On the winding roads of the Tour de France, the bicycle embodies the ideal of low-impact mobility. But behind the celebration and athletic endeavor, another mechanism is at work: the symbolic reconquering of environmental issues by champions of the fossil fuel industry.
At the end of June, the French oil giant TotalEnergies announced it had signed an official three-year partnership with the Tour de France, starting in 2026. The company is also the main sponsor of one of the participating teams, which bears its name.
Within the Tour’s peloton, six other teams (out of 23) are directly or indirectly connected to the fossil fuel industry: UAE Team Emirates-XRG, backed by the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s leading oil producers; Ineos Grenadiers, named after the British petrochemical giant Ineos and an off-road vehicle, the Grenadier, made by its automotive division; Bahrain Victorious, backed by Bahrain, a country whose economy is heavily dependent on oil production; Jayco-AlUla, whose name refers to the Saudi city of Al-Ula that is at the heart of a major tourism initiative by one of the world’s top oil producers; XDS-Astana, funded by a sovereign wealth fund supporting Kazakhstan’s oil and gas company; and Uno-X Mobility, a chain of gas stations present in Norway and Denmark.
You have 80.45% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
