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Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme unveiling the opening stages of the 2026 race in Barcelona.—AFP/File
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Barcelona: Since Tour de France this week unveils its fourth foreign start in Barcelona in five years, organizers can point to financial logic, while preventing political criticism from those who should exhibit their home country, especially the world’s largest cycling race.
“We should explain to the French,” said Tour Director Christian Parudhoma on Tuesday in Barcelona.
For the Amori Sport Organization (ASO), the company owns the tour, financial logic is clear. The company does not provide data but, many sources agree, Copenhagen in 2022, Bilbao in 2023 and Florence in 2024, each paid about 6 6 million euros ($ 6.3 million) to ASO for hosting “Grand Departure” – a person who does not have other costs and investment.
The French cities pay less. Breast outscored 3.6 million euros to host the first four phases in Britney in 2021 and Lily is paying approximately 4. 4.2 million euros for a tour of 2025. “This is more expensive abroad than France, because it is a bit higher than in France,” said Perry Yus Thulett, deputy director of cycling at the ASO.
Barcelona begins in 1954 after the 27th non -French begins to begin with the 27th non -French after the road is on the road internationally in Amsterdam. In Barcelona, Pradesh said the visit needs “my country, France, abroad”.
“These images, which are broadcast in 190 countries around the world, attract people because it is their home, and then they can spend their holidays in France because they can find France, thanks to this visit,” he said.
A “great departure” is expensive with festivals that begin with the team’s presentations on Thursday before Riders leave on Saturday. The cost is reduced for the middle-sized stages-usually for a start to end 100,000 euros and 140,000 euros.
This does not include additional costs, especially the road improvement needed for this size race. This tour receives 300 requests for hosting every year. This proves that, Thalat said, its price is worth it.
“If we receive a lot of applications, the reason is that it is interested, and beyond the price, we also have to see what these cities bring in terms of media and media coverage,” he said.
This precision comes from live broadcasts. The tour claims to be the third most watched sports program after the Summer Olympics and the Football World Cup – none of which are annual.
Hosting also increases the accommodation and feeding of teams to the local economy, supporting vehicles, media and visitors. “On average, it is estimated that the spin office invested in one euro has seven euros,” said Thulett.
After Bilbao hosted the start in 2023, the Basque Organizing Committee calculated an audit report made by a local research company Ikertold that 12.2 million euros created by local institutions produced 103.9 million euros, with a ratio of 1 to 8.5.
David Escode, a sports councilor at Barcelona City Council, told AFP that hosting the tour “is not an expensive investment for the city”. He said that there are very few sports incidents that create more and more interest in five continents. An unprecedented showcase has been presented during the visit, “the skyd said, who said he remembered the last visit to Barcelona in 2009.
Tergona Mayor Robin Venus, who hosted the start of the second phase in 2026, said he was excited. “It is a dream to host a tour,” he said. “Just imagining the world’s largest cyclists, saying that Tergona’s name gives me goosebps.”
