Once again, the presence of Franck Ferrand in the commentary of the Tour de France is not going down well with many viewers.
The Tour de France got off to a flying start in Italy. Especially for French cycling, since the first two stages were won by two French riders: Romain Bardet and Kevin Vauquelin. Unprecedented since 1968. And on Sunday, the mano a mano between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard on the climb to San Luca suggests a new epic duel between the two men throughout the three weeks of the Tour.
As the main broadcaster of the Tour de France, France Télévisions therefore has every reason to be happy. However, the audience for the first stage was somewhat disappointing for the public service since, although France 2 was indeed the leader, on Saturday afternoon the first stage only attracted 2.89 million viewers for a 32.8% market share. This is no less than 200,000 viewers lost compared to last year when the first stage in the Basque Country was watched by 3.09 million cycling fans.
Franck Ferrand targeted
Another disappointment for France TV was the bitter reactions caused by Franck Ferrand’s presence in the commentary alongside Alexandre Pasteur, Marion Rousse and Laurent Jalabert. While the two former riders enjoy a high popularity rating, the historian is a different story, and has been the target of much criticism. This is evidenced by the many comments on social media throughout the weekend.
As much as his comments, his collaborations with Valeurs actuelles or CNews, his reactionary vision of history and his defense of certain conspiracy theories go down badly in the eyes of many cycling fans.
