The French version is Canal and cycling would not be a good place to put their money as all of the grand tours are shown on free to air TV. As with the UK football is largely pay to view, with rugby heading the same way. So far you can watch the French petanque championship free, but it has to be a very wet afternoon to sit through that. The French tennis open is also free to view, but the coverage is not as comprehensive as Wimbledon.
Another sport I used to watch, but like cricket I seldom bother now since Sky got their hands on it. I did watch it this afternoon, due to an aching back after this morning's gardening. It was quite bizarre with the safety car coming out so often, and cars dashing into the pits to have a change of tyres.
Blimey - must be scrapping the barrel a bit there! Wouldn't be much good in the wet either! Is there even less sport on France on FTA than here? No BBC 4/ITV 4 type channels I guess. What about in other countries - what is their sports coverage like (thinking of CH and NZ Horn)
Yes - it was unusual and I think that chopping and changing of tyres caught a few out - safety car was needed I guess but least they generally let the race carry on. Sometimes if its wet it goes on for ever...
I'm sure Ineos would employ a French cyclist if they thought he could seriously compete in the GC. It will interesting next year if Froomy has recovered sufficiently to compete. Surely Bernal is the man for the future? Do they drop Thomas or Froome?
Probably about the same, and there is a sports channel that shows many different sports free to air, where you will find the petanque. Like bowls in England during the winter months it moves inside. It is not quite the sport that you will see in any village on a piece of rough ground. These have professional players with sponsors on their team shirts, and large crowds cheering them on. The big difference I guess between France and England, is the number of people who take part in some form of sport. I did see some figures suggesting that it was twice as many. How many English fetes for example start the day with a 20 km walk? Quite common here, and after the last time I tried it took a short cut to the food and bar.
There are a number of French riders who could win the Tour if they had the financial backing that Ineos have. A winner will have a team behind him that will drag him up some of the steepest stages. This was clear this year when we watched riders fail as their team members could not keep up with the pace. Buy the right support riders who will finish nowhere, and you can propel a couple of star men to win. Bernal was a support rider last year, but has outstanding talent. Without Thomas he might not have won this year.
You need the right support but few are talented enough to win the GC. Sky, now Ineos, choose the best riders available. If France had a cyclist Ineos thought could win they would offer him a ride. Unfortunately Bernal looks as if he will be the dominant force for a while. Sky has only been involved since 2010, France has not had a winner for 30+ years. It is amazing companies in France cannot find the finance to compete financially if required.
As has been often discussed on here, money can buy you a team, but is doesn't always give you the connection between that team and the fans. The Tour de France has been criticised over the past 15 years because it has become a corporate event, all about getting the right sponsors who will put in the right amount of money. A town or city that is at the start or finish of a stage will pay about £8M for the opportunity, but the immediate return is estimated to be about £100 M. Portsmouth applied for a £2 M grant from the government to host a stage, but was told that there were not the funds available. Boris Johnson turned away a similar request when he was Mayor of London despite the fact that it can give you a return of tenfold. The Tour is viewed live in 190 countries around the world, which gives the country a return by the visitor numbers. Just watch the the interviews before a stage with people from all over the planet who have come to see it. So is there a connection between a team called Ineos flying the union jack and the public at large? I suspect that the answer is not. It is a bit like the Man. Utd fans who have never ever been to Old Trafford, but the French public are much more like Watford fans who do become involved no matter how much money or success they have.
This still does not answer why a French based team, promoting a French rider cannot financially compete. As you allude to, the cost is often repaid with a handsome profit. I suspect the French public are desperate for a French GC winner after all this time.
Yes they would like to see a French winner, but desperate, no. The Tour is not the only race in the year for the French, and many teams run plenty of squads at different levels, competing in regional races from March to November. Try to compare it with football in England where there are dozens of clubs at professional and semi-professional level, who only survive by bringing through local talent. At the same time you have the largest clubs that simply buy in the players that they want. If you only wish to be powerful and win competitions, then given sufficient money you might succeed, but even that is not certain. Out of the top six largest spenders in the PL only one can win the title. The question that is often asked is it the best thing to ensure that local youngsters keep the sport healthy by taking part. What the nation really likes is that they put on a show that is seen all around the world, attracts more spectators than any other sport, and that they have a well run system that involves the young. If they have a French winner one day, great, but meanwhile they know that it is the best of the three grand tours, and it will continue into the future, even if the money men think that there is only the one race in the year.
The rest of the world thinks the TdF is the only race that really matters. I'm quite happy to see UK based teams dominate both cycling and motor racing for such a long time. Notwithstanding I'm still amazed the French seem unable to compete given the importance of this event.
So that the French can say 'cycling's coming home' ? English football fans know this feeling well having waited for over 50 years. Maybe cycling has a kind of 'purist' role for the French and, although they wouldn't mind winning it, they don't want the rabid commercialism which is necessary to do so..
I cannot see a reason why cycling is different from any other sport. They seem to accept the commercialism when one of the home riders wins a stage, king of the mountains / sprint competition etc. Perhaps they secretly enjoy the Brits winning?
I think you will find that the French government does not invest in cycling teams SH. In contrast Britain uses national lottery funding for this purpose. France ploughs it's money into it's national insurance scheme and health service. It is also that French sport is run on a very conservative basis - there has also been a notable decline in French rugby over the years. Whereas the other home nations have brought in the best coaches from New Zealand and Australia - the French clubs voted unanimously against such a step. Maybe the French (with the exception of PSG) do not have such a need for the distraction of international sports success at any price.
The UK national lottery is privately run with proceeds going to good causes. It does invest in all kinds of sport including cycling. It does not invest in teams competing in commercial events. I cannot see the link between French rugby not choosing a national foreign coach with French based teams not finding a sponsor with deep enough pockets.
This is not quite right SH. Lottery funding is controlled to a degree by government. It is a non-departmental public body and has given money to local authorities to support projects that a council can only partially fund. To seperate what is funded by the taxpayer and the Lottery can become very blurred, French rugby did for a time attract many of the best players from the UK when they did impose a wage cap and the French clubs didn't. There are still many from the four home countries that play over here because financially rugby is in a far better state. Leicester, Northampton and Gloucester that I know about have all struggled in recent years.
The link is that it was an example of how France may still hold the amateur ethic when it comes to some sports. Germany is another case when it comes to football - the type of private investment which English clubs get is impossible in the Bundesliga, and the average fan here would vehemently reject any version of a Man. City developing here. The same is true for any sport which is seen as a 'cultural' possession in a country - the resistance to full blooded commercial exploitation is greater in some other countries than it is in England.
There is a far greater belief in sport for all in France. You will not see the David Lloyd tennis centre here with large fees, but a whole network of publicly run tennis courses for the youngsters, and tennis courts for the public to use, all free of charge. Many of the towns that have a professional football team are operating as multisport organisations providing facilities for all, rather than the few. My family from the UK when they come over cannot believe how cheap it is to go to the swimming pool in town. Of course we pay for it through our local taxes, but at least we know that the money is not being creamed off by some private operator from outside the country.
