A paper titled "Tour de France, Giro, Vuelta, and classic European races show a unique progression of road cycling speed" notes a significant 6.38% improvement in professional cycling performance over the last 20 years.
The study "TV Demand for the Tour de France: The Importance of Stage Characteristics versus Outcome Uncertainty, Patriotism, and Doping" found that live viewership is largely driven by the specific profile of the stage (mountains vs. flat) rather than just the uncertainty of who will win. Tours Vuelta a Francia en Vivo
The paper identifies three distinct phases of broadcasting: a local French phase (1948–1967), a European expansion phase (1968–1991), and the current global high-quality phase (1992–2021). A paper titled "Tour de France, Giro, Vuelta,