Cycling may remain a niche sport on the global stage, but the Tour de France continues to pull in numbers that few other races can match. As revealed by Professor Daam Van Reeth of KU Leuven, Belgium’s appetite for cycling hit new heights in 2023, particularly in Flanders, even as other traditional markets like Italy, Spain and the Netherlands posted notable declines.
The disparity highlights a familiar two-speed trend in cycling’s media reach: while the core fanbase in Western Europe remains deeply engaged, especially around the spring classics and the Grand Tours, the wider global audience still tends to tune in only for the very biggest events.
Flanders leads, while others fall back
In Belgium, the figures speak for themselves. The Ronde van Vlaanderen drew 1.63 million viewers during its closing stages, with an average of 1.37 million across the broadcast, setting new records for both the men’s and women’s races. When averaged across the ten spring classics aired by Sporza in 2023, viewership reached 818,770 per race, eclipsing the previous peak from 2015 and registering a nine per cent increase on the ten-year average.
Wallonia also saw a six per cent increase, a sign that enthusiasm for top-level racing extends beyond just the Flemish-speaking north.
Contrast that with the situation in other historic cycling nations. The Netherlands, despite having high-profile riders like van der Poel, posted a six per cent drop. Italy and Spain saw even sharper declines, down ten and twenty-one per cent respectively. In Spain’s case, that figure marks a steep fall from once-dominant audience levels, now clearly tied to the reduced presence of local contenders in the biggest races.
Germany and the United Kingdom remain major untapped markets in terms of free-to-air coverage. Both rely heavily on Eurosport, limiting broader access and potentially capping casual audience growth.
Photo Credit: ASOThe Tour de France: cycling’s only true global event
Despite regional fluctuations, the Tour de France continues to anchor the sport’s broadcast relevance worldwide. Stage coverage is consistent, full, and widely available. In Belgium alone, over 1.08 million viewers watched the opening stage of the 2023 edition live on television, with a further 70,794 streams registered via Sporza. In France, figures for the Tour regularly hover between 15 and 20 million viewers per stage, with mountain stages peaking at around 25 million.
While the five Monuments average around five million global viewers each, the Tour sits in a different stratosphere. In 2021, it reached 150 million viewers across Europe over the full race. No other cycling event comes close.
The international broadcast footprint reinforces that dominance. France TV Sport, VRT, RAI Sport, NOS, ARD and CCTV in China all provide coverage, alongside Eurosport’s pan-continental feed. That network ensures the Tour remains one of the most visible sporting events on the global calendar, even when other races struggle for traction outside of Europe.
Commercial strength and cultural reach
With sponsors like Skoda, Leclerc, LCL, Continental and Krys, the Tour continues to attract significant commercial interest. Its ability to draw in both core fans and casual viewers has helped it remain relevant even in markets where year-round interest in cycling is limited.
This divide creates an imbalance for the rest of the racing calendar. Belgium, with a population of just 11.6 million, continues to punch far above its weight in terms of viewership, often contributing over a million viewers per classic. France, despite its size, only narrowly edges ahead in total audience. Meanwhile, many of the races that underpin the sport’s cultural foundation, Strade Bianche, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, even Paris-Roubaix, rely heavily on a few committed broadcast markets.
A growing challenge beyond July
The numbers reflect both opportunity and constraint. Cycling has never had more stars with genuine cross-border appeal – van der Poel, Pogacar, van Aert, Evenepoel – yet the structural visibility of the sport remains uneven. The Tour de France thrives, but the sport around it still relies heavily on local traditions and public broadcasters in a handful of core markets.
Belgium remains cycling’s most loyal television audience, both in scale and consistency. But the broader challenge remains how to bridge the gap between July and the rest of the season, and how to bring more nations into the fold as active cycling markets, not just consumers of a three-week race every summer.
Main photo credit: Cor Vos
