A few days ago, the Giro d'Italia Women presented its route for next year's event. The tour has been shortened to eight stages, but this has by no means made it any easier. So far, so unusual. What was new, however, was the timing of the course presentation, more than six months before the race date in July. It used to be different, last year the course was announced barely a month before the opening time trial.
It is a clear sign of professionalism, but one that is neither coincidental in its realisation nor in its timing. The Italian Cycling Federation FCI, rights holder of the women's Giro d'Italia, had reassigned the organisation of the race at the beginning of the year, together with the U23 men's Giro Next Gen. PMG Sport/Starlight, previously responsible, decided not to take part in the bidding process again, meaning that there was only one interested party: RCS Sport.
More and more men's races adapted by women
The Italian company, which also organises the men's Giro d'Italia alongside other important races and, as the top dog, presumably deterred other organisers, was initially commissioned to plan the women's event until 2027. On the one hand, by commissioning an established organiser, the federation is taking care of the growing popularity and the increased expertise that this requires. On the other hand, RCS is also under competitive pressure to a certain extent. In principle, the Italians have merely followed suit. Just as the A.S.O. organises the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana for men, the French have also secured the rights to the women's counterparts in the last two years.
This continues a general trend. More and more men's races are being adapted by women. This is not least due to the organisers, who are using their know-how from the men's sport to create synergies in the women's sector. This is also becoming increasingly evident in the race calendar. The first five stops on the World Tour and the Women's World Tour are identical and are only shifted by a few days, if at all. As many men's teams now also have a women's team, this also brings logistical advantages for staff and riders.
16 different organisers of World Tour races
What has been lost, however, is the diversity of organisers in the racing calendar. There are only 16 different groups behind the 35 races on the WT calendar. There are even more for the women.
However, three companies alone organise 20 WT races under their aegis, plus 11 out of 28 from the WWT. In addition to A.S.O., which organises ten WT races (5x WWT), and RCS Sport with six (3x WWT) races, there is also Flanders Classic from Belgium with four WT races (3x WWT). These three groups are not only responsible for the most, but also the most important races on the calendar. In addition to the three Grand Tours, the five Monuments of cycling are also organised by the trio.
These are the A.S.O. World Tour races:
- Tour de France (also WWT)
- Vuelta a Espana (also WWT)
- Paris-Roubaix (also WWT)
- Liège-Bastogne-Liège (also WWT)
- Paris-Nice
- Criterium du Dauphine
- Tour of Catalonia
- Fleche Wallonne (also WWT)
- Eschborn-Frankfurt
- Cyclassics Hamburg
These are the RCS World Tour races:
- Giro d'Italia (also WWT)
- Milan-San Remo
- Tour of Lombardy
- Tirreno-Adriatico
- Strade Bianche (also WWT)
- UAE Tour (also WWT)
These are the Flanders Classics World Tour races:
- Tour of Flanders (also WWT)
- Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (also WWT)
- Gent-Wevelgem (also WWT)
- Across Flanders
Apart from that, there are only two organisers who take care of more than one race. The two Canadian races, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec and the sister race in Montreal, are organised by the GPCQM - a company that was founded specifically for this purpose. And then there is the Organizaciones Ciclistas Euskadi Txirrindularitza Antolakuntzak, or OCETA for short. The Basque organisation takes care of the two races in its home country, the Tour of the Basque Country and the Clasica San Sebastian. It also organises the women's Tour of the Basque Country.
From volunteer squad to large corporation
All other organisers are lone wolves. In Australia, for example, the respective regional tourism authorities organise the Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race. The Tour of Guangxi in China is organised by the country's largest entertainment company, the Wands Sports Group. The counterpart to this is the Bretagne Classic - Ouest-France, the former GP Plouay, organised by a committee that its president Jean-Yves Tranvaux described as a group of volunteers just a few years ago.
The week-long tours are mainly organised by small, private event agencies. The Amstel Gold Race, on the other hand, is organised year after year by a foundation set up specifically for this purpose and supported by the brewery from which it takes its name.
