How do you mark your involvement with one of the most famous sporting events in the world? Like this…
Exciting, colorful, challenging – the Tour de France is all those things. And so is AkzoNobel, so it’s little wonder we wanted to partner with this prestigious race.
We’re beyond proud to be an Official Supplier to such an incredible event, and ‘Le Tour-mania’ swept our sites and offices as people came up with some enterprising ways to celebrate. Key among these is our very own fantasy league, which pits colleagues around the globe against each other to see whose team will come out on top.
It’s a great way for our people to connect and engage with each other, no matter where they’re based or what they do. They don’t even need to know anything about cycling; there’s definitely an element of luck involved in picking a successful team, and ‘experts’ won’t necessarily come out on top.
Rising to the challenge
Three people who deserve a special round of applause are Michiel Boonekamp, Head of Marketing in France, Boudewijn van Schaik, Head of Business, and Roland Gelauff, Head of Risk and Internal Control, both based in the Netherlands.
The trio teamed up to take part in L’Etape du Tour, a chance to ride an actual stage of the Tour de France under controlled race conditions. They were among 16,000 amateur cyclists tackling a grueling 167.8km route from Briançon to Alpe d’Huez in France, facing the same physical and psychological demands as the professional riders in the peloton.
Although Michiel made it to the foot of l’Alpe d’Huez, nine and a half hours on his bike took its toll and he was happy to let his two companions finish the course without him. That takes nothing away from the monumental effort by all involved – and it was a fantastic experience.
