Australian public broadcaster, SBS has signed a four-year broadcast deal to air the Tour de France Femmes beginning with the inaugural race in July next year.
The deal will see SBS provide exclusive, live and free coverage of the eight-day race across its television and digital platforms as well as highlights, from 2022-2025, according to SportsPro Media.
Touted as Australia’s ‘home of cycling’, SBS is an Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) broadcast partner and currently hold the rights to multiple men’s grand tours including the Tour de France, the UCI Road World Championships, and top-level events like the Paris Roubaix.
Organised by the ASO, the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift will be the first iteration of the event since its predecessor was discontinued in 1989 due to poor revenue return.
ASO CEO Yann Le Moenner said they were delighted to be launching the women’s tour with such a long-time broadcast partner.
“Thanks to SBS’s unique expertise, a tremendous number of viewers of Down Under will be able to witness the feats of the champions as they conquer the emblematic summits that have made the Tour de France famous,” Maenner said.
“Whether they are watching on television or on their digital screens, the Australian audience will not miss any of the challenges that the world’s best women cyclists will soon be setting for themselves,” he said.
SBS managing director, James Taylor, added that they were pleased to be able to add the Tour de France Femmes to their cycling catalogue and their ‘wider slate of women’s sport’.
“The Tour de France is one of the most prestigious events in the global sporting calendar, and we’re thrilled that the long-awaited women’s race is finally happening,” Taylor said.
“[It is] a massive moment in the history of professional cycling, and that SBS will be the proud home of the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift in Australia.
“This four-year deal is a testament to our enduring and trusted relationship with ASO, and demonstrates SBS’s commitment to being the home of cycling, and bringing Australians the best sport from around the world,” he said.
The Tour and SBS’s coverage are due to start on July 24 to July 31 next year.