Politics with Michelle Grattan: Bridie O’Donnell on the ‘precarious business’ of the Tour de France

From Victoria’s beleaguered Labor Party moving onto its third premier in one term ahead of November’s state election, to the national rise of One Nation and collapsing major party support – it’s been a chaotic year in Australian politics. And we’ve barely passed the halfway mark.

So this week’s podcast takes a rare break from those events to turn to a different spectacle, also watched by millions of Australians: the Tour de France.

The three week men’s race – which has set the record as the world’s most-attended annual sporting event, attracting around 12 million annual spectators – wrapped up earlier this week.

But for those who stay up late to watch the race each year, there’s more to come from 11.45pm AEST on Saturday August 1. That’s when the shorter nine-day Tour de France women’s race – set to feature a number of Australian cyclists – begins.

This week, we’re joined by Bridie O’Donnell, a former cycling champion, medical doctor and SBS cycling commentator.

O’Donnell reflected on calls to move the Tour dates because of rising summer heat, the challenges cyclists face from crashes and often “precarious” funding, and some Australians to watch from this weekend.

Should heat force a Tour date change?

This year’s men’s Tour de France was the hottest race ever, amid wildfires raging in parts of France and Spain. O’Donnell said the average temperature by the end of the first nine days was 33°C. For cyclists, the radiant heat off the road climbed into the 40s.

Slovenian Tadej Pogačar, who won a record-equally fifth overall Tour title, said this month: “If I had the power, I would change all the calendar and not race in July and August in hot places.”

Read more:
‘The fire has such power’: why the wildfires gripping France and Spain are off the charts

So is there a chance a future Tour might be moved to a cooler month? O’Donnell said history, as well as TV broadcast rights that are crucial for funding the sport, would make that difficult.

The Tour de France […] has been going for more than 100 years. And the only thing it’s stopped for historically has been world wars. It continued through the pandemic. And it has always been in July. And it’s hard to see them moving it.

[… But] there is no denying that climate change is having a huge impact on this event. And the summers in Europe are only getting hotter. Next year the race starts in Edinburgh and we’ve seen the heatwaves across the UK in July this year as well. So I will be fascinated to see whether the UCI, which is the governing body, and the race organisation revise some of their heat protocols, or even make more different decisions about timing.

Managing dangerous injuries better

Cyclists who crash and suffer serious injuries – especially potential brain injuries – can’t afford to take the same time out for medical assessments as other athletes. O’Donnell said things have started to change for the better, but more needs to be done.

In 2020, my first year commentating, a French rider named Romain Bardet had an awful crash. And we saw […] live footage of him standing up, staggering, wobbling, looking completely discombobulated. And his teammates pushing him back on his bike and him continuing to ride. He finished the stage, it was around 70 kilometres to go. He had a CT scan of his head and they discovered he had a cerebral haemorrhage, or a brain bleed, and he withdrew from the race. Now, after that, the UCI and the organisers decided ‘our concussion protocols are clearly not being implemented safely’.

[…] The rules of cycling say if you don’t finish that stage, you cannot commence the following stage, which is why we see the urgency by a rider or a team. You know, they lose skin, they break a bone, they often leap back onto their bike and try and finish, and get across the finish line. And then they have a medical assessment.

That’s OK if it’s stage 12 or 13, like we saw this year where the crash was 250 metres from the finish. But if it’s 60 kilometres or 100 kilometres, and it involves a dangerous descent or other sections of the course, it is so concerning to me that riders are getting back on. And when we hear what’s happening in Australia with a class action from former AFL players around concussion, and when we see the CTE cases in the United States with NFL players, I think we need to be way more proactive in professional cycling in supporting the health and wellbeing of riders.

The ‘precarious’ finances of cycling

O’Donnell said international cycling has a “unique business model”, which is “very precarious” – even for top teams with major sponsors.

The budgets of all of the world tour teams, of which there are around 20, is around €633 million [around A$1 billion] combined. And with those budgets, they are paying the salaries of all their riders and all of their staff.

[…] That said, the prize money of this year’s Tour de France was €2.3 million [around A$3.8 million]. So the budgets are 288 times what the prizemoney is. And that is unlike any other sport. If you look at NFL or NBA or even the AFL, there is a revenue sharing, where the athletes do benefit from the broadcast rights.

[…] So it is big business […] But it is very precarious for these [cycling] teams. Every single year, there will be one or two teams that are folding, or whose sponsors have said, ‘we can no longer afford it’.

Rising interest in the women’s Tour de France

O’Donnell said trailblazing women riders first raced in the Tour de France back in the 1950s. But “it’s been very hot and cold” until the past few years. And its prizemoney is still a fraction of the men’s race.

No one really fully committed to sponsoring and supporting and organising a formal Tour de France for women until 2022 […] The calibre and the depth of professional women’s cycling has gone [in] leaps and bounds to become now extraordinary racing: fascinating, aggressive, dynamic, and ultimately amazing storytelling in the women’s pro peloton.

[…] But we still aren’t broadcasting all of it, and that’s not an SBS decision or a broadcaster decision; it’s a race organisation decision. So instead of showing you the race from the very first kilometre, they pick the race up with about 90 minutes or two hours into the race.

She said there will be a number of Australian women to watch this year, such as Amanda Spratt.

She’s been racing professionally for nearly 20 years. She’s been an Australian champion and she rides in Lidl-Trek women’s team […] She’s kind of now become a super domestique for climbers and sprinters.

So [viewers] should keep an eye out for her […and] there’ll be probably somewhere between seven and ten Australian women in the peloton. So it’s going to be a really exciting race.

Read more:
Domestiques, sprinters and climbers: who’s who in the Tour de France peloton (and why it matters)

Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.