<\/a><\/p>\nMonetising fandom<\/h2>\n In 2025, some 2.45 million people attended the 10 Classics races under the organisation’s charge, with 1.1 million people turning up for the Tour of Flanders. Races like Dwars door Vlaanderen and De Brabantse Pijl attracted 80,000 and 85,000 fans respectively. With these numbers, having designated fan zones can help with crowd control, dispersing spectators along the route.<\/p>\n
“The popularity of our races has multiplied. If you look at TV images of the early days and you compare them to today, there’s no comparison,” says Van Den Spiegel. “Some of these standalone races would be struggling today, [but] this type of platform allows them to be part of something bigger, and that’s why they’re still there.”<\/p>\n
Not only do tourists stick around for longer, but the races bring visitors to Flanders year-round. According to Van Den Spiegel, Kluisbergen, the municipality where the Kwaremont and Paterberg are located, has 600 more tourist beds than in 2016. The local population is just 7,000.<\/p>\n
“Some of these municipalities are small, but they give us all of the logistical support needed and they really embrace the races. Some of the bigger cities support us financially as well,” he says. “I think everyone’s seeing the added value that embracing the spring Classics has given them.”<\/p>\n
Flanders Classics’ events calendar is an important part of its business model, creating a strong brand, providing opportunities for sponsors and partners \u2013 and generating income. Most revenue from events and hospitality goes towards covering the cost of running the races.<\/p>\n
“We’re trying to build an A-brand, and eventually we will attract A-brands,” says Van Den Spiegel. “The reality today is that we are quite stable. The fact that we have built these identities around these races and projects, and that people know what to expect, helps when you’re selling your story.”<\/p>\n\n\n
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More fans can mean more sponsor interest <\/span>(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIt is not just race organisers taking this approach. For the Unibet Rose Rockets, physical fan events are part of the team’s DNA. In 2021, when co-founders Bas Tietema, Devin van der Wiel and Josse Wester ran the Tour de Tietema YouTube channel, they signed Wester up for his first amateur race in a 500-inhabitant village in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
“At 10am on a Sunday morning, 2,000 people showed up to see Josse racing his first race,” says Van der Wiel. “You can call it the first event of the whole project. We saw that there wasn’t something like this in cycling, where fans show up during the race to support the team.”<\/p>\n
When the Rockets was founded in 2023, therefore, they hosted their first team presentation with a circus tent, DJs, games and quizzes. “There were like 300 people there for a Conti team before we even had a race,” says Van der Wiel.<\/p>\n
Nowadays, the team runs around four big fan events per year. They held coffee rides before Omloop het Nieuwsblad and the Tour of Flanders, ran ticketed bus trips to Paris-Roubaix and set up a Rockets Corner at Amstel Gold Race. This had a barbecue, stage with DJs, bands and singers, a quiz, partner and merch stalls, and a big screen. During the race’s own amateur ride the day before, they set up a barber shop with Philips OneBlade, one of their sponsors, for riders to shave their legs. The Rockets Corner drew some 2,000 attendees, who cheered the team’s breakaway rider on the race’s first passage \u2013 evidence, says Van der Wiel, that “cycling can be more than just cheering for the winner”.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think the [race] organisers expected that amount of people,” he says. “We were by far the smallest team at the race, but we had the biggest fan event. In big races, you see groups supporting a rider, but you don’t see that much with a team. We want to build a community around the team, and events, of course, are a big part of that. Physical events are the things that you don’t forget as a kid.”<\/p>\n\n\n
\nA post shared by Unibet Rose Rockets (@rocketscycling)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
Like with Flanders Classics, the Rockets’ events are mostly free for fans to attend, which requires a “long-term investment”. Although it provides an opportunity for partners to connect with their core audience, these events are less about directly monetizing the fanbase, and more about community building. “You invest in your fans; you invest in a connection with people that want to follow you, that trust you, that want to be part of the team and the journey. In the long-term, that can be really valuable for partners as well,” he explains. “[We want to be] more than just a cycling team.”<\/p>\n
Fan events, of course, are only one part of cycling’s ecosystem \u2013 but, clearly, they hold power. “It’s a jigsaw puzzle that needs to be addressed in tandem,” says Blacking. “It has to be part of the overall modernisation of the fan experience, which includes the broadcast as well.”<\/p>\n
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(Image credit: Getty Images\/Illustration by Michael Rawley)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\nA billion-dollar business soon to be a relic? What pro cycling can learn from the blueprints of F1 and soccer<\/strong><\/li>\nAn illogical calendar, ‘crazy’ attitudes towards safety, and an outdated relationship with its fans \u2013 What needs to change for cycling to catch up with other sports?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n“Everything starts with course design,” adds Van Den Spiegel. Circuits, or loops where parts of the course are repeated \u2013 ideally at least three times \u2013 can help to keep spectators entertained all day, he says. “We focus on giving each race its own identity \u2013 different landmarks, different fan zones \u2013 to make sure that we don’t cannibalize what we have today, and to keep those races as high on the cycling fans’ calendar as possible.”<\/p>\n
Can fan events help to solve cycling’s funding problem, then? “I would say yes, but only if it’s part of a bigger fan experience,” says Van der Wiel. Improvements in broadcasting are still due, he argues, and cycling needs to be easier to follow and more accessible. “I think sport is something you do for the fans. You do it for people to enjoy; to inspire people; to make people care about you. Playing football in empty stadiums is boring \u2013 we experienced it during Covid. Cycling is fun if we win a race and cheer with our own team, but it’s better if you can celebrate it with the whole fan group that are following you.”<\/p>\n
Back on Ventoux, the race is approaching. There is a cheer running up the mountain, getting louder. When Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney comes into view, solo ahead of Demi Vollering and Marlen Reusser, it erupts into a cacophony: flags waving, cowbells rattling, screaming. It is infectious. The crowd is still cheering when the peloton emerges a few minutes later. Anouska Koster gestures for us to shout louder. Puck Pieterse, wearing her polkadot skinsuit, wheelies through the corner. Alison Jackson takes a hamburger from a fan and holds it triumphantly in the air.<\/p>\n
With so many people here in the same place, all for the same thing, there is an energy in the air: a crackling connection between fans and athletes that is different from other sports. This bald corner of Mont Ventoux has come alive. And it is certainly more memorable than watching on TV.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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