Tour de France Femmes: A Strategic Arena for Watchmakers?

While the Tour de France Femmes (TdFF) has enjoyed rapid growth since its relaunch in 2022, its earlier editions met with far less success. First held in 1955—more than 50 years after the men's Tour was established—the race fell victim to a combination of challenges: the lack of a sustainable business model, pervasive media sexism, and limited institutional support.

Revived between 1984 and 1989 and fueled by the fierce rivalry between Jeannie Longo and Maria Canins, the women's race was staged alongside the men's Tour. However, this format proved logistically complex and left the event with little visibility of its own. Despite these setbacks, generations of female cyclists remained determined to secure their place in the legacy of cycling's most iconic race.

The Tour de France Femmes finally returned in 2022 and has continued to expand with each successive edition. In 2026, the addition of the legendary Mont Ventoux stage—one of the most eagerly anticipated highlights of the race—marks another milestone in its evolution.

The race enjoys the same broadcast reach as the men's Tour, with coverage spanning five continents and 190 countries. At the same time, social media has emerged as a central platform for following both the competition and its athletes.

A study by Nielsen and Zwift, the founding partner of the Tour de France Femmes, found that during the inaugural 2022 edition, the 35 leading riders increased their Instagram and Facebook followings by an average of 8.6% in just eight days—a record for a women's cycling event.

Today, the Tour's digital community has grown to 3.34 million followers, generating 215 million views across its official platforms. For sponsors, much of the event's commercial value now lies in these digital channels, where riders are steadily increasing their own visibility and, in many cases, becoming media brands in their own right.

By 2025, according to the same Zwift study, the Tour de France Femmes had reached more than 55% of the men's Tour de France's cumulative audience. As its visibility has grown, so too has the sport's economic value. The average team budget is estimated to have risen from €2.35 million in 2022 to €4.67 million in 2025, bringing the total across the peloton to around €70 million. Backed by these expanding financial resources, the professionalization of women's cycling is accelerating.

The event is becoming increasingly attractive to brands not only because it delivers audiences, but also because it appears to influence consumer behavior. According to the study, 80% of socially engaged fans (within a panel representing 11% of the total audience) said they intended to watch more women's cycling after the event, while 17% reported subsequently purchasing a bicycle.

The Tour de France Femmes is part of a broader trend that has seen cycling become an increasingly attractive platform for watchmakers. The sport offers a rich cultural narrative and a powerful collective imagination, while the cycling lifestyle has gained momentum—particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic—as a symbol of health, environmental awareness, performance, design, and technological innovation.

Watch brands have adopted several sponsorship strategies, choosing to align themselves with individual champions, professional teams, or the race itself. Tissot, for example, partners directly with the Tour, while Richard Mille equips leading riders such as Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel with its timepieces. Tudor, meanwhile, serves as title sponsor of the Tudor Pro Cycling Team, founded by Fabian Cancellara. Although Breitling ended its three-year partnership with Q36.5 at the close of the 2025 season, the brand has since shifted its focus to rising French talent Paul Seixas.

Among watchmakers that have embraced cycling sponsorship, Tissot occupies a uniquely longstanding position. The brand has been a partner of the UCI since 1995 and served as the official timekeeper of ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation) events—including the Grand Tours—from 1988 to 1992, before returning to the role in 2016, succeeding Festina.

"Through Swiss Timing, our sister company within the Swatch Group, our involvement goes far beyond simply placing our logo on an event. We provide the technology. Every bike is fitted with a transponder, and our photo-finish system is essential," says Sylvain Dolla, CEO of Tissot.

The brand has also partnered with high-end bicycle manufacturer Pinarello, a collaboration that resulted in both a limited-edition watch and a limited-edition racing bike. Tissot additionally supports elite athletes including Primož Roglič and Olympic mountain biking champion Jolanda Neff.

However, Dolla is clear about one boundary: "As the official timekeeper, we will never sponsor a team. We have a responsibility to remain neutral."

Asked whether Tissot has developed a strategy specifically for the Tour de France Femmes, Sylvain Dolla explains that the objective is to "reinforce Tissot's position as the benchmark brand in cycling, even though we make no distinction between the men's and women's Tours. At the photo finish, the emotions are exactly the same. More broadly, women's sport is developing exceptionally well. We see it in cycling, but also in the Women's National Basketball Association, which is booming in the United States."