“Absolutely not on the agenda”: Tour de France organiser shuts down ticket idea to force fans to pay to watch on Alpe d’Huez

Heading to Alpe d’Huez to watch the finale of next summer’s Tour de France? Worry not, the race organiser ASO has shut down talk of fans having to buy tickets to watch the action from the roadside of the iconic climb.

While there have been other ticket discussions before, former pro Jérôme Pineau reignited the discourse earlier this month when warning that cycling is “killing itself” and that, while it “would shock people”, the final five kilometres of Alpe d’Huez should be “privatised” to make more money. Pineau did qualify his proposal by stating he would only support it if the ticket sales went to the teams rather than ASO, but the suggestion certainly got people talking.

While some were more open to consideration and said they would not bristle at paying a small fee, especially if it improved the roadside experience or made things safer, many cycling fans expressed disgust online and made arguments to the effect of it going “against the soul of the sport”.

For now, ASO does not seem to be enamoured by the idea, Pierre-Yves Thouault, deputy director of the company’s cycling department telling DH Les Sports: “By its very nature, cycling is free and introducing a ticketing system is absolutely not on the agenda.”

That response will please many, although some might still also point out the ever-growing hospitality and VIP areas that have appeared at ASO races such as the Tour de France and Critérium du Dauphiné in recent years, and show no sign of slowing down, even if the general admission ticket answer currently remains a ‘no’.

Pineau’s argument had been that the UCI and ASO have profited financially while teams and riders have struggled to keep the lights on, the retired rider-turned-pundit suggesting ticketing could return some financial power back to the people competing.

“Let’s privatise the last five kilometres of Alpe d’Huez,” he suggested. “Let’s charge admission, let’s have VIPs, let’s create something to make money. In the history of cycling, it’s popular, it’s a free sport. But a free sport where there are no more riders on the road because there are only two teams, Bahrain and UAE, is less fun, isn’t it?

“At the end of the Trouée d’Arenberg during Paris-Roubaix, there’s a VIP area. Who collects the money from the people who paid? It’s ASO. Spectators come to watch the race to see your riders, but your riders have zero on the revenue sheet. That’s what’s not right. Hospitality areas are organised at the Tour and other major races, but it’s the organiser who takes the money, not the people who put on the show.”

 Legendary Groupama FDJ team boss Marc Madiot agreed at the time that “better balance” was needed between stakeholders, especially financially, but disagreed ticketing roadside fans was the way to go.

“Cycling is a free sport, and that contributes to its success,” he added to his argument today. “Let’s keep it free.”

The podcast discussion from which the latest ticket discourse emerged made headlines around the world, some fans seeing the point and stating they would be happy to pay a small amount, many of those supporting the idea also highlighting how it could potentially improve roadside behaviour and reduce incidents caused by overcrowding or poor conduct.

However, like Madiot, a recurring point made by fans online and by readers of this website was that cycling is a free sport that has captured something unique in the accessibility and community of roadside spectating.

Former AG2R La Mondiale manager Vincent Lavenu explained why the current financial state of professional cycling has opened the door to the ticket question: “Today, there are a few state-owned or multinational-backed teams with unlimited budgets, and then there are the others, fighting to retain sponsorships, which are sometimes increasingly reluctant to loosen the purse strings.

“Cycling depends too much on its sponsors. The teams don’t benefit from TV rights, like in football for example, nor from ticket sales.”

On the practicalities of ticketing fans, Lavenu expressed doubts about how such a system would work in practice: “How do we control the spectators? And what about those who have been there since morning? We must try to change things. But how? That’s the whole question… free access has always been the source of cycling’s wealth.”

Jayco AlUla operations manager Valerio Piva suggested that while “on paper, it’s a good idea, provided that those organising the race are generous to the teams”, at the Tour of Flanders or the Amstel Gold Race “it only lines the organisers’ pockets”.

“I don’t think it would be any different if this system were implemented in stage races,” he added. “And then, if we start charging for access to the races, we risk people not coming any more and staying home. The races would then be less spectacular, there would be less atmosphere. At least on an event like the Tour de France followed by millions of spectators along the roads.”

 For now, ASO’s comments suggest it doesn’t seem like the ticket discussion will go much further, but with more and more races embracing VIP hospitality, like at the Tour of Flanders and Tour de France, the expansion of paid viewing experiences on the whole will almost certainly continue to grow and it seems unlikely this is the last time someone suggests introducing tickets for the Tour’s biggest climbs.