Amaury Sport Organisation
The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) is part of the French media group, EPA (Éditions Philippe Amaury). It organises sporting events including the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and Paris–Nice professional cycle road races, and the Dakar Rally. In 2008 it began the Central Europe Rally, a rally raid endurance race in Romania and Hungary.[1]
The Tour de France was instituted by the newspaper L'Auto in 1903.[2] The paper was closed after the 1939-45 War because of its links with the occupying Germans and a new paper, L'Équipe, took over. L'Équipe (now part of EPA) organised the Tour until the race was taken over by its parent company, ASO.
ASO organises the Paris Marathon, cycling events in Africa (Tour du Faso) and the Middle East (Tour of Qatar), golf (the Open de France, Lacoste Ladies Open de France and Grand Prix Schweppes[3]) and sailing (Tour de France à la voile).[4] ASO also organises cyclosportives events for amateur cyclists, including the L'Étape du Tour and La Etapa de la Vuelta.[5]
The president of ASO is Jean-Etienne Amaury, son of EPA founder Philippe Amaury.
Professional cycling events
Current
As of 2015 ASO organises the following professional cycling events:[6]
- Arctic Race of Norway
- Critérium International
- Critérium du Dauphiné
- La Course by Le Tour de France
- La Flèche Wallonne
- La Flèche Wallonne Féminine
- La Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta
- Liège–Bastogne–Liège
- Paris–Nice
- Paris–Roubaix
- Paris–Tours
- Tour de l'Avenir
- Tour de France
- Tour de Yorkshire
- Tour of Oman
- Tour of Qatar
- Ladies Tour of Qatar
- Vuelta a España
- World Ports Classic
Former
References
- ↑ Central Europe Rally 2008: 2008 Edition > The Route
- ↑
- ↑ "Golf" (in French). ASO. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
- ↑ "Voile" (in French). ASO. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
- ↑ "Épreves grands public" (in French). ASO. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
- ↑ "Cyclisme" (in French). ASO. Retrieved 25 August 2012.