San Francisco Frontiers - For Tour de France foreign starts are a money-spinner

"We must convince the French that the start should be abroad again," Tour director Christian Prudhomme said on Tuesday in Barcelona, while unveiling the first two stages of the 2026 Tour.

For Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the company that owns the Tour, the financial logic is clear.

The company does not provide figures but, several sources agree, Copenhagen in 2022, Bilbao in 2023 and Florence in 2024, each paid ASO around 6 million euros (6.3 million dollars) to host the "Grand Depart" -- a figure that does not include other expenses and investments that can double the bill.

French cities pay less. Brest forked out 3.6 million euros to host the first four stages in Brittany in 2021 and Lille is paying around 4.2 million euros for the 2025 Tour.

"It's more expensive abroad than in France, in part because there are associated travel and accommodation costs, which are often a little higher than in France," Pierre-Yves Thouault, deputy director of cycling at ASO, told AFP.

The Barcelona start will be the 27th non-French starting location since the Tour first went on the road internationally in Amsterdam in 1954.

In Barcelona, Prudhomme said the Tour needed to make "my country, France, shine abroad".

"These images, which are broadcast in 190 countries around the world, attract people because it's their home, and then these people may go and spend their holidays in France because they discover France thanks to the Tour," he said.

- 'Visibility'-

A "Grand Depart" is costly to organise with festivities that stretch over several days starting with the team presentations on Thursday before the riders get going on the Saturday.

For mid-race stages the costs are lower -- usually 100,000 euros for a start and 140,000 euros for a finish, said Thouault.

That does not include the extra costs, notably the road improvements required for a race of this size.

The Tour receives 300 applications to host stages every year. That proves, said Thouault, that it's worth the money.

"If we receive so many applications, it's because there's an interest, and, beyond the price, we also have to see what it brings for these towns in terms of visibility and media coverage," he said.

That visibility comes from live broadcasting. The Tour claims to be the third most watched sporting event after the Summer Olympics and the football World Cup -- neither of which is annual.

- 'Goosebumps'-

Hosting stages also boosts the local economy accommodating and feeding the teams, the Tour 'caravan' of support vehicles, the media and visiting fans.

"It is estimated, on average, that for one euro invested there are seven euros of spinoffs", said Thouault.

After Bilbao hosted the start in 2023, an audit report carried out by local research company Ikertalde on behalf of the Basque organising committee calculated that the 12.2 million euros invested by local institutions generated 103.9 million euros, a ratio of 1 to 8.5.

David Escude, Councillor for Sports on the Barcelona City Council, told AFP that hosting the Tour "is not an expensive investment for the city".

"There are few sporting events that generate as much interest on the five continents. The Tour offers an unparallelled showcase," said Escude, who said he fondly remembers the Tour's last visit to Barcelona in 2009.

Ruben Vinuales, the mayor of Tarragona, which will host the start of the second stage in 2026, said he was excited.

"Hosting the Tour is a dream," he said. "Just imagining the world's greatest cyclists saying the name Tarragona gives me goosebumps."

Z.Phillips--SFF