Equitable or Elitist? The social impact of the 2014 Tour de France Grand Départ

The Tour de France Grand Départ came to the UK in July 2014. It was heralded as a great success, drawing in an estimated 3.5 million visitors and generating over £128 million for the local economy, but there has been little research on assessing the geodemographics of who attended this event – did it reach out to all sections of society as hoped, or was it contained to the ‘typical’ cycling spectator? Using previously unpublished data, this research examines the demography of the crowd attending different sections of Le Grand Départ and explores whether the event was equitable, i.e. accessible to all sections of the population, or elitist, with a demographic bias in who attended. The results show that there was a bias towards a white, male, middle-aged spectators, which is particularly prominent for the least accessible stages. Ethnic minorities and people with a disability were particularly underrepresented for large parts of the route. Where there were interventions to improve access, the demographic profile of spectators was more in line with the national picture. Understanding who does, and who does not, attend these events has wider implications for the planning of, and longer-term socio-economic impacts of, these events and we recommend that further advanced planning would improve the equitability of future sporting events.