What a 12-Hour Day at the Tour de France Femmes Actually Looks Like

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Being on the ground as Velo’s social media manager during the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is a whirlwind. There’s barely any sleep, the conditions are tough, and no two days are ever the same. Focusing on stage 1 in Lausanne, Switzerland, here is what a single day actually looks like.

The day starts

With no breakfast at the hotel, I started my day around 9 a.m. with a stop at a local coffee shop for an iced coffee, a giant plain croissant, and raspberry chia seed pudding. Coffee aside, I liked the idea of what felt like a very European breakfast. Apparently, most people working the race had the same idea; I saw Matt Stephens and the rest of the TNT Sports crew there shortly after I arrived.

After breakfast, it was back to the hotel to pack everything and map where I was going. I would be at a new hotel that evening, but I also had to manage to get to the start of the stage at the right time. This time things were slightly easier as the start and finish were both in Lausanne. The press parking area was only about a 10-minute drive closer to the waterfront, and from there, I was able to park for the day.

The stage starts

With the stage starting at 2:15 p.m., I headed to the team presentation area around 1:00 p.m. to hunt for pre-stage content and quotes. I grabbed a spot right where the riders rode off the stage in front of a massive, loud crowd. The turnout was so impressive that Demi Vollering even got teary thanking the public for their support, and it was hard not to catch that same feeling. I won’t lie, seeing that kind of backing for the women’s race made me emotional, too. It feels incredibly special to be here to witness it firsthand.

After the team presentation, I ran over to the mixed zone to grab quotes, specifically from FDJ-Suez as the team casually announced its new team sponsor, Red Bull, on the stage by changing into fresh Red Bull helmets. I was able to catch Vollering saying that it was a great new partnership before running over to the start line to capture that scene, full band included.

Aside from the band and the riders, Tour de France Femmes race director Marion Rousse, men’s Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme, and UCI President David Lappartient lined up in front of the peloton to cut the opening ribbon. Ceremony done, stage 1 was off!

During the race

Once the race had begun, I ran back to the press room to start editing and posting all the content I had just gathered. My aim was to finish and post two videos to our social channels within the next hour. The goal is to stay on top of timing and be as efficient as possible during the actual race, but there are opportunities to breathe a bit. For those few hours in the press room, I actually get to watch the stage. That’s somewhat rare when you are at the race, but the press rooms are equipped with TVs and mediocre fans to help cool us down in the blazing summer temperatures.

This year, a challenge I have been managing even more than content flow, time management, or video editing has been the heat. We’re currently living in one of the hottest summers on record, and although the riders are suffering most in these extreme conditions, we media personnel don’t have it easy either. Outside for hours in the sun, waiting for the rider you wish to speak with or film, we are just baking. Stage 1 was a prime example of this.

The finish line

The limited reprieve those press-room fans offered didn’t last long. When the race hit about 20 km to go, I left the press room and headed to the stage finish area. The finish line was roughly a 30-minute walk away, so I opted to skip it and wait for riders to come down to the paddock to collect video content and post-stage interviews. Lorena Wiebes won, so I lingered by the SD Worx bus to catch the riders coming back and the staff celebrating. After that, I scooted over to the AG Insurance bus and got a direct interview with second-place finisher Kim Le Court-Pienaar. Then, I was able to capture some cool-downs with Visma-Lease a Bike, which had the team’s killer bee mascot, “Buzzy,” close by to keep spirits high after a very hot and fast day out.

Once I had recorded everything, I sprinted back to the press room, sweat dripping into my eyes, and got to editing. The home social team manages the timely race result posts, so my job at that moment was to prepare my own footage and quotes for the next batch of posts.

This time, stage winner and yellow jersey wearer Lorena Wiebes came in for a formal press conference. Unlike the chaotic quotes grabbed right at the finish line, these formal sit-downs give riders a moment to breathe before facing a barrage of questions. On this day, we got to see one of the most dominant sprinters of all time shining in yellow behind a small desk after her sixth Tour de France win.

Normally, we rely on provided ASO footage for social use, which guarantees us the yellow jersey and stage winner interviews. But on stage 1, upload times were running way behind schedule. I’m usually busy editing content during the press conference, and I wouldn’t normally film it myself. This time, however, I stopped to record Wiebes’ answers directly as we simply couldn’t miss a direct word from the yellow jersey for our social audience. Once I had the footage, it was immediately back to editing, scheduling, and coordinating content flow with the team back home.

The end of the day

Once everything was wrapped (or at least wrapped enough before the press room closed at 9 p.m.), I jumped back in the car with Velo correspondent Andy McGrath and headed to our hotel for the night. This was about a 45-minute drive to Yvorne, Switzerland, and my work wasn’t done. After checking in with the home team, it was back to work putting out some end-of-day content before it was no longer relevant. The Tour moves fast, so whatever content didn’t make the cut will not see the social feed.

Logging off always takes longer than you want it to, and once you finally do, sleep is something you hope for but never get enough of. This particular hotel did not have air conditioning, so I had a tough time falling asleep. That night, I managed four-ish hours before getting up and starting again.

Working the Tour is much more than producing content. It also involves self-navigation across the French (or Swiss) terrain, finding lunch along the way, and trying to survive working 12-plus-hour days with long travel and scorching summer temperatures in press rooms without air conditioning.

That’s not a complaint, though. Despite the heat, long hours, and constant pressure, I still get to be a part of the best of women’s bike racing. Plus, I relish the camaraderie of being with all the other journalists from around the world. It’s hard work, but I wouldn’t trade being a part of it.

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