spreading jam

Over three weeks, a sporting event like no other gripped and thrilled its worldwide audience.

And no I’m not talking about F1, cricket or golf (though outstanding sports all three). From the 2nd to the 24th of July, the gutsiest athletes on the planet battled, suffered and sacrificed as they climbed, descended and sprinted in the greatest race on earth: the Tour de France.

Now I’m a huge fan (can you tell?), but there’s a good chance you’re not. Road cycling rarely makes UK headlines, it’s complicated bordering on mystifying and it can seem, to be blunt, boring.

But with a British team competing at the highest level and a sprinting icon in the form of green jersey-winner Mark Cavendish, British road cycling is on the cusp of a renaissance. And aside from our obvious passion for the sport, there’s a treasure trove of performance and social data there for the taking, as well as the opportunity to replace French metric signage with imperial <insert Agincourt joke here>.

So in an effort to introduce the novices, interest the enthusiasts and hopefully convert the naysayers, here’s our infographic ode to Le Tour.

With such a rich source of data, choosing just one story to tell was the main challenge.

But what a story it is. The highs and lows of one team, played out in social media; their biggest peak in buzz denoting their biggest loss, team leader Bradley Wiggins; the eye-watering crash that saw Flecha, leading that day’s stage, run over by a French TV car.

The team’s fortunes may have taken a tumble on both days, but interest in the team increased, as did positivity, sympathy and goodwill. More than any other sport, the sponsor’s name is tied to the team, so Sky took a share of this goodwill, albeit incidentally. In cycling, bad luck for the team doesn’t necessarily mean bad luck for the sponsor.

Then there’s Flecha himself. His average heart rate was an astounding 119. That’s the same as me, walking. Attempting just one of those 21 stages at those speeds and altitudes, my heart rate wouldn’t just climb, it would stop.

And finally, we had to doff our caps to the best overall riders: yellow jersey-winner Cadel Evans, followed by brothers, and teammates, Andy and Frank Schleck (bonus familial drama). But in the buzz stakes, the Schlecks were usurped by the popularity, or sheer newsworthiness, of last year’s winner Alberto Contador and French hero Thomas Voeckler.

However you slice and dice the data, this sport’s got it all.

Crafted by Nicola James, made beautiful by Steven Craig of Jam.