Cycling to the victory!

The Tour de France, an iconic cycling event, has captivated the world since 1903. The annual race, rich in history and tradition, showcases the determination of high-performance athletes from a select world ranking.

The Tour de France is one of the most watched live sporting events in the world and most of the audience comes from European countries. The local crowd stands out with cheers in the stands. Apart from involving a huge number of spectators, it also provides experiences in magnificent landscapes of the European region.

I would like to thank the organization of the challenge, Maven, for the opportunity to know a little more in depth about the beauties of France and the details of such a captivating and rich competition. It is also necessary to draw attention to another highlight visualized with this experience: the financial investment involved in the event, the high number of important sponsors and the economic movement generated during the period.

In order to help increase the popularity of the event as well as the sport itself, the creation of this project aims to attract and inform new spectators, highlighting the magnitude of the numbers surrounding the hundred years of this story.

As a data visualization expert at Amaury Sport Organisation, I understand that the interest of the sports audience, in cycling as in any other sport, is focused on the actors (athletes), the teams and the statistics linked to their interaction and results.In the database we have several KPIs ready in this context, such as the gain time on which the winner arrived before the second placer. Based on this perception, the goal of the project was to bring with minimal effort the most number of statistics, controversies and curiosities about the event to hold the public's attention.

The structure of the project is mainly centered on an unusual and interactive timeline. Where the audience can learn about the history of the event and its competitors, organizing the content with different information panels. It was chosen to build this dynamic infographic with Microsoft Power BI.

Project stages:

Starting with the analysis of requirements and evaluation of data sources, given the wealth of information available to compose a time intelligence, I evaluated that a static infographic page would be insufficient for public engagement. In this sense, in order to meet the requirements and expand the public experience, I opted for a dynamic visual in Microsoft Power BI with a single page in the infographic style, but which also allowed interactivity and detailed exploration of the data.

The ETL stage was the most laborious. Aiming to achieve a star model, composing the cyclists dimension, for example, was a challenge due to the huge duplicity of names without a native primary key. Once again, congratulations to the organization for the complexity imposed on the challenge.

After the modeling, we moved on to building the visual layer, where I used FIGMA. With the initial structure of the visual layer and data model, it was possible to experiment with the visuals that would make the most sense. With a calendar dimension enabling segmentation by decades and years, we created a hierarchy along with the stages of each Tour. After the timeline was completed, it was possible to explore the database with ease, identifying necessary adjustments such as the adjustment of the first place in the years 1999 and 2000 due to what happened to Lance Amstrong. Additionally some missing data were added such as the times of the initial years.... For the main categories (countries and cyclists), I have opted for the Tornado graph, which allows a quick comparison with two variables.

All information was validated through the official website https://www.letour.fr/en/history.

Although the sampling of weight and height of the winners is only XX%, it was possible to create some scatter visuals with the KPIs BMI and Percentage of victories.

Important notes:

• Highlighted, centered on the panel, is the sum of hours cycled, along with other significant numbers surrounding the Tour de France. The percentage of cyclists who finished the race is another highlight. As well as the data of those who only started the race.

There are the number of athletes who started the competition and the number of competitors who managed to cross the finish line.

The detailed number of stages also appears as a guiding factor for performance demonstrations.

• The tool leads to exploring the timeline intelligence of approximately 120 years of competition. In descending order, the decades are displayed and the years, one by one, show details that allow you to dig deeper into content such as the stages included in that tour, as well as a ranking with the main competitors/winners, along with their time taken.

• The ranking of winning cyclists, which comes along with the country they represent, can be explored by clicking on each one individually and presenting numerous details of the years they took part in the event. Clicking on the individual country can also bring up an in-depth search of related results.

• A year that catches the eye: 1937.

The reference year, complex in the structure of the competition, some of the existing stages or steps appear segmented into a, b, c. There are 8 splits, 31 stages. And there were 2 winners in stage 17b.

• Regarding the particularity of the years 1999 to 2005 and the ranking:

There are no Tour winners for the years 1999-2005. Lance Armstrong loses his titles and is banned from the sport for the crime of doping. The administrative committee decided not to award wins to any other riders or update other placings in any of the affected events.

Armstrong was the first athlete disqualified for doping in competition.

There have been 36 cases of disqualifications in the history of the competition. Where 19 athletes are involved.

• The physical biotype of cyclists:

For good performance, a combination of endurance, speed and power is required. Overall, in generalized research, it is known that the most common in this competition is the predominance of athletes who are close to 1.80 in height and 68Kg in weight and BMI close to 21.5.

In one of the panels (profile), it is possible to detail this issue in the biggest winners of that year. Among the cyclists who won the most stages, there is a higher BMI of 22.5. By clicking on the highlighted profile, you can still find out more information about the athlete's individual performance.

• The Tour de France consists of several types of stages that challenge cyclists in different ways. One type of stage is the flat stage, where the course is relatively flat to favor sprinters. These stages usually occur in the early stages of the race.

Another type of stage is the mountain one, known for its challenging climbs and steep gradients. They test the endurance and skills of cyclists. They often have a significant impact on the overall race standings as only the very talented excel in this stage.

In addition to flat and hilly stages, the Tour de France also includes mixed stages that combine elements of flat and hilly terrain which creates an exciting and unpredictable race for riders and spectators.

There is a special panel to analyze these stages and the types of routes that define them.