While the French may have been trying their hardest to claw back their language and get rid of little irritations, such as English, they haven´t quite succeeded in all areas. Having reached its 100th edition this year, the dominant language of the Tour de France has changed as more and more riders are choosing to learn English over French.

Teams with multinational riders are now using English, as opposed to French, as their common language and the race organizers, Amaury Sport Organization, are issuing all statements in both languages.

Whilst some of the riders are fluent in French, the trend to actually speak it when conducting interviews has lessened. Chris Froome, this year’s race winner, for instance, regularly impressed French interviewers with his mastery of their language but has nowadays opted to speak in English in order to conserve his energy each day.

It’s not just French that’s been on the decline, the other Latin languages have been consciously replaced by teams in favour of English. They feel a common language between nationalities makes it easier to converse and combine as a team, and this has become particularly important for media appearances. With 7 of the 15 stages having been won by native English speaking riders and the rest by Italian, German, Belgian and Slovak riders who stated their preference for English during media conferences, it’s not hard to see why.

The language may have changed but the race is still the same. Exciting, challenging and tactical; the French should be proud of their traditional race which combines strength, power, speed and endurance.

Are you a fan of this spectacular sporting event? Do you agree or disagree with the change of its lingua franca?