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DiData takes Tour de France digital

Joanne Carew
By Joanne Carew, ITWeb Cape-based contributor.
Cape Town, 06 Mar 2015
Dimension Data's Jeremy Ord is looking to revolutionise cycling and make viewership that much more exciting.
Dimension Data's Jeremy Ord is looking to revolutionise cycling and make viewership that much more exciting.

Dimension Data has inked a five-year deal with the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), owner of the Tour de France.

The South African outsourcing company will be ASO's official technology partner for the tour, and will work with the organisation's various other cycling events, including the Paris-Nice, Crit'erium International, Paris-Roubaix and la Fl`eche Wallonne.

Speaking at a press event in Cape Town last night, Dimension Data chairman Jeremy Ord explained the partnership is all about bringing new insights into the sport by providing the media, and billions of cycling fans across the globe, access to comprehensive race data. "We believe this partnership will revolutionise cycling and make viewership that much more exciting."

Given that the media coverage of the annual cycling event entails the broadcasting of 6 100 hours of footage across 100 channels globally to roughly 150 million viewers, Ord outlined there is much potential to bring audiences closer to the riders through real-time data analytics.

"Optimising the experience of fans, and providing them with a richer, more intimate experience of cycling is at the heart of our goal. Our focus is on harnessing technology to drive innovation in this exciting, high-performance sport," added Brett Dawson, Dimension Data's group CEO. "We want to really connect the viewer - both with their heart and head - to this magical and exciting sport."

Dawson detailed how the company will run sophisticated big data analytics on all the facts and figures in order to provide rich information to the media in real-time.

According to ASO MD Yann Le Moenner, the Tour de France was created in 1903, at a time when long-distance cycle races were a popular means to sell more newspapers. Later, it was publicised on the radio and over the years, coverage of the event made its way onto television, he continued.

"The new era is digital," said Le Moenner. "Our sport is so complex and in each stage there are so many stories to tell. With the right systems and analytics, we are in the position to tell these stories."

Philip Liggett, professional cycling commentator, highlighted the partnership between a South African technology company and the major international cycling event comes as the first African team to participate in the cycle race - MTN-Qhubeka - gets set to compete in July.

"This partnership is all about substantially improving the connection of the cycling fan to cycling using innovative technology solutions and services," noted Dawson.

Both Le Moenner and Yann mentioned how the nature of the data will change over the course of the partnership, which will involve closer collaboration with the teams to access information around their training and performance.

"If we look at the data we have today, I know that we are far from what we could produce in the future," noted Le Moenner. "There are so many things we can do," added Ord.

"The fact that we can now access critical rider information reliably and consistently is a huge step. Our job is to work on collating it all and then pushing it out to cycling fans through various channels."

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