COLOGNE, Germany, July 25, 2016 – Ford is today celebrating Team Sky’s success at the prestigious Tour de France cycle race after supporting the elite cycling team and lead rider Chris Froome to overall victory on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Ford is Team Sky’s exclusive supplier of cars and vans, and the distinctive blue and black-liveried vehicles were a prominent sight during the 2016 race as they supported the team before, during and after each of the race’s 21 stages.
The 2016 victory comes 50 years after Ford last achieved success at the Tour de France when Frenchman Lucien Aimar of the Ford France-Hutchinson cycle team claimed the win in 1966.
This year’s Tour de France victory also marks a historic French double for Ford, who last month became overall GT winners at the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours with the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team of Sébastien Bourdais, Joey Hand and Dirk Müller, exactly 50 years after the company first won at Le Mans with the GT40 Mark II in 1966.
Team Sky relies on a full range of Ford’s latest products to support its racing programme including Mondeo wagons, Edge and Kuga SUVs, S-MAX sports activity vehicles, and Transit vans.
A special Team Sky Ford Mustang also served as a scouting car for this year’s Tour de France, running in front of the riders to inform the team of conditions ahead.
To celebrate Team Sky’s victory, the 5.0-litre V8 Mustang featured a special yellow livery during the final stage of the race to match the yellow jersey of race leader Chris Froome – and the entire fleet of Team Sky Ford support vehicles featured a yellow stripe to replace the usual blue stripe.
British rider Chris Froome claimed his third Tour de France in Paris on Sunday, July 24, after more than 3,500 kilometres of racing. Team Sky has now won the Tour de France four times in the past five years with Chris Froome and Britain’s Sir Bradley Wiggins, and has been using Ford vehicles since the start of 2016.
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is a global automotive and mobility company based in Dearborn, Michigan. With about 201,000 employees and 67 plants worldwide, the company’s core business includes designing, manufacturing, marketing, financing and servicing a full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs and electrified vehicles, as well as Lincoln luxury vehicles. At the same time, Ford is aggressively pursuing emerging opportunities through Ford Smart Mobility, the company’s plan to be a leader in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and data and analytics. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford and its products worldwide or Ford Motor Credit Company, visit www.corporate.ford.com.
Ford of Europe is responsible for producing, selling and servicing Ford brand vehicles in 50 individual markets and employs approximately 53,000 employees at its wholly owned facilities and approximately 68,000 people when joint ventures and unconsolidated businesses are included. In addition to Ford Motor Credit Company, Ford Europe operations include Ford Customer Service Division and 24 manufacturing facilities (16 wholly owned or consolidated joint venture facilities and 8 unconsolidated joint venture facilities). The first Ford cars were shipped to Europe in 1903 – the same year Ford Motor Company was founded. European production started in 1911.
