The Logistics Of The Tour
The Tour de France is not just a bicycle race as it is a logistical nightmare. The Tour did a survey a few years ago and found that around half the spectators are not there to see the race , but to see the sponsors huge caravan that moves ahead of the cyclists a few hours before they come through. This is the draw card for many sponsors besides the television audience.
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The caravan consists of around 170 vehicles with 600 support staff. Vettel is one of the Tour's main sponsors and hands out on average 100 000 bottles of water per day to spectators lining the route. The fans that are there for the caravan are attracted by the giveaways. This is clever as it guarantees fans are lining the route for when the cyclists come past. The caravan takes anywhere between 45 minutes and an hour to drive through and is 11 kilometers long representing 31 brands and institutions.
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Helping the tour there are 250 Police offers seconded for the duration of the tour plus 47 Police motor cyclists. In total there will be 29 000 Police,firefighters mobilized over the three weeks to ensure the safety.There is a huge medical staff that consist of 10 emergency doctors,1 anesthetist, 6 ambulances, 1 medical motor bike and an x ray truck.
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The Tour itself has over 100 permanent staff and close to another 300 temporary staff whilst the Tour is in progress. The team puts up and takes down 450 billboards daily. The Tour books on average around 1500 beds daily for everyone who is involved. A total of 500 hotels will be booked during the course of the tour.
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There are 2000 official photographers and journalists accredited to the tour this year. They represent various magazines, newspapers and websites reaching their audience in 190 countries.
Finally the day before the final procession for the last stage in Paris 3 aircraft are chartered to move all the riders and back up staff. This is a massive event and from these figures you can see this is not a cheap event and a logistical challenge.
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And then there is also the people (mostly VIP's) that are invited by the teams to the race. Some of then are driven round in cars, but other get to see the race from in a helicopter, I kid you not. The chauffeurs for these VIP's are mostly ex-cyclists that earn an extra buck by doing this, and so they are still close to the race too...
It always amazes me how close to the road they allow the spectators to get. Especially in the smaller towns and along the mountain areas. A lot of times the cyclists are so clumped up that you wonder how they don't run over each other. Then you add the spectators to the mix and it is unbelievable that everyone doesn't just end up in one big pile of wreckage in the middle of the road.
I remember it passing through near my place back a few years ago and we were out to see the caravans as you say. It was class. For a 500k first prize in your last post O would say the revenue turned is madsive compared
That seems very interesting now that is worth something to experience in life :D
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