A look back at the Tour de France on Twitter

Monday, 28 July 2014

After three weeks of intense competition filled with joy, tears and pedaling, the 101st Tour de France (#TDF) finally has its winner in Vincenzo Nibali (@vincenzonibali). Here’s how the race played out on Twitter.

Yesterday, Italian cycler Vincenzo Nibali (@VincenzoNibali) enjoyed his first ever Tour de France victory:

Although only @vincenzonibali wore the yellow jersey down the Champs-Elysées, beating @jice_peraud and @ThibautPinot, most of the 2014 Tour de France cyclists shared their day-to-day moments on twitter throughout the race:


The lucky fans who sometimes waited days to see the pack immediately took to Twitter to share their unique insight on the race:

And whether they were on the road, watching on TV or out and about with mobile updates, the amazing Twitter content offered by @letour encouraged everyone following the pack to join in on the conversation, including cycling teams, formers cyclists reporters and TV viewers:


Here are some of the most memorable stages of Tour de France 2014, as seen through the data:

Given the behind-the-scenes access cyclists and organizers gave fans on Twitter (not to mention the intensity of some of the stages), it’s not surprising that the conversation around this Tour de France generated more than 3.75 million Tweets overall.


The top 3 most Tweeted about stages were:

  1. Stage 5 Gerardmer / Mulhouse (July 9), which saw Chris Froome (@ChrisFroome) retire from the race.
  2. Stage 10 Mulhouse / La Planche des Belles Filles (July 14), which saw Alberto Contador (@albertocontador) retire from the race.
  3. Stage 1 Leeds / Harrogate (July 5), with the Tour de France starting in the UK.

All of the top 10 racers of the Tour de France 2014 are on Twitter:

  1. @vincenzonibali - Vincenzo Nibali (Italy)
  2. @jice_peraud - Jean-Christophe Peraud (France)
  3. @ThibautPinot - Thibaut Pinot (France)
  4. @alejanvalverde - Alejandro Valverde (Spain)
  5. @tejay_van - Tejay Van Garderen (USA)
  6. @romainbardet - Romain Bardet (France)
  7. @hzubeldia - Haimar Zubeldia (Spain)
  8. @LeopoldKonig - Leopold Koenig (Czech Republic)
  9. @laurenstendam - Laurens Ten Dam (Netherlands)
  10. @BaukeMollema - Bauke Mollema (Netherlands)

The cyclists who gained the most followers during the race:

  1. @tejay_van - Tejay Van Garderen (USA) +104%
  2. @jice_peraud - Jean-Christophe Peraud (France) +65%
  3. @vincenzonibali - Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) +29%
  4. @ThibautPinot - Thibaut Pinot (France) +26%
  5. @alejanvalverde - Alejandro Valverde (Spain) +11%

@UCI_cycling world tour upcoming races include, @Tour_de_Pologne, @enecotour, and @lavuelta.

We look forward to following more great cycling as it plays out on Twitter. In the meantime, you can follow some of the world’s top cyclists on this list.