SVG Europe caught up with her when she had a short break from the live action to find out a little bit more about France Télévisions’ history, goals and challenges for the Tour de France 2025.
How long has it taken you to plan for the Tour? The logistics must be quite complex. What has been your process to get to the starting line?
It takes all year, which means we start working on next year’s Tour even during the current race. It intensifies at the end of October when we know the route. We start the site surveys and study particularities of the stages (for some of them the TV compounds are split in two or even three parts.)
With the director, we study the camera plans of each finish line. We also start doing research for the scenery – castles, etc – and start thinking of the helicopters’ flight strategy.
How long have you been the host broadcaster for the Tour de France?
France Télévisions (or, say, the state-owned TV broadcaster) has always been the host broadcaster for the Tour de France, that is as far back as 1948. The production has obviously evolved an awful lot over that time.
How have you pushed your production of the Tour from 2024 to 2025, editorially and technically?
We have tried to take advantage of a few technical improvements to save money, such as 5G instead of RF at the finish line, and both post production and archive management done from our headquarters instead of onsite.
This year we have also included more stings – shootings of interesting sites with drones – which we think is of interest to all broadcasters since the Tour de France is not only about cycling [but also about showcasing France as a destination].
What are your editorial goals for the 2025 Tour? What do you want to get across to fans at home? Has this changed since 2024?
We want the public – connoisseurs as well as uninitiated viewers – to have a better understanding of the race.
The director, who is already very experienced in the cycling field, is helped by specialists who react extremely quickly whenever anything happens.
At the same time we keep improving the cultural and landscape discovery aspects for those who are more interested in visiting France.
What are the main challenges for you in producing the Tour, and how are you overcoming these?
Moving about 200 people every day is always a challenge, in terms of accommodation and travelling.
We also make sure to have the best and most experienced crew in their field by booking them very much in advance.
And we also have to adapt to weather conditions, from heat which makes it hard to cool our equipment, to heavy rain and storms which endanger transmissions.
How long have you worked with EMG France, or as it is now known, Gravity Media, as the technical services provider for the Tour?
We have always worked with EMG or their predecessors (EMG, Euromedia, SFP) for the RF part (helicopters and motorcycles). They have consistently proved to offer the best solutions and reliability to our tenders.
Was there anything specific that you wanted from EMG for the 2025 Tour? What and why?
Regarding the sound we have specifically asked them to improve the capture of the atmosphere, both the public and the racers. The intercoms have also improved a lot.
Key crew members on the Tour de France 2025 from and for France Télévisions:
- Deborah Larrieu – Production manager
- Anthony Forestier – Director
- Josselin Riou – Race expert
- Bernard Chaudot – Helicopter strategy expert
- Franck Pelletier – Chief of slow motion
- Laurent Maheo – Chief of sound
The Tour de France ends on Sunday 27 July 2025, while the Tour de France Femmes begins on Saturday 26 July
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