Tour de France dream swept aside

BANGKOK  Thailand boldly announced that it was in talks to host the Tour de France on Thursday, much to the surprise of the organisers of the world’s greatest cycle race who said they were only discussing organising a low key one-day in the Southeast Asian nation, The Guardian reported.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand said they had been buoyed by fruitful talks with Jean-Etienne Amaury, Chairman of the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) that organises the Tour de France.
The talks were held in Paris, last month according to the UK national daily. TAT said it was working on how much of the great race they would stage.
inside no 4“We are still talking with Tour de France organisers but we are looking at next fiscal year. So 2016, not 2015,” TAT governor Thawatchai Arunyik told Reuters, the original source of the news.
“We’re not sure yet how many stages we will hold whether it is one or two stages or the whole competition. This is something that still needs to be discussed.”
“Thailand is the perfect location for this highly prestigious competition, not to mention that cycling as a sport is enjoying enormous popularity here at the moment,” the TAT governor told Reuters.
The comments show TAT had not done its homework. Under no circumstances would the organisers move the entire event away from France. It is a core French sporting tradition and moving more than a few stages even to neighbouring countries would cause a national uproar.
Taking it to Asia is unthinkable, although it is not the first time that a TAT governor has mulled over the possibility.
Former governor, Juthamas Siriwan, in 2005, made unofficial approaches to the organisers in a move to bring in a major event to Thailand after Singapore and Malaysia succeeded with Formula 1.
Since then, various bids have been made to haul in a major event leading up to the World Expo bid that faltered two years ago.
However, ASO was polite in its response to the TAT governor’s announcement. It said: “We believe something was lost in translation.”
“There are talks indeed, but not to bring the Tour to Thailand,” a spokesman told Reuters upon hearing about the claims from the TAT.
inside no 4.1“There are discussions to settle in Thailand via a criterium, just like we did in Japan with the ‘Saitama Criterium by Le Tour de France’.”
That in itself would be an interesting branding exercise for the Tour de France organiser and could lead to wider TV cover in Southeast Asia that would reap more revenue for the Tour.
It would also help to expand the boom in road cycling in Thailand and neighbouring countries.
A criterium is a one-day race held on a short circular course usually though city streets and involving a number of laps. Branded under the Tour de France, it would probably involve a token ride by some of the top riders of earlier Tour de France but without any sporting value.
The Tour first held in 1903, is one of the most gruelling sporting tests, with professional cyclists completing last year’s 3,663.5-kilometre race (2,276 miles) in 23 days.
It has never been hosted outside of Europe and even the non-French sections usually just cover a couple of days.
Logistically it would be a nightmare to take the Tour to an Asian destination even for just two or three days due to the long flight times, the need for rest days pre and post flights and logistic headaches of moving specialised equipment and entire support teams.
Also, Thailand’s TV media gives the Tour de France less than 30 minutes of highlight news daily during the race and has shown no interest in providing live-cover of the event.
A better bet for Thailand would be to host a F1 Grand Prix due to the nation’s obsession with the automobile, a subject that was heavily publicised in the media a year ago.
The annual Tour de France takes place through France, but last year’s 101st edition began in England and also went through Belgium with more countries keen to host stages.
Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain and Luxembourg have also hosted the start of the race in recent years before the riders make their way through France and finish at the traditional end point, the Champs Elysees in Paris.

sourced:ttrweekly.com