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The Tour de France is indisputably the most popular and well-known bike race of all time. Every year the hype seems to heighten as biking enthusiasts around the world gear up for the big race. Who will participate? What kind of equipment will they use? This year fans are particularly interested in how the race will be effectively tracked. Although race coordinators have suffered criticism for opting not to equip the individual bikes with GPS trackers, the race will, in fact, be monitored via GPS.

Leading up to the Tour de France, there was a lot of inaccurate publicity which indicated that GPS trackers would be worn by all of the participating riders. While this claim was false, the fact of the matter is that the GPS technology utilized by the Tour de France will provide viewers with all of the information needed to keep up with the moment-by-moment details of the race.

Tour de France officials have made it clear that rider positions will be available to viewers in real time. This is made possible by support vehicles along the bike path which will verify the positions through an intricate relay signal system. Data provided by the relay system feeds back into the official servers for the Tour de France so that it can be sent out to worldwide media organizations in real-time.

Accuracy for the Tour de France is carefully maintained through the MapMyFitness servers, which use elevation and core mapping technology to keep track of the riders’ specific coordinates at all times during the race. A variety of media are now integrated in the MapMyFitness system so that everything from rider profiles to video is available to cycling fans. A basic internet connection will thus give viewers all over the world to opportunity to access le Tour in all of its glory.

For bike aficionados who have been counting down the days until the Tour de France, disappointment is not in the cards. From real-time positions to team information and current photos you will have everything that you need to keep track of the biggest race of the year. GPS tracking works on a variety of platforms, and individual trackers need not be worn in order to assure accurate tracking. Officials of the Tour de France have a vested interest in a positive viewing experience, and they do not plan to disappoint.

Article Written by Janice Grover