Australia may be a nation where the winter wardrobe is widely highlighted by the striped scarves in the colours of your chosen AFL (Australian Football League) team – and yes having on is just about mandatory if you don't want to be a social pariah – but that doesn't mean that a considerable chunk of the population isn't also tuning in for the highlight of the cycling calendar, the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes.
In the nation, which has a population of 28 million, national broadcaster SBS said more than six million tuned in to watch the men's and women's editions of the French Grand Tour, which ran from July 26 and August 1-9 and was delivered free to air by a commentary team led by Matthew Keenan, but also including key cycling figures such as Cadel Evans, Caleb Ewan and Grace Brown..
The Total TV reach – a tally of individuals reached for the minimum period of 60 seconds for TV and 15 seconds for Broadcast Video on Demand – for the two races combined was 6.15 million.That was 5.21 million for the 21-stage men's race won by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and 1.51 million for the 9-stage women's race won by Demi Vollering (FDJ United - SUEZ).
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That compares with a Total TV Reach of 5.57 million last year, with 5.19 million for the men's race and 1.8 million for the women's race, according to figures put out by the broadcaster in 2025.
That signifies an increase for the men's race, which also crossed over with the FIFA World Cup for two weeks, but a decline for the women's race, which perhaps shouldn't be a surprise given that in 2025 there was the additional draw of Sarah Gigante. The young Australia was, at one point, threatening to take a podium spot, finished second on the Queen stage and also came sixth overall.
SBS Sport also said its Tour de France third-party platform performance grew by 450%, with 660 million views on SBS Sport social media platforms across both races. That included a 405% increase for the Tour de France, and 812% for the Tour de France Femmes.
The SBS report follows on from the news from broadcaster France Télévisions that there were 23.2 million in France that watched at least a minute of the coverage of the Tour de France Femmes, while 45.6 million viewers watched at least one minute of the men's race.
The viewership numbers come at a time when the calls are increasing to deliver live coverage of all stages for the women's race – with three broadcast live in 2026 – which would bring it in line with the broadcast of the men's event.
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