Project Showcase: Explore le Tour

02 July 2015 – editors

Longer than the Olympics and arguably as prestigious, the most attended sporting event on earth is the Tour de France, which meanders through more than 2,000 miles of Europe’s most picturesque and challenging terrain. One cannot divorce the race from the surrounding cultural heritage and history. Yet this aspect of the Tour has not been fully integrated into the media surrounding the event.

This gap is what prompted me to create Explore le Tour as a side project to my full-time job in early 2015. The eventual concept is for Explore le Tour to become a comprehensive cultural and historical guide to the Tour de France route, where blog posts about specific topics are keyed to stage-by-stage maps and information. All this is geared towards enriching the television audience and traveler’s experience.

For those planning a trip to see the Tour in person, it offers ideas and context for things to see and do, many of which are off the beaten path. For the larger audience at home, the initiative serves as an armchair guide while watching the race on television. For Tour organizers, Explore le Tour offers an opportunity for increased fan engagement and possibly an expanded fan base thanks to the wide appeal of French culture across the globe. At the same time, the website moves to boost French tourism by marketing locations and events to the same global audience.

Join the peloton’s journey through France and history this July with Explore le Tour. Vive le Tour!

~ Alex Bethke is the Cultural Resources Program Lead for Navy Region Southwest in San Diego. He traveled to see the Tour de France in 2012 and launched Explore le Tour as a reflection of his three biggest passions, history, cycling, and travel.