: 21 years of continuous support as the main partner of the Tour de France

› This year, the Czech car manufacturer is providing 205 mainly electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to the race organisers › Škoda Enyaq and Superb serve as the ‘Red Car’ for Tour director Christian Prudhomme › The Czech carmaker invites fans to experience the atmosphere of the Tour through various digital and on-location activities

Mladá Boleslav, 27 June 2024 – Škoda Auto marks its 21 st consecutive year as the official main partner of the Tour de France. The 111 th iteration of the world’s most famous cycling race begins on 29 June with the Grand Départ in Florence, Italy. For the first time, the event will not finish in Paris this year, due to the Olympic Games starting in the French capital just a few days later. On most stages, the all-electric Škoda Enyaq will be serving Tour director Christian Prudhomme as the ‘Red Car’, leading the peloton throughout the race. The route will take the 176 riders and 205 Škoda support vehicles across 21 stages and nearly 3,500 kilometres to reach Nice on 21 July. Through the carmaker’s social media channels and the WeLoveCycling website, fans can access exclusive background information and compete for exciting prizes. In February this year, Škoda Auto underlined its commitment to cycling, extending its partnership with the cycling event’s organiser, A.S.O., until 2028. The Czech carmaker is also supporting the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift for the third consecutive year.

“For over 20 years, Škoda has been closely associated with professional cycling. By extending our agreement until 2028 earlier this year, we demonstrate our firm commitment to A.S.O. and the global cycling community. In the coming weeks, our focus will be on the Tour de France and the athletes’ impressive performances. We will engage fans in the racing action through our WeLoveCycling platform under the motto ‘What’s your Tour?’ – offering behind-the-scenes insights, contests, live impressions from the route, and interviews with fans conducted by former British professional cyclist Cameron Jeffers on our official social media channels.”

Martin Jahn, Škoda Board Member for Sales and Marketing

Comprehensive vehicle fleet for the race organisers The race director Christiane Prudhomme will lead the peloton in the Red Car equipped with special features such as a panoramic sunroof and state-of-the-art communication technology. This year, the all-electric Enyaq and the brand’s flagship Škoda Superb will serve as his mobile command centre. The official fleet of the Tour comprises 205 Škoda vehicles, which will accompany the peloton of 176 cyclists in 22 teams over the entire 3,492 kilometres across four countries: Italy, San Marino, Monaco, and France. The 21 stages include eight flat sections, four hilly stages, seven mountain stages, and two time trials, passing through the Italian Apennines, the Italian and French Alps, the Massif Central, and the Pyrenees.

Škoda and the Tour de France – a 21-year partnership Since 2004, Škoda Auto has continuously supported the world’s largest cycling event as the official main and vehicle partner. Additionally, for the 14 th time, the Škoda Design Team is responsible for crafting the crystal glass trophies for the overall winner and the leaders of the points, mountain and young rider classifications in the Tour de France. For ten years, the Czech car manufacturer has also sponsored the green jersey for the leader of the points classification.

Chance to win a trip to the Tour de France 2024 On the WeLoveCycling website, fans can take part in contests to win exciting prizes, such as premium bicycles, original signed green jerseys, cycling gear and much more. The grand prize is a Škoda-organised three-day trip to this year’s Tour de France. This incredible experience includes accompanying the peloton in a Škoda vehicle, flying in a helicopter over the route and riding with cycling legend and Tour de France winner Andy Schleck. As part of the ‘What’s Your Tour’ campaign, former British professional racer Cameron Jeffers will provide exclusive background information, atmosphere and interviews directly from the race. Fans can access this content under the #whatsyourtourde hashtag on social media channels. Additionally, through the Tour de France Mobile App powered by Škoda, supporters can follow the live action on the track, receive the latest updates, and enjoy captivating behind-the-scenes stories.

Škoda’s commitment to cycling rooted in the company’s history The history of the Czech automaker is closely linked to bicycles: In 1895, Václav Laurin and Václav Klement founded a bicycle factory in Mladá Boleslav, and bicycles and cycling accessories have been part of the company’s extended product range for many years.

