More than six million tune in for Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes in Australia

Australia may be a nation where the winter wardrobe is widely highlighted by the striped scarves in the colours of your chosen AFL (Australian Football League) team – and yes, having it on is just about mandatory if you don’t want to be a social pariah – but that doesn’t mean that a considerable chunk of the population isn’t also tuning in for the highlight of the cycling calendar, the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes.

In the nation, which has a population of 28 million, national broadcaster SBS said more than six million tuned in to watch the men’s and women’s editions of the French Grand Tour, which ran from July 4-26 and August 1-9 and was delivered free to air by a commentary team led by Matthew Keenan, but also including key cycling figures such as Cadel Evans, Caleb Ewan and Grace Brown.

SBS Sport also said its Tour de France third-party platform performance grew by 450%, with 660 million views on SBS Sport social media platforms across both races. That included a 405% increase for the Tour de France and an 812% increase for the Tour de France Femmes.

The SBS report follows news from broadcaster France Télévisions that 23.2 million in France watched at least a minute of the Tour de France Femmes coverage, while 45.6 million viewers watched at least a minute of the men’s race.

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The viewership numbers come at a time when calls are increasing for the delivery of live coverage across all stages of the women’s race – with three broadcast live in 2026 – which would bring it in line with the broadcast of the men’s event.

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