The most prestigious and anticipated event on the cycling calendar is back, as the Tour de France prepares for a month of gripping entertainment, fierce competition, and stunning scenery. Australia’s home of cycling, SBS, will capture all the action and provide exclusive and extensive coverage of the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, with the men’s race starting July 1 to July 23 and the women’s race from July 23 to July 30.
The long awaited 110th Tour de France travels across Spain and France, beginning in the largest city in the Spanish Basque country, Bilbao. The Tour visits six regions and 23 departments across France and conclude on the most famous boulevard in the world, the Champs-Élysées. Throughout the 21 stages of the Tour, there will be eight flat stages, four hilly stages, eight mountain stages – including four summit finishes – and one individual time trial for the cyclists to tackle. Within the 40 picturesque towns the Tour will travel through, there will be 12 debutant stage starts. Visiting all five of France’s Mountain mastiffs – the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, the Jura, the Alps and the Vosges – the 2023 Tour route will be a challenging one that best suits the dynamic climbers.
The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, returns for a second year after a momentous and historic launch in 2022. Riders will travel through the beautiful French countryside beginning the Tour in Clermont-Ferrand, before doing a loop in the country, and then venturing through three regions and 12 departments to the finish line in the French Mountains edge of Pau. The eight stages of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift include four flat stages, two hilly stages, one mountain stage, and one individual time trial. Featuring two mountain ranges the Tour gets progressively more difficult with riders crossing from one side of the Massif Central to the other throughout the first six stages. Stage seven features the iconic Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees, and the final stage is a 22km individual time trial around Pau.
The SBS expert commentary team will be on the ground capturing all the action in Spain and France. Reporting on location and bringing all the twists and turns of the 2023 Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will be the highly-credentialled team of commentary experts, the ‘Australian voice of cycling’ Matthew Keenan, Tour de France yellow jersey wearer and multiple TDF stage winner Simon Gerrans, and national time trial champion Dr Bridie O’Donnell. Australian National Road Race Champions David McKenzie and Gracie Elvin, alongside Christophe Mallet will produce exclusive interviews and deliver insights on race tactics, and features on cultural and historical significance. Meanwhile, Australian Olympian and famous lead-out man Mark Renshaw will be based in Australia and provide audiences with expert insights and post-stage analysis across our digital platforms.
Every stage and thrilling moment of the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will stream live via SBS On Demand – the Home of Cycling, where you can also enjoy the new Tour de France hub for a variety of catch-up replays, extended highlights, mini stage recaps and more video content. The SBS Sport website is the place to be for all the latest news updates, opinion, expert analysis, statistics and short highlight videos. The Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift broadcast times vary, with most stages starting at 9:30pm AEST (full schedule here). All stages will also be live on the SBS ŠKODA Tour Tracker app which will stream uninterrupted coverage, combined with live data and rider stats for fans to keep up with all the action.
SBS Director of Sport, Ken Shipp said: “SBS is proud to be Australia’s unrivalled home of cycling, headlined by our exclusive coverage of the Tour de France – one of the biggest sporting events in the world. Our team will be the forefront of all the action and astonishing sporting moments that the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift deliver. SBS is incredibly excited to continue to deliver world-class coverage with expert commentary to Australian audiences, providing exclusive access to the stars of world cycling and spotlighting our Australian contenders.”
The SBS Tour de France podcast also returns, hosted by Mallet and McKenzie, along with experts and special guests. Covering both the men’s and women’s event, the podcast features updates on the race, interviews with riders and fascinating conversations on the distinctly ‘French’ things that make this cycling race special.
As an accompaniment to the Tour De France, renowned French-Australian chef Guillaume Brahimi returns to SBS with Plat du Tour on Saturday July 1. Guillaume will travel through France following the Tour de France locations and take viewers on a culinary journey exploring wonderful French food culture from each region, while meeting some of the best food producers in the country. Airing during SBS’s coverage of the Tour de France, the series will feature 21 recipes, for the 21 Tour de France stages, with Guillaume plating up his ‘Plat du Tour’ with delicious traditional French meals that correlate to the culture and traditions of each city and town on the Tour.
Guillaume journeys across the most beautiful locations in Spain and France covering all stages of the Tour, including the official Tour de France starting line Bilbao Spain where he cooks on the terrace of the Guggenheim Museum. Guillaume also visits Bordeaux France where he discovers a city cuisine secret, and the picturesque French village of Saint Gervais where he visits a chocolatier and learns how to make a local sweet specialty.
Plat du Tour recipes sure to make your mouth water include a delicious Burned Basque Cheesecake from the Spanish Basque region, the classic French stew Le Coq au Vin in the historical Rhone wine region, and delicious Crayfish and Saffron Risotto in Passy, a quaint and picturesque French town just 30km from the Italian border.
Plat du Tour segments will be available on SBS Food Online and SBS On Demand and will air as special episodes on SBS Food from July 27 after the 2023 Tour de France has concluded. Plat du Tour is produced by Blink TV for SBS.
Source: SBS News
