With GoPro on board as a new official supplier of the Tour de France, TV viewers will be able to see more of the race from inside the peloton. The event will be once again broadcasted in 190 countries through 100 channels, 60 of them offering it live to their audiences.
Onboard cameras: scaling new heights with GoPro
Onboard cameras were implemented at the Tour de France last year, giving some insights to cycling fans. There will be more images recorded inside the peloton and available quicker thanks to an agreement between GoPro, A.S.O. and the 22 participating teams.
An established brand, GoPro has become an official supplier of the Tour de France. Every day, a minimum of eight bikes will be equipped with a camera. Pictures will be edited in the evening, delivered to the broadcasters of the Tour de France and published on different teams’ websites, on the race official website letour.com as well as on Tour de France and GoPro social networks.
Looking further, A.S.O. will test a live broadcast of images filmed by onboard cameras during the neutralized start of stage 2 in Utrecht.
Back on German screens, more visible in China
There’s always more of the Tour de France in televised media worldwide. It’ll be the case again this year with the come-back of German TV ARD among the broadcasters. The broadcaster last showed the Tour in 2011. Tour organizer ASO notes that ARD’s 80 million potential viewers have been deprived of seeing the coming of age of the new generation of German cycling champions.
In four years, Tony Martin, André Greipel and Marcel Kittel have won eighteen stages of the Tour de France. The latter will be absent this time around but his team-mate and compatriot John Degenkolb from Giant-Alpecin is expected to shine after winning Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix this year.
There won’t be any Chinese cyclist among the 198 starters of the 102nd edition of the race but Chinese cycling fans will have a wider access to the live broadcast of the Tour, visible for the first time on video streaming portal LeTV that has more than 10 million subscribers.
Super slow-mo camera to focus on riders faces
In addition to images from onboard cameras, spectators this year will enjoy sprinting scenes caught by a ‘super slow motion’ camera and more additional programs to be inserted in the live telecast. HF cameras will be placed on five motorbikes and two helicopters while ten fixed cameras will be disposed near the finishing lines. Eight stages will be broadcasted in their entirety this year.
