Strava, the leading social platform for over 99 million athletes and the largest sports community in the world, has today announced a three-year partnership with the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
This year’s Tour de France will take place from July 1 – 24, 2022 and the inaugural Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will take place July 24-31, 2022.
‘The long-term partnership enables Strava to develop new and unique experiences for its global community of athletes to follow the excitement of each stage of the race.’
Strava added that… ‘For the first time ever, the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will come to life inside the Strava app with a content hub dedicated to telling the story of the riders through their daily activity uploads and photos.
‘Fans will be able to go inside Segments and relive the day’s top performances, energizing and motivating their own athletic pursuits.’
The inaugural Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2022 is billed as the most significant women’s race in the world. Strava notes that it is supporting the event to bolster the ecosystem of women’s cycling and create engaging new experiences for fans and racers alike.
The Tour de France and Strava have enjoyed a longstanding shared history predating this official partnership. For several years, the Tour de France course design teams have been using Strava to help them create the race routes by analyzing insights from millions of public Strava activity uploads across France.
Strava has long been a digital platform used by many professional riders in the peloton, where they upload their efforts to share with fans, media and the global community of athletes.
In 2021, 72% of cyclists in the Tour de France uploaded their race efforts to Strava and 62% of stage wins in the 2021 Tour were uploaded to Strava.
Michael Horvath, Strava CEO and co-founder, said “We are thrilled to make a long-term commitment to the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift, and provide our global community of athletes with a new way to follow the action of the iconic races inside of Strava.
“We are committed to promoting equity and inclusion in sport and strongly believe in and support the future of women’s cycling.”
He added “The Tour is the most watched annual sporting event in the world, and three-quarters of the peloton shared their rides on Strava last year. This partnership and future events on Strava will let more riders, including the women’s peloton, engage with cyclists around the world in new ways and inspire cyclists regardless of gender, age or where they live.”
Yann le Moënner, CEO of TdF organiser Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), said “We are very glad and honoured to partner with Strava, the largest sports community in the world.
“Strava will help cycling fans to get closer to the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and discover new routes for future challenges inspired by the world’s greatest riders.
“We share with Strava a passion for cycling and work together for its development for both men and women.”
Lauren Stephens, reigning US National Road Race Champion, team EF Education-TIBCO-SVB, said “We’re continuing to see more equality in the support and atmosphere that’s being developed around women’s racing and I think it is going in the right direction. For the last several years we’ve had single day events but now we’re getting a full stage race with the iconic Champs-Élysées experience.
“I started riding before Strava existed, then joined in 2013 and it slowly just grew into something I was kind of obsessed with. To mix up my training, I find new segments in areas where I want to go, and use them as motivation to push myself for a spot on the leaderboard.
“Sponsor support from companies like Strava makes this possible, and improves the race for the riders. I feel more respected and validated, and that brings more pressure, in a good way, to perform and make the racing exciting for the people and the brands that are supporting you and creating more opportunity. This competition is my primary race focus for the season and the centrepiece of my race calendar.”
Strava’s partnership also includes supporting L’Étape du Tour de France, the one-day, 16,000 amateur rider mass start event held in France on July 10, which will use a route raced by the professional cyclists of Le Tour the following week.
www.strava.com
www.letour.fr
www.letourfemmes.com
www.letapedutourdefrance.com
www.aso.fr
