Ten years on from Chinese attempts to buy the Tour de France, the event's geopolitical economy is now more complex than ever
Professional cycling's premier event is on the front line of white heat global issues
In 2015, Chinese company Dalian Wanda Group was reportedly in talks to buy the Tour de France from its owners the Amaury Sports Organisation.
Dalian Wanda was founded by Wang Jianlin, a former soldier in the People's Liberation Army, who at the time was one of the richest people in the world.
In the end, the deal didn’t happen, Wang became embroiled in political controversy back home, and China’s interest in cycling subsided.
Who knows what position the Tour would be in right now, had Wang successfully bought it.
Yet the episode apparently foretold what was to come; not just a cycling race, but the embodiment of global change and of geopolitical battles and environmental concerns.
In some ways, the Tour de France remains the sporting symbol of a bygone era, though in other ways it is on the frontline of white heat issues that are now dominating many sports.
The event has always been political, indeed its origins and development arguably continue to reflect the French principles of Liberté, Égalité, and Fraternité.
Even the Tour de France’s ownership epitomises corporate France’s ongoing family business foundations.
In an era when event sponsorship portfolios are large and global, the Tour de France’s are small and, dare one say, almost parochial.
This is something that used to characterise cycling team sponsorships as well, which typically involved the likes of French supermarkets, Spanish domestic appliance companies, and Italian denim brands.
However, over the last ten years this has changed with sponsors, and indeed team owners, increasingly being drawn from countries including Bahrain, Kazakhstan, and Saudi Arabia.
Whilst this has helped professional cycling’s finances, it has nevertheless raised questions about the motives of those involved and fuelled criticisms by some that such activities constitute sport washing.
At the same time, others claim that some in the race are engaged in greenwashing.
Among the teams that will participate in this years race is France’s Total Energies team.
In addition to accusations of green washing, energy giant Total has been accused of perpetrating fossil fuel imperialism in Africa.
During 2022’s Tour de France, the race was disrupted by climate change activists, though potential disruption at this year’s event may not be limited to climate change protests.
One of the participating teams will be Israel Premier Tech.
The team receives partial funding from the Israeli government, specifically from the national tourism board, while one of the team’s owners - Sylvan Adams - has explicitly referred to himself as a "self-appointed ambassador at large for the State of Israel."
At the 2023 Giro d’Italia, anti-Israel activists stopped one stage as it was nearing its conclusion.
Heightened tensions in the Middle East may prompt the return of such actions.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement has already called for protests at this year’s event against the participation of Israel–Premier Tech.
Brand Paris will again be in the spotlight as the Tour concludes there once more (last year, it finished in Nice because of the Olympics) on 27th July.
France always does his best to project soft power through sport.
However the Tour de France is nowadays much, much more than simply a celebration of everything French.