Something that resonated particularly strongly was the rawness and authenticity of riders in pre- and post-stage interviews. This built on the emotion felt while watching riders fight with every pedal stroke for the opportunity to wear the yellow, green, white and polka-dot jerseys.
The interview between overall winner Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) and SBS Sport's Gracie Elvin after the final stage was the video you watched and shared most from our coverage.
Capping off eight emotion-filled days, audiences resonated with van Vleuten's reflections on the future of the event and great advice for other cyclists with race ambitions. Then van Vleuten took the microphone and brought Elvin to tears, along with many fans of the sport as well.
Van Vleuten's dominant, daring and candid approach to racing meant other articles on the overall winner, an idol for many, were some of our most popular as well.
Outside of the television broadcast, and videos shared directly through social media, our evening highlights, "Bonjour Le Tour" consistently ranked as the most-watched videos online. Full stage replays, daily highlights and recap videos ranked highly as well showing us that you appreciated ways of catching up with the racing in a format, and at a time, that worked for you.
Stage 2, which included strong winds and multiple big crashes was the stage watched most in this way. We imagine this is partly due to the unexpected high-drama of the stage, and a few of you using that evening to bank some sleep after the men's Tour and before the remaining stages of the Femmes.
Reactions to the crashes in this stage, and the aftermath, were also some of our most-consumed content, pointing to genuine concern about the harsher side of bike racing. It was a relief to learn that most riders were OK. We send ongoing well-wishes to riders who are still healing.
Opinions and analysis were also popular and we enjoyed seeing informed, insightful comments and opinions from our audience on social media. This demonstrated how much enthusiasm there is for the finer points of racing, tactics and etiquette in the men's and women's pelotons, beyond any one year, rider, gender or event.
And while there was a definite interest in stories about Australian riders, there was a similar appetite to hear more from some of the big international stars of women's cycling. Round-ups of reactions were well-liked throughout the event, as was the late confirmation of who would be riding for the Australian-owned BikeExchanged Jayco team in the inaugural edition of the Tour de France Femmes.
As the post-Tour glow set in and Australian audiences adjusted back to their regular timezones, articles on the future of the Tour de Femmes were popular. After such a huge month of cycling, and celebrating cycling, we are certainly excited about what the Tour de France Femmes will bring too.
Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm, your passion, for tuning in, and for your own contributions to the massive success of the event.
If you're having Tour de France withdrawals, know that we've got you covered with more racing LIVE and FREE on SBS and just around the corner!
