Tour de France organiser Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO) has renewed its deal to distribute the international television rights of the Tour Down Under for its next three editions, from 2014 to 2016.
ASO has enjoyed a successful two-year relationship with the curtain-raising event on the UCI’s World Tour series, which next year runs from January 19-26 in Adelaide and regional South Australia.
This year’s race enjoyed 306 hours of international television coverage, a 60-hour increase on 2012.
The renewed deal is the result of discussions between Australian Tourism Minister Leon Bignell, who believes partnering with the same organisation that distributes the Tour de France has “obvious benefits for South Australia”.
Bignell added: “We discussed ways of expanding the coverage to more networks and to key tourism markets over more hours.”