{"id":201719,"date":"2025-10-15T11:56:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/201719\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T11:56:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:56:10","slug":"big-chocolate-is-coming-for-the-tour-de-france-caravan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/201719\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Chocolate is coming for the Tour de France caravan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                        <img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/M-M-s-Tour-de-france.jpg\" alt=\"Big Chocolate is coming for the Tour de France caravan\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                        <a class=\"article__category\" href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tag\/tour-de-france\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tour de France<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__sub-title\">Sweet treats await for the roadside spectator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__thumbnail-caption\">Composite image: Gruber Images (the three bicycle cyclists) and Ralston Smith\/Unsplash (the two M&amp;M figurines).<\/p>\n<p>                                <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Iain Treloar\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"author__photo lazy \" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Iain-Treloar-150x150.jpg\" width=\"99\" height=\"99\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Sure, the 2025 season is still going, and sure, the 2026 Tour de France is half an autumn, all of a winter, a full spring and a bit of summer away. But does that mean the good people behind the Tour, Amaury Sports Organisation, can take the foot off the gas, even for a second? It does not. That is not how a commercial juggernaut is made.<\/p>\n<p>To guarantee the continued success of the sport\u2019s biggest event, the organisation&#8217;s commercial department must always, always be hustling. TV rights: sell \u2018em. Official timepiece: sell it. <a href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/breaking-official-coffee-of-the-tour-de-france-no-longer-worst-on-planet\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Diabolical coffee?<\/a> SELL IT. Everything is an opportunity, because everything is a potential activation. And when even the parts of the Tour that aren\u2019t brazenly commercial are for sale, then it goes without saying that there are endless opportunities in the bits that are\u00a0\u2013 like the Tour de France caravan, a huge rolling promotional opportunity for the brands that pay many Euros to be involved.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"kg-bookmark-container\" href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-tour-de-france-caravan-experience\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>How to get the most out of your Tour de France caravan experience<\/p>\n<p>Everything you need to know (and probably some things you don\u2019t) about the Tour de France\u2019s support act.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Kramon_TdF18_st2_1046.jpg\" alt=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display = 'none'\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>First introduced in 1930, the caravan has become a crucial part of the Tour de France \u2013\u00a0not just financially, but for the fans, too. Every summer, the roadsides of the country teem with spectators waiting for a chance to grab trinkets from the caravan convoy\u00a0\u2013\u00a0a line of a hundred or so elaborately decorated vehicles with hungover youth standing on them, throwing cheap bucket hats and ugly keyrings to an insatiable public.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CORVOS_00038185-087.jpg\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>The composition of the Tour caravan is a shifting thing: stalwarts like (disgusting, withered) sausage brand Cochonou have been involved for years, while others come and go. Some of those departures are mourned by aficionados (and by &#8216;aficionados&#8217;, I mean \u2018me\u2019; you are missed, G\u00e9n\u00e9ration P\u00eache). Others barely make a ripple, such is the paucity of their wares, the blandness of their vehicles, or the lack of charisma of their hungover youths. <\/p>\n<p>Recent years, meanwhile, have seen the arrival of <a href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/the-tours-non-alcoholic-beer-sponsor-is-now-the-olympics-non-alcoholic-beer-sponsor\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tourtel<\/a> (a non-alcoholic, fruit-flavoured beer, which is fine if you are very thirsty and don\u2019t mind drinking something that looks like it was siphoned from a fizzy creek), <a href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/the-tour-de-france-caravan-just-got-a-whole-lot-cheesier\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">La Vache qui rit\/The Laughing Cow cheese<\/a> (who don\u2019t throw cheese, but do have some nice hats and tote bags), and <a href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/at-last-the-tour-de-france-has-a-sponsor-to-froth-about\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Orangina<\/a> (a balm for the soul). Also, there&#8217;s the utterly enchanting Panzani pesto trucks. <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"kg-bookmark-container\" href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tell-us-your-secrets-pesto-truck\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>Tell us your secrets, Tour de France pesto truck<\/p>\n<p>A gruelling search for the best smell at the world\u2019s biggest bike race.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CORVOS_00038185-098--1-.jpg\" alt=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display = 'none'\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I guess what I&#8217;m saying is, it&#8217;s a whole thing. And you&#8217;ll also note that most of those brands are quite distinctly French, rather than huge multinational behemoths.<\/p>\n<p>Which, in a roundabout way, brings us to today&#8217;s Very Important Caravan News. <\/p>\n<p>            This post is for paying subscribers only<br \/>\n            <a class=\"gh-btn\" data-portal=\"signup\" href=\"#\/portal\/signup\" style=\"color:#FF6F42\">Subscribe now<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Already have an account? <a data-portal=\"signin\" href=\"#\/portal\/signin\">Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                Did we do a good job with this story?<\/p>\n<p class=\"reactions\" data-post-id=\"68eef17371601f9880c1bcd1\">\n                    \ud83d\udc4dYep<br \/>\n                    \ud83d\udc4eNope\n                <\/p>\n<p class=\"tags\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tag\/tour-de-france\/\" title=\"Tour de France\" class=\"tag tag-67a677ae0c7ad49bf4f295a6 tour-de-france\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tour de France<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                        <a href=\"https:\/\/escapecollective.com\/tag\/marketing\/\" title=\"marketing\" class=\"tag tag-67a677ae0c7ad49bf4f2933a marketing\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">marketing<\/a>\n                <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tour de France Sweet treats await for the roadside spectator. Composite image: Gruber Images (the three bicycle cyclists)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-201719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}