Tour de France 2025 (CONTAINS SPOILERS!)

[Evil_Breakfast]

Is it?

A genuine question because I've never had any involvement with cycling sport. I mean I know there are clubs that run time trials, and there are crits and so on but they've never crossed my path. I know they existed when I was a youth, but I was (and still am) highly unathletic and not a clubby person so they never interested me. I know they exist now because I see club trains out and about. But the only competitive athletes I know are triathletes and runners so I've genuinely got no idea if it's thriving or, as you say, dying on its arse.

(But to stay on topic - loss of free to air competitive cycling will only harm it, however its doing)

Ned alluded to it during the stage 21 YT episode.
On a practical, and personal, level; Somerset Road Club organised the annual (summer) 'Pete Sandy Memorial Road Race' until 2019 (IIRC).
COVID, then, kicked in; and it hasn't been held since.
Local CC's time trials have also (as I keep a eye on it) reported a down-turn in attendance.
Everything in life is subject to peaks and troughs; so this is the situation that UK cycling, now, find's itself in.

 

[mididoctors]

Pay wall wrecked grass roots cricket

 

[ktmbiker58]

Such is the goodwill; that I, among others (I like to think), are willing to overlook the inclusion of the Armstrong/Virenque footage.
This is important.
It's not about 3 weeks in July; it's about kids watching Onley/Healey (as a proxy), and being inspired.
British (grass-roots) cycling is dying on it's arse; and sticking Le Grand Boucle behind a £32 paywall perpetuates the problem.

I am not sure many kids actually watch broadcast TV -

There's plenty of youngsters blasting around my local trail park on MTBs, the majority of youngsters I see in my village and surrounding area and the ones that cycle to school are on MTBs, riding road bikes just isn't cool in comparison.

I would bet that if youngsters are interested and watching cycling content it is more likely to be something like a Redbull MTB downhill rather than a lengthy Grand Tour. There are some exciting MTB video games as well.

 

[Evil_Breakfast]

I am not sure many kids actually watch broadcast TV -

There's plenty of youngsters blasting around my local trail park on MTBs, the majority of youngsters I see in my village and surrounding area and the ones that cycle to school are on MTBs, riding road bikes just isn't cool in comparison.

I would bet that if youngsters are interested and watching cycling content it is more likely to be something like a Redbull MTB downhill rather than a lengthy Grand Tour. There are some exciting MTB video games as well.

O.K.
Then (overlooking all the recent drama's) Pidcock should be on the lips of the youngsters you mention.
Even after the last 24 hours, where he's won another 🥇 MTB medal.
This is the landscape we find ourselves in.
Planning (or cultivation), with an eye on the next 5-10-15 years, seems to have disappeared.
And's not forget, that was one of the central pillars of the 'national lottery'.
Cycling, for whatever reason, appears to have been thrown under the bus.

EDIT/ADDED : It's had 'it's time in the sun'

 

[rich p]

Pay wall wrecked grass roots cricket

Did it?
Maybe it's regional but my two grandchildren play for a local team which has 2 teams for each year group. They're 12 and 13 and have a match every week and another game for their state school.

 

[ktmbiker58]

O.K.
Then (overlooking all the recent drama's) Pidcock should be on the lips of the youngsters you mention.
Even after the last 24 hours, where he's won another 🥇 MTB medal.
This is the landscape we find ourselves in.
Planning (or cultivation), with an eye on the next 5-10-15 years, seems to have disappeared.
And's not forget, that was one of the central pillars of the 'national lottery'.
Cycling, for whatever reason, appears to have been thrown under the bus.

TNT Sports cycling 302k subscribers on YT, Red Bull Bike 4.11m, I bet the name more likely to be known is Asa Vermette, 18 years old just won Red Bull Hardline gold medal - in Wales - check out the video on YT, then watch one of the TdeF highlight videos and guess which one is more likely to attract a young audience with a short attention span!

 

[kaadublin]

I wasn't able to watch live yesterday so have been catching up since. I enjoyed the route in Paris, it was good to see a different race. And I'll always be happy with a WVA win! But alternating with the sprint route may be the way to go in the future, I think, even just to give the sprinters something to hang in for.

I appreciate the comments and analysis here as always. And the Vuelta will be here before we know it!

 

[ddraver]

True but I started on MTB, then watched it on RedBull then started watching the tour on ITV. Randomly one afternoon I saw an illegal stream of Paris Roubaix while looking for something else and I was hooked.

the Free to Air tour coverage was a huge step in that...

 

[KingstonGraham]

But he wanted (and got) the Giro+Tour+Worlds.

With the way last year's vuelta ended up, he still could have.

 

[Evil_Breakfast]

TNT Sports cycling 302k subscribers on YT, Red Bull Bike 4.11m, I bet the name more likely to be known is Asa Vermette, 18 years old just won Red Bull Hardline gold medal - in Wales - check out the video on YT, then watch one of the TdeF highlight videos and guess which one is more likely to attract a young audience with a short attention span!

I will admit that MTB is outside of my sphere; apart from the 'overlap' that I come across.
The, overall <or> wider, point remains though.
Do we, as a nation, want, another success story; or are content with what we've achieved?
This, I think, strays outside the 'confines' of a cycling forum.
Do we draw a line under the year 1966; as we've 'completed it mate'?
Or even - given recent events - as the Lionesses have -rightly-done us proud in '25 and '22; is that it. we're out?
Cav's achievements are worthy of eternal praise; but -even now- start to look shaky in the face of Pog's potential.

 

[Pblakeney]

Is it?

A genuine question because I've never had any involvement with cycling sport. I mean I know there are clubs that run time trials, and there are crits and so on but they've never crossed my path. I know they existed when I was a youth, but I was (and still am) highly unathletic and not a clubby person so they never interested me. I know they exist now because I see club trains out and about. But the only competitive athletes I know are triathletes and runners so I've genuinely got no idea if it's thriving or, as you say, dying on its arse.

(But to stay on topic - loss of free to air competitive cycling will only harm it, however its doing)

My take, purely anecdotal, yes it is dying on its arse. Trouble is that is is currently being taken in the context of the glory Sky years. The bubble has burst and we are back to circa 2006 levels. This is not a good thing but road cycling competition was always an under the radar sport.

 

[tarric]

The bbc news bulletin i saw was understandably dominated by Euros, other sport stories were cricket (fair enough) and some furriner winning one leg of a car race in Belgium, with plucky brit coming in 2nd. Meanwhile the culmination of an event with half a million spectators on the roadside in Paris alone didn’t get a mention.
Mainstream media won’t be interested unless we get another Sky-like team with a publicity machine and cav/wiggins characters to capture the imagination. Nice lads from Bury or the Borders riding for overseas teams won’t do it.

Oscar did get a mention on the BBC Scotland news yesterday, OK it was only a couple of minutes but it was the lead story in the sports round up.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

In a cashless house, there's not much point in looking down the back of the sofa!

He lost his phone and needs it for £250 mill transfer

 

[No Ta Doctor]

Sacrificing Le tour to win the Vuelta. Genius, gotcha.

Oh the Tour was unwinnable, but the process of loosening Pog up must never stop!

 

[No Ta Doctor]

Some fantastic pics from the Tour in The Guardian today

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/g...-de-france-2025-cycling-best-pictures-gallery