Tour de France organisers ASO have threatened popular cycling data site Pro Cycling Stats (PCS) with legal action over its “cult icon” roadside campervan — which PCS says was forced to cover its branding during this year’s race because ASO is “trying to compete with us” by “doing as much stats as possible” and has been increasingly “bothered” by the stats platform’s popularity among riders, journalists, and fans.

In a statement posted on social media before the Tour began, PCS said: “The Tour organisers (ASO) more or less forced us to hide our PCS branding during every stage, from the publicity caravan to the broom wagon. It wasn’t our choice, but we had no option but to comply to avoid legal trouble.

“So now, we’ve become less visible, almost invisible. Yet we’re still there, parked among the fans, cheering every stage, even if it feels like we’re fading further into the background. If you do spot us, please come say hi. Whether you’re a fan, journalist, team director, or even an ASO staffer, there’s always a cup of coffee waiting at the camper.

“Back home, our team keeps the stats alive, the passion burning. Because we don’t do this for visibility. We do it for the love of the sport and our community.

‘Sharing Passion’ isn’t just our motto. It’s what we do every day, on every road, even when it gets tough.”

Amaury Sport Organisation, or ASO — which organises races like Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix and Vuelta a España — accused PCS of “riding on the coat tails of certain ASO events for which it holds no media accreditation by conspicuously parking a campervan branded with the ‘ProCyclingStats.com’ trademark.”

An email sent in early June by an ASO spokesperson to PCS CEO Stephan van der Zwan stated that ASO is the “exclusive owner of the exploitation rights for the cycling events” it organises and warned that it “will not hesitate to take appropriate action to enforce its rights, reports BikeRadar.

Van der Zwan said that a planned video call with ASO representatives escalated unexpectedly. “I opened the meeting and had five people against me instead of one, including their highest lawyer. They only wanted to tell me ‘We don’t want you here anymore’,” he said.

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The dispute was eventually resolved with a compromise — PCS agreed to cover its branding whenever the race is in progress.

But the workaround came with a twist typical of the site’s colourful past. Instead of simply blanking out the logo, the team replaced its signature three-block ‘PCS’ branding with three cheeky pictograms: a person peeing, the sea, and a cartoonish backside — still reading ‘P-C-S’ in images. Van der Zwan said he even planned a second, French-language version.

“They see now that we’re attracting a lot of people,” van der Zwan said. “If you go to the [Tour de France] press room and look at the computers of the people from the press, they all have a tab open with PCS live stats – and not with their own live stats. That’s what’s bothering them. We’re getting too popular, I think.”

PCS’s following and influence have grown steadily since its launch in 2013. Van der Zwan said the site expects to hit four billion page views early next year. “The speaker who introduces the riders and teams on the podium, he said to me ‘I’d be nothing anymore if there was no Pro Cycling Stats. It’s my bible’.”

“We’re getting 25 per cent more page views this Tour de France because we’re getting so much attention,” he added.

PCS’s influence extends even into the professional peloton. According to van der Zwan, many teams and their support staff rely on the site’s data and live stats throughout races — often preferring it over the Tour’s official race data. “All the teams have VeloViewer and PCS live stats on — and not the live stats of the Tour de France,” he said.

Even British rider Oscar Onley, who finished on the podium behind Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard on stage seven’s Mûr-de-Bretagne finish, claimed that he was checking the website after finishing fourth on stage four.

PCS campervan with the logo covered
PCS campervan with the logo covered (Image Credit: @ProCyclingStats on Twitter/X)

Throughout the Tour so far, PCS has continued to post photos of its van parked at the roadside — keeping the logos visible when the race is not in progress, but covering them up whenever the stage is underway.

“The publicity caravan is almost here, so it’s time for our daily ritual: covering up the PCS logos,” the team wrote on Saturday, adding: “Hearing commentators from around the world speak up for us today. It meant more than we can say. Thank you for standing with us. The logo may be hidden, but the love for the sport shines on.”

Then on Sunday, PCS posted: “It’s about connection, shared passion, and soaking up the atmosphere. Logo or no logo, we couldn’t care less. What matters is enjoying the beauty of cycling together.”

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Fans have been largely supportive of the website, with many criticising ASO’s stance. One supporter wrote: “The longer I follow professional cycling, the less I understand ASO and UCI. The public service that PCS does is incredible, yet they throw sticks at your feet. I understand that it’s hard, but Stephan, don’t let it disgust you.”

Another commented: “Ironically, this situation with the logo and ASO has been brilliant for marketing. Loving how this is effectively backfiring on them.” A third said: “I don’t get it — those are public roads. Since when do they have the authority to demand a logo be removed? If they don’t want to give you visibility, let them find a way not to film you. And if they can’t manage that, that’s their damn problem.”

PCS van, roadside 2025 Tour de France
PCS van, roadside 2025 Tour de France (Image Credit: @ProCyclingStats on Twitter/X)

The iconic campervan has also continued to pop up on live race coverage, with eagle-eyed viewers sharing screengrabs of the van on social media — often with messages of support and disbelief that ASO had tried to make it disappear.

Van der Zwan said the reaction hadn’t just come from fans but from across the cycling world. “The Belgian commentators were talking about it. One of the commentators said ‘How can a company as big as the ASO be so small-minded?’”

He added that he remains open to dialogue. “I’m still open to conversation to find a better solution than this,” he said. “This is not a win-win situation. It’s better for cycling if people see a tweet with two people shaking hands.”

PCS has found itself in the news before — sometimes for reasons that caught them out. Earlier this year, the site fell for Geraint Thomas’s April Fools’ prank, updating the Welshman’s 2025 racing schedule after Thomas jokingly announced that he would finish his career at the Vuelta a España.

The prank — posted on social media with a sunglasses emoji — saw PCS quickly adjust its records to reflect the change before fans pointed out that Thomas had already said he planned to retire on home roads in Cardiff at the Tour of Britain. It came just a week after Thomas had joked on Instagram about never racing in Spain again after a rain-soaked Volta a Catalunya.

ASO has not publicly commented on the PCS dispute.