The big business of the Tour de France

The jewel in cycling’s crown is owned by one family with a long history. Here, in the prologue to his new book, Alex Duff explores an episode from 2011 about an attempt to take the sport in a new direction

The Tour de France is the most famous race on the cycling calendar (AFP/Getty)

Marie-Odile Amaury occasionally came across them at private functions. With her unassuming manner and simple but stylish clothes, she chatted amiably about the weather, house prices and holiday destinations. Peering out from under her blonde fringe, and fixing the middle-aged men from Belgium, Italy, Spain, the UK and the United States with her piercing blue eyes, she was always polite and spoke respectable English to those with no French. The owner of the Tour de France kept her public profile so low that many of them did not recognise her.

While drinking tea out of china cups on the balcony of the Belgian king’s residence outside Brussels on the eve of a recent Tour de France start, she was chatting with one of them about their grand surroundings for several minutes. They joked about their holiday homes, how theirs also had similar decor, marble columns and chandeliers, and a garden with its own golf course. The man thought the unassuming lady he was talking to was an aide to the Belgian royal family, or perhaps a member of its catering staff. It was only when she introduced herself that he realised he was chatting to a woman who was richer than their host, King Philippe.