Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O.) has announced an all-new digital application that gives media commentators at the 2016 Tour de France direct access to live race data for enhanced, in-depth event coverage and analysis. Purpose-built by Dimension Data for the Tour de France and delivered through Dimension Data’s big data cycling analytics and cloud platform, the new web-based app will be made available to more than 100 onsite and remote broadcasters, as well as media serving the largest annual global televised viewership of any sporting event in the world.
“With a mandate from A.S.O. to deliver the full digital solution for the 2016 Tour, we engaged directly with professional commentators at major cycling and other sporting events to determine the best way to present the data they need to tell the most compelling stories for their live audience,” explained Adam Foster, Dimension Data’s Group Executive, Sports Practice.
“This year’s race analytics features a marked increase in the types of data we’re collecting, which now includes information on race conditions such as route gradient” says Foster. “Combined with other data such as speed and distance, and supplementary information on race information such as rider positions, data insights and a live news feed, the data is pushed to the commentator’s app in a visually accessible format, giving commentators unprecedented, real-time insights for in-depth race analysis and coverage.”
Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour de France, A.S.O. said Dimension Data has successfully delivered on its vision of a fully-integrated digital solution that delivers live race data in new and compelling ways to a broad range of users, audiences and consumers.
“The 2016 Tour de France sets a new benchmark in our ability to make the most of the massive influx of live race data at our disposal,” says Prudhomme. “Not only has Dimension Data expanded the bouquet of data we can now make available to our media partners, but they’ve also enhanced the ways we can present it. The commentator’s app is an example of how we’ve maximised the value of digital data by making it instantly useable and immediately relevant to our target audience.”
The A.S.O.’s Tour de France commentator’s app is part of a suite of new Dimension Data enhancements to the Tour de France live data tracking solution. These include an integrated online portal called Race Center that combines live race data, video, photographs, social media feeds, and race commentary; an enhanced live data tracking website, linked to Race Center, that allows viewers to track their favourite riders in real-time; new television graphics that give broadcasters more options to display live data on riders, teams, route information; enhanced telemetry sensors that deliver more accurate data over longer distances with fewer disruptions; and an upgraded Dimension Data big data truck that serves as the physical hub for delivering the complete end-to-end digital solution at the 2016 Tour de France.
