The conclusion of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes, the women’s edition of the iconic road cycling race, has become the most-watched ever owing in no small part to home success.
Across its nine stages, the tour, which ran from July 26 through August 3, drew a total collective tv audience of 25.7 million across the linear TV and digital platforms of public service broadcaster France Télévisions.
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This was up significantly on the figure from the 2024 edition, which stood at 18.3 million, while the per-stage viewership of 2.7 million on average, was at least 500,000 higher than every edition since its re-establishment in 2022.
Naturally, this has been linked to the tour success of French rider Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt, who snatched the yellow jersey in the eight stage and went on to triumph overall, making her the first French winner of either the men’s or women’s Tour de Frances since Bernard Hinault in 1985.
Ferrand-Prévôt’s August 3 coronation was watched by 4.4 million, notching a 41.2% audience share nationally.
This a good result for France Télévisions (FT), which holds the rights to the race through 2030 in synchronicity with its rights to the men’s tour, agreed with organizer Amaury Sports Organization (ASO).
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By GlobalDataIn addition to the linear viewership, the final stage also drew 1.1 million digital video views on FT’s digital platforms, contributing to an overall increase of six times the digital interest when compared to the 2024 edition.
Another beneficiary is digital cycle training platform Zwift, the title partner of the Tour de France Femmes, which helped to resurrect the event in 2022 after 33 years away.
Speaking exclusively to Sportcal (GlobalData Sport) back in 2022, Zwift director of women’s strategy Kate Veronneau commented: ““The key to success for this race is viewership. If people don’t tune in and therefore don’t turn up, it’s hard to make a case for continuing it.
“Having the most eyes on the race as possible is vital in helping unlock future investment and more fan participation.”
