The Paris 2024 Olympics might be top of mind when it comes to triathlon’s recent history in France. But France, and specifically the French Riviera, has a far deeper history with swim, bike, run. Host to Europe’s first ever long distance triathlon back in the ‘80s, in recent years it became home (for a temporary spell, at least) to the IRONMAN World Championships. And now, in 2025, it sets the backdrop for a new stop on the T100 Triathlon World Tour and a World Triathlon Championship Series race all in one history-making weekend.
As the details for the new French Riviera T100 triathlon course were unveiled, we headed over to Saint-Raphael and Fréjus on the Cote d’Azure to recce the age-group 100km triathlon course. And spoke to PTO / T100 CEO Sam Renouf to find about more about the decision to bring the T100 Triathlon World Tour to France, and his ambitions to create ‘bucket list’ events for professionals and amateurs alike. You can watch the interview in full further down this page.
The Roc d’Azur of triathlon?
For those who are partial to riding bikes with slightly knobblier tyres than your average triathlon bike, you might already be familiar with the Fréjus region of southern France thanks to the iconic Roc d’Azur annual mountain biking event. And it’s that ‘festival’ style set up – along with the topographical potential for a challenging bike course – that caught the PTO’s eye when it came to finding a home for a French stop on their T100 Triathlon World Tour, says Renouf.
“The T100 is built on having iconic locations around the world. And as we thought about Europe, the south of France, the French Riviera was such a natural choice. But specifically we wanted to be in Saint-Raphael and Frejus because we recognised the potential for a pretty incredible bike course. It’s been several years in the making, in fact this has been one of the events we’ve taken the most time to work through. But we’re really thrilled to be announcing a pretty epic course for both the age groupers and for the professional racing.”
“One of the benefits of the venue – not just the incredible bike course – is the location called Base Nature in Frejus. It’s pretty rare to have this type of festival venue right on the side of the coast. So you think about putting on triathons, the challenge we have with venues to be near a triathlon population with an exciting bike course there, access to water and a safe place for a transition, and we have all of that with Base Nature and the Saint-Raphael-Frejus region.”
Ambitions to match Roth and Kona
After checking out the course ourselves, the location certainly will set the stage for exciting races for age-groupers and PROs alike. And from the ambitions Renouf has shared, it seems the T100 have a keen eye on making the French Riviera a long term fixture on their calendar.
“I think our aspiration is not only to be a Roc d’Azure of triathlon. But we think this kind of course can really match Roth and Kona, that kind of excitement. These iconic places where the location has become part of the culture of the event and indeed the story of the sport. We think we can make that kind of history here.”
Striving to create bucket list events for age group triathletes
While the PTO and the T100 World Tour is very much rooted in showcasing elite triathlon. The increasing number of age group events being added to the race calendar suggests, if not a shift, then certainly an expansion of focus to creating participation opportunities for amateurs – as well as opportunities for fans to watch the elites battle it out.
“What we strive to do, and this takes time,” Renouf explains, “is create the bucket list events for triathlon.”
“We look at other sports and what they do so well – we look at the Super Bowl, the World Marathon Majors, the London Marathon… and we take inspiration from these events that become truly bucket list – if you’re within the sport you want to tick off these events. And that’s what we really hope we are creating with the T100.”
Flipping the script: “If the same people win all the time, it’s actually not that exciting.”
On the PRO side, T100 races have typically featured multi-lap bike courses that keep the racing in a relatively compact area as part of the ‘made for broadcast’ strategy. So with the professionals racing a very similar course to the age-groupers at the French Riviera T100 – one big, hilly 80km lap – the race has the potential to bring quite a different dynamic to the party.
Reflecting on how this switch in course format could shake up the race dynamics, Renouf explained “Like any sport you want to create diversity in competitions so that you can have an uncertain outcome. If the same people win all the time, it’s actually not that exciting. Take a page out of tennis, and different surfaces the players compete on. We wanted to have the same kind of thing.”
“Often we naturally fit into city centres, where it’s going to be quite flat. So it’s quite rare for us to be able to ride on difficult topography. And here, both the PROs and the age groupers are going to have their work cut out. We normally lean towards sort of short, tight loops for the professional races so that we create more of a spectator experience. But this course was so iconic, it’s so beautiful. We thought ‘we can’t not give that to the professionals too’.
“And from what we’ve heard so far, the feedback is this is going to be one of the most popular races for athletes to really push out some heavy wattage to get around the course.”
A historic moment for the sport
It’s not just the course design that brings something different to race weekend for the French Riviera T100. Originally set to take place in June, the race has now been moved to the end of August to facilitate bringing together the PRO T100 race and a World Triathlon Championship Series race on one weekend. So beyond creating the ultimate pro triathlete spotting opportunity for visiting fans, what was behind that decision?
It comes down to elevating the sport, says Renouf. “As part of the 12-year agreement with World Triathlon, we’ve worked together on ways that we can elevate the sport. When we had the opportunity to have a course here that could also have an Olympic distance or a sprint distance race, we wanted to be able to build that opportunity and create what will become ultimately a historic moment for the sport.”
“There has never been, ever, the world’s greatest, long distance triathletes and short distance triathletes racing within the same weekend. And so creating an amazing moment where we can bring fans of the sport together.”
“And you know, there’s no better place for that than France. That really is a powerhouse of the sport whether that’s Leo [Bergere], or Cassandre [Beaugrand] or it’s the Paris Olympics. This has really been a nation which has embraced triathlon.”
Are triathletes ‘the greatest athletes on the planet’?
While the T100 and WTCS PRO races are very much separate over event weekend. The T100 has seen some of the short course racers stepping up to the 100km distance which has meant we’ve had Olympians and IRONMAN World Champions racing side by side.
That’s by design, says Renouf. “We chose the 100km distance mainly to sort of favour ‘who was the ultimate athlete.’ It’s still clearly a long distance triathlon – no one can say a three hour effort isn’t long distance. But it’s short enough that the athletes can push really hard.”
“If you’re not winning, then you’re kind of careering towards the finish line and really pushing right to the final moments.”
“And we think that sort of played into creating some exciting, dynamic racing. Part of what T100 was created to do was to bring more excitement and energy to the racing. Because we know fundamentally, triathletes are some of the greatest athletes on the planet, but there wasn’t the product that could showcase that for long distance triathlon. So that’s where the mix comes together.”
Watch the full interview
Take a look at our deep dive into the French Riviera T100 age group triathlon race course, or watch our course preview on Instagram.
