In today's Open Thread, I thought that I would give you a peek at behind the scenes of a Tour de France and the logistics involved to bring this event live to approximately 180 countries worldwide. It is really an amazing undertaking.

Here are some mind boggling statistics from the 2014 Tour to show just how large an event the Tour de France is:

• 450 journalists
• 121 TV stations covering the event, of which 60 do so live, with 260 cameramen working on motorcycles, in helicopters and at the finish line
• 72 radio stations
• 560 accredited media organizations
• 2400 vehicles on course (organization, media, publicity caravan, etc.)• 4,500 people, from riders to organizers to media to members of the publicity caravan and so on
• A 12km long publicity caravan that includes 180 vehicles, 600 people and that distributes nearly 15 million items to fans

The technical compound (“Zone Technique”) behind the stage finish area contains dozens of production trailers, generators, support vehicles, catering and more. When set up and running, there is barely place on the ground where hundreds of kilometers of cables aren’t crossing over each other.

In addition, the organizers book a minimum of 1,200 hotel rooms each night just to accommodate the Tour itself.

Before each day's racing, the publicity caravan drives the route of the day handing out goodies to spectators who have lined the route in anticipation of seeing the riders streak by for a brief moment. The publicity caravan was started in 1930 by the founder of the Tour Henri Desgrange as a way to help fund the cost of the Tour. Sponsors pay a minimum fee for the right to have up to three vehicles in the caravan. If a sponsor wants more vehicles or wants an early placement in the caravan, they must pay a greater fee. The order of the caravan is determined by how much each sponsor has paid.

Over the years, the publicity caravan has grown into an event of its own with nearly half of the spectators along the route saying that they have come for the publicity caravan. The vehicles in the publicity caravan are often very elaborately decorated and must be disassembled each night before being moved to the next stage. Most of the sponsors in the publicity caravan have young people on board to hand out freebies (such as candy, snacks or hats) to the people along the route. This video shows just how elaborate the publicity caravan has become and why it is so popular.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyqHNwWkwiE]

When the Tour de France was first conceived in 1903, it was as a publicity stunt to increase the sales of the newspaper, L'Auto. In the early days, much of what was reported on the Tour de France was often embellishment of the stories told by the riders themselves. As its popularity grew, the Tour de France began to broadcast to television audiences around the world. The early broadcasts were short summaries of the racing filmed earlier in the day. Demand for more coverage grew and eventually the Tour de France was broadcast live using a complex system of motorcycles carrying cameramen on the back to capture the racers up close and low flying helicopters with cameras mounted on them for the overhead shots of the racing and the scenic (or what they call beauty shots) shots of the sights in the nearby area where the race passes through. Please click on this link and scroll down to see a wonderful graphic showing how the this system works.

As well as this there are five dedicated motorbike cameras, who jostle for space with almost 100 photographer bikes, police bikes and team cars, and two cameras on low-flying helicopters.
(snip)
All of these mobile cameras, including the helicopters, relay footage via VHF to two higher-flying helicopters which follow the length of the Tour. These in turn beam the footage to a plane which slowly circles the Tour high above. It does slow loops to stay as near as possible to the cameras, meaning the turbulence can be extremely rough. A second, back-up plane circles even higher, above any potential weather problems, to ensure coverage is consistent.

Anyone who has ever watched the Tour de France can attest that the video footage is as much a beautiful travelogue as a sporting event and this is not by accident. I always wondered how the broadcasters knew in advance the names and the background or history of the scenic "beauty shots." This year was the first time that I learned that all the "beauty shots" have been scouted and planned in advance. Then the on air broadcasters are given a Speakers Book to reference in case they may want to comment on any "beauty shot" that appears on the screen.

For each stage a very detailed production plan (or script) is created by Jean-Maurice Ooghe. From January until the end of May Mr. Ooghe scouts the geographic and cultural points of interest within a 10-15km radius of the race route. Castles, lakes, waterfalls, tourist attractions, and celebrations put on by the towns (those large displays in the farmers fields don’t happen by accident). He will then create a shot book so that every church and other landmark they deem worthwhile is in the script. All of these points of interest are also given waypoints so the helicopters follow the shot list and the production plan for each stage.

These "beauty shots" are often used as filler when the peloton is just pedaling away and there is no real action. But they also serve an additional purpose of promoting tourism. Since the Tour route is different each year, there is always a chance that a city, town, or region may become a part of a future tour route. The economic benefit of tourism is a big reason why cities, towns, and regions want to be located along the Tour route.

While audiences throughout the world watch the Tour de France via various media outlets with different commentators, the videos we see on our screens regardless of our location, are exactly the same and they are also the same as what the commentators are viewing. For example, I watch via an on-line subscription to NBC's extended broadcast and much of Europe watches it via EuroSport. So while I listen to the commentary of Matthew Keenan (first hour and wrap up) and Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen (bulk of the broadcast), I am seeing the exact same video as everyone else in the world. All the camera work is done by French television and then is distributed via a complex system worldwide.

But to even broadcast it requires logistics that would rival any other sport in the world. And that is because the Tour de France is broadcast from a different location each day. At the end of each stage which is usually somewhere around five o'clock in the afternoon, local time, the crew must pack up all the broadcast paraphernalia immediately and begin the process of moving and setting up at the finish location for the following day.

This is just a very brief summary of what goes on behind the scenes at the Tour de France each day.

This is an Open Thread, so feel free to comment on whatever you wish.