What connects A.S.O., RCS and Flanders Classic
The roots of all these organisations could hardly be more different. However, the three major players have origins that are all similar.
A.S.O.
The Amaury Sport Organisation not only organises races in the World Tour. Paris-Tours, the Tour of Oman and the Arctic Race of Norway are also part of the portfolio, all of which are Pro Series races. In addition, there are the official Tour criteriums and various amateur competitions that are integrated into the programme of the corresponding professional races. The company is also involved in the Tour de l'Avenir, the most important tour in the U23 category.
Just like the Vuelta, which is organised by the A.S.O. subsidiary Unipublic, the Deutschland Tour is also part of the Amaury cosmos via a subsidiary. The race, which is also part of the Pro Series, is organised by GFR, the Society for the Promotion of Cycling. This organisation is also in charge of Eschborn-Frankfurt and, more recently, the Cyclassics in Hamburg. The takeover of the German World Tour race was made public on 18 December. The race previously belonged to Ironman Germany GmbH. In addition to cycling, A.S.O. also organises golf tournaments, the Dakar Rally and several running events in France. Various regattas and equestrian events have also been organised by A.S.O. in the past.
The company was founded in 1992 as a subsidiary of Group Amaury, a private media group that owns L'Equipe, among others. The French daily sports newspaper is one of the most widely read publications in the country - and is the direct successor to the newspaper L'Auto, which was banned during the Second World War. This in turn is the reason for the Tour de France's existence. Editor-in-chief Henri Desgrange, himself a cyclist and hourly world record holder, was looking for an idea to increase circulation at the beginning of the 20th century and found it in 1903, when he launched a cycling race that was the first of its kind to be completed in several stages.
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RCS Sport
RCS Sport also has a background in the world of newspapers. The three letters are the acronym for "Rizzoli Corriere della Sera" and go back to the founder Angelo Rizzoli, who once acquired shares in the publishing house of the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, which later became the RCS MediaGroup. RCS Sport is a subsidiary founded in 1989.
Their aim was to organise the cycling events, the rights to which were held by the Gazzetta dello Sport. The largest Italian daily newspaper also belongs to the publishing group. And has been printed on pink paper since 1900. The fact that the overall leader of the Giro d'Italia is recognisable by the same colour is no coincidence. The first Giro, held in 1909, also goes back to the publisher of the Gazzetta, Eugenio Camillo Costamagna, and his editor Tullo Morgagni. The same applies to the Tour of Lombardy and Milan-San Remo.
In addition to Grand Tours and Monuments and the other WT events, the Pro Series races Gran Piemonte and Milan-Turin as well as the Giro di Sicilia from the Europe Tour are also on the RCS list, which also includes many running events. Unlike A.S.O., RCS also works in an advisory capacity, for example for Italy's most successful basketball club Olimpia Milano and the international volleyball association FIBA.
Flanders Classic
It is hardly surprising that Flanders Classic also has its roots in the media industry. Former sports journalist Wouter Vandenhaute founded the company in 2009 with the task of organising the races, which are owned by the Belgian-Dutch media group Mediahuis. These are the Tour of FlandersOmloop Het Nieuwsblad and the Brussels Cycling Classic (Pro Series). The publishing company also holds shares in Flanders Classic.
The portfolio also includes the Arrow of Brabant and the Schelde Prize, the unofficial sprinter's world championship (both Pro Series). In addition, the Belgians have also been represented in cyclocross for several years - organising the two most important race series. Flanders Classic has been organising the entire World Cup for the UCI since 2020, which now comprises 14 stages. Since 2018, the company has also owned the rights to the Superprestige series, which comprises eight races exclusively in Belgium. Flanders Classic has not ignored the growing enthusiasm for gravel racing either. Flanders Gravel Kemmelberg, Koppenberg, Limburg and the Durbuy Gravel are organised by the company.
