The legend of the Tour de France

The data provided required a lot of work and modelling where dbt did a good job. But the coolest part came later. Working with the data in ThoughtSpot. This time, instead of nifty graphs and ideas on how to use the data, I decided to tell the story. For this Tour de France is perfectly suited. What I wanted most was to show how the race changed over time and became a global event.

I tried to stick to three rules.

1. Keeping the main reading direction from top to bottom and going down from general numbers to details. In this way I wanted to build interest and draw you into the story.
2. The human brain is used to reading text like a book so I added a direction across. Each line creates a separate little story. Within each line the elements flow one into the other.
3. Divide the report into coherent zones. Each zone has a part of the story to tell and is distinguished not only by a heading but also by colour.

Here is link to post on LinkedIn with presentation of this rules.

Starting at the top, you can find big numbers describing the race below which are two rows of graphs showing how race has changed over time. On these graphs, in addition, there are numbers describing the last edition. The section closes with a presentation of how the importance of the mountain stages is growing during the years. This is followed by two maps that show how the race has changed from a small to a global event. The next section is a presentation of the winners of the races as well as the stages. As you know, the leader wears a yellow jersey and that is the colour of these charts. Below are two pages of the race. The exciting one where I have shown that the difference at the finish line can be minimal. At the same time, I have drawn attention to the dark side of the race which is illegal support. The whole thing ends with a presentation of this year's edition.

No sankey or waterfall type charts this time. In fact, I only used timelines and column/bar charts. The most important is the story and data storytelling. The headlines, titles and text take you through the fascinating history of the Tour de France.

I made the liveboard in ThoughtSpot. It allowed me to focus on the data and search for the story.

I look forward to your comments. What do you like and what would you change.