Škoda Auto has recently renewed its partnership with A.S.O. and supports a total of 20 international professional and amateur sports events. Additionally, the carmaker sponsors the Czech stage of the national amateur race L’Étape du Tour de France. Since 2022, Škoda Auto has also supported the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, which this year starts on 12 August in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and concludes after eight stages on 18 August in Alpe d’Huez.

Links to follow the Tour de France with Škoda Auto: • WeLoveCycling • Instagram • Facebook • Spotify • Strava • YouTube

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Take a Peek Under the Hood of the Tour de France’s First All-Electric Leading Car

When the Tour’s leading car arrives, so does the anticipation. Everyone waits for the race director, Christian Prudhomme, to wave the flag from his ’mobile captain’s bridge’ and then the action is on. However, at the start of stage 5 of this year’s Tour, the excitement preceded even the leading car’s arrival. That is because, for the first time ever in the history of the biggest cycling race in the world, a fully-electric vehicle was to lead the peloton. Škoda ENYAQ iV hosted Christian Prudhomme and it did so only a day after its world premiere. How did this unparalleled feat come about? Read on to find out what it takes to create the Tour’s leading car.

The transformation took place near Mladá Boleslav, the Czech Republic, where the ENYAQ iV was manufactured, in complete secrecy. Martin Smutný of Best Modell, the company in charge of the modifications, let out some details in an exclusive interview for Škoda Storyboard. The most striking outside changes include coating the car in the signature ‘Velvet Red’ shade, a few raised advertising banners, Tour de France decals and, most notably, a set of six long antennas that had to be drilled through the roof and sides. These are vital for the leading car’s role as a ‘mobile command centre’ of the Tour as they enable it to unfold fairly and as smoothly as possible.

The aerials connect to a two-way radio and a communication console found between the car’s front seats. Mr Prudhomme, the Tour’s director, uses it to organize the race’s traffic and to maintain contact with the race marshals in two accompanying ENYAQ iVs and other tour vehicles, such as the team and neutral support cars, and exchange information with them regarding the status of the race. The starting positions of both the riders and their team cars depend on the running ranking and points. The lower the ranking, the further the team cars are from their cyclists. Only Mr Prudhomme can allow the cars to break assigned ranks and speed up towards a rider who has mechanical issues, has been injured or sometimes both. All cycling fans know well that mere seconds decide the winner so the Tour’s director has to act and give orders as swiftly as needed, which is possible thanks to the leading car’s built-in radio.

According to the constructers, the hardest feat was to put in place the huge custom-built retractable sunroof that had to fit on the first try. As the director needs to start each stage by waving of the ‘Départ’ flag, he has to be able to sit up comfortably from his back seat and stand up through the sunroof. First, the whole car had to be dismantled, then a sizeable hole had to be cut through the roof including the existing reinforcements, and only then the sunroof could be fitted, welded, sealed and connected to a power supply.

To offer a further hint of comfort, luxury and a chance for the ever-occupied Mr Prudhomme to unwind, the car also has a new mini-fridge installed that fits two bottles of Champagne. The Tour’s director uses it to welcome VIP guests in his command centre of a car. The filled Champagne flutes can then be rested in unique holders, 3D printed specifically for this particular red ENYAQ iV.

As previously mentioned, ENYAQ iV is not only the historically first all-electric vehicle to lead the Tour de France peloton but it’s also Škoda’s first model using the modular electrification toolkit (MEB) as a powertrain. It’s worth noting that Škoda’s history is bound with cycling since the very beginning and continues to be due to sponsorship of a number of major cycling races but the first-ever all-electric Tour leading car also created a new common ground with the bicycle – sustainability. Sustainable individual mobility, to be precise. This way, the Tour de France provides the perfect stage to introduce the ENYAQ iV to an international audience. The new flagship will head the peloton two more times – the individual time trial from Lure to La Planche des Belles and the final 122-kilometre stage from Mantes-la-Jolie to Paris where it will cross the grand finish line on Avenue des Champs-Élysées alongside the riders.

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