Jaguar has literally put Team Sky rider and last year’s Tour de France winner, Chris Froome, under the sea. For the video, aptly titled ‘Team Sky – Cycling Under the Sea’, Froome became the first cyclist to ride through the Eurotunnel from Folkestone to Calais.
The video was released by Jaguar to mark the final stage of the Tour de France in the UK before the cycling race leaves the country to continue in France. It saw the Grand Depart take place in Leeds before stage two ran from York to Sheffield. Today (July 7th), stage three runs from Cambridge to Central London before leaving the UK.
For Jaguar’s video, not to mention the cycling first, Froome travelled through the tunnel at what, for him, was a training pace. He got from one end of the Eurotunnel to the other in roughly 55 minutes and reached speeds of up to 65 kilometres per hour.
Speaking about the ‘World First’ ride, Froome said: “Cycling under the sea was an incredible experience.Opportunities to become the first person in the world to achieve these kind of feats are extremely rare nowadays, especially as a pro-cyclist. To become the first person ever to cycle through the Eurotunnel was right up there with some of the most iconic rides I’ve ever done – this must have been one of very few ‘world first’ rides left!”
Jaguar has been an official supplier for Team Sky since it was created in 2010, meaning it was right there when the team saw two Tour de France wins in a row – the first with Bradley Wiggins becoming the first Brit to win in 2012, the second was Froome in 2013. In these races, Jaguar provided Team Sky riders with a fleet of brand new Jaguar XF Sportbrakes which were designed for high performance.
Part of the reason for the Team Sky – Cycling Under the Sea video was to give further demonstration of the partnership between Jaguar and the biking team and advertise the brand campaign #KeepPushing.
The marketing initiative also follows the launch of the new Pinarello Dogma F8 by Jaguar Land Rover from its base in Gaydon.
However, the creation of the video had to see a lot of planning and discussion from Team Sky and Jaguar. The two began arranging for the initiative with Eurotunnel more than six months ago about how they could make the cycling challenge possible. Eurotunnel is one of the sites with the highest security seen in the UK and France. What’s more, it is celebrating its own 20th anniversary in 2014.
It seems that this appeared to be a great opportunity for Eurotunnel. Head of public affairs at Eurotunnel John Keefe explained that while it is a great piece of engineering, hardly anyone ever gets to see it.
Explaining the idea for having Froome cycle through the Eurotunnel, JR Global brand experience director Mark Cameron explained that it was in keeping with the ethos to keep pushing “for new technology, experiences, goals and achievements.”
He added: “This is perhaps the ultimate expression of this philosophy, completing a feat that no one has ever done before or is likely to repeat.”
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