The French bike market

The first thing to recognise about France is that it really is a country for bike enthusiasts due to the varied landscapes, the excellent state of the roads and probably, most importantly, because cycling is so well established in french culture, not just as a sport but also as a means of getting to work, bikes and other vehicules co-exist in harmony.

There are four main organisations to which cyclists can subscribe, and they do in their numbers :

• Fédération Française du Cyclisme, or FFC (Presided over by David Lappartient – recently appointed a vice-Président of the UCI) that covers principally racing in all bike disciplines. In 2013 FFC boasted 116,000 members

• Union Françase des Oeuvres Laïques d'Education Physique – shortened to UFOLEP – also covers principally racing cyclists but at a more "amateur" level than the FFC and to a lesser extent cyclo-tourists. In 2013 its numbers were 46,000

• FFCT, Fédération Française du Cyclo-tourisme, solely cyclo-tourists accounted for 124,000 members, via 3200 clubs.

• Finally, the Fédération Sportive et Gymnique du Travail or FSGT is only present in certain areas of France. Similar activities to UFOLEP.

As a rough comparison, British Cycling (at June 2013) numbered 75,000 members.