There is no official women's Tour de France. Some people even think women aren't physically capable of doing it. Yet, in 2018, a team of 13 women rode all 21 stages. Yes: all 3,351 kilometres. One day ahead of the professional male cyclists.

ŠKODA started as a bicycle manufacturer and has sponsored the Tour de France for 16 years. To call attention to the gender gap in cycling, ŠKODA partnered with the team Donnons des Elles au velo J-1, supporting them and promoting their journey.

The accomplishment received worldwide coverage & support, and a promise from the UCI president to see a Women’s Tour de France by the end of his presidency.

This team of 13 amazing women cycled the whole course of the Tour de France (again: all 3,351 kilometres), completing each stage one day ahead of the professional male cyclists: from July 06 to July 28, 2018. The campaign ran during those dates and for a few days afterwards.

The campaign was initially designed to run solely on social platforms: Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. However, due to its success, we extended it to TV. Here's what happened.

We relied on Twitter to drive conversation and to document the day-to-day of the cyclists, following their progress with daily updates, footage and personal interview films from the women, using both ŠKODA's account and the team's account. Supporters could also watch the ride live via Facebook Live.

Other than documenting the team's day-to-day performance, we created three "spike" films for social:

- the first film documented the first stage and invited people to follow their journey,

- the second film saw Paralympic champion Dame Sarah Storey joining the team for one 195km stage, and

- the third featured their triumphant arrival in Paris, and celebrated the achievement of finishing this iconic course

There was a total spend of £26,287.10 to promote these films on Twitter. They delivered 318% engagement against brand benchmarks and ignited a conversation with the public.