THROWAWAY REMARKS After a recent press release, the Tour de France could do better to combat the scourge of plastic, writes John Whitney

THE SPIN

The Tour de France’s ‘caravan’ is the seemingly endless line of race sponsors that precedes the peloton and doles out, generally, either a bit of tat with their name on or the cheapest thing they sell (see the miniature bags of Haribo Starmix, Bic biros...). Often, both.

In late October, Tour organiser ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation) proclaimed in a press release, “With an ever more dynamic caravan, one-million bottles of water distributed over three weeks, Vittel will put the Tour de France audience at the heart of its activities by offering it extraordinary experiences and unique hydration.” In summary, French bottled water company Vittel had signed on the dotted line to five more years of sponsorship to Le Tour, adding to the decade already in the bank.

One-million plastic bottles, flung from the caravan to the hordes lining the roadside of the Tour, in just three weeks. King of the Mountains? You could insert a ‘plastic’ in there somewhere.

The world, slowly, is beginning to wise up about curbing its insatiable appetite for plastic, so there’s something utterly tone deaf and jarring about a release like this that chooses to act as if the problem doesn’t exist. Of all the things to bottle up, too - water!

Sure, the thousands – nay, millions of spectators – grow hot and bothered during a day on the roadside in France’s hottest month, but it’s surely not too big an ask to bring their own, in reuseable bottles? It’s not as if the beer supply ever runs dry.

The problem is that we’re suckers for a freebie. Even if we do take issue with plastic, if a quirky truck in the shape of a giant cyclist speeds by with someone throwing a bottle of water at us, we’re still going to catch and quaff it. Corporations will only change their behaviour once we change ours. That’s hard, though, when products are literally falling off the back of a lorry. While road cycling is a clean activity, the sport, and the Tour de France especially, falls short. The technical and logistical support required to stage the world’s biggest annual sporting event and help it travel thousands of kilometres around France is a huge operation, its carbon footprint, with all manner of trucks and buses chugging their way round the country, huge. The only thing green about the Tour de France is the colour of the points classification jersey.

Vittel would argue that its water bottles are recyclable, but with the bottles effectively single-use before they either end up in landfill or are recycled (itself at cost to the world), the environmental price is large.

Sadly, you fear that cycling as a sport won’t ever have the green credentials that the bicycle itself invokes. And we know that Cycling Plus is hardly in a position to pontificate, given it’s sold in a (recyclable) plastic bag. But there’s plenty this race can do to clean up its act and lead the way. Cutting back on one-million bottles would be a start.

The only thing green about the Tour de France is the colour of the points classification jersey