{"id":199082,"date":"2025-07-09T15:00:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=199082"},"modified":"2025-07-10T06:48:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T06:48:54","slug":"simon-donnellan-of-skodas-vip-tour-de-france-experience-the-fans-are-smiling-so-much-their-jaws-ache","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2025\/07\/09\/simon-donnellan-of-skodas-vip-tour-de-france-experience-the-fans-are-smiling-so-much-their-jaws-ache\/","title":{"rendered":"Simon Donnellan of \u0160koda\u2019s VIP Tour de France Experience: \u201cThe fans are smiling so much their jaws ache.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>It\u2019s undeniable that the fandom of any sporting event massively contributes to its atmosphere and popularity \u2013 and the Tour de France sits among the few perfect examples of that.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why Matt Stephens invited another special guest to the \u0160koda We Love Cycling virtual podcast studio, counted amongst the \u201cboots on the ground\u201d taking care of the fan experience of the Tour. Meet Simon Donnellan.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-controller-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Simon Donnellan of \u0160koda\u2019s VIP TDF Experience: \u201cThe fans are smiling so much their jaws ache.\u201d\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/0EkAGC31bmO93SRBiALTyr?si=Q9sBMFuLQi2GmHEE5kE4lw&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Donnellan runs the VIP \u0160koda experience, helps facilitate the \u0160koda Hospitality Programme for the winners of our annual <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/tour-de-france-2025\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tour contest<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and has been to the Tour de France on 20 occasions. His journey to cycling started in his teenage years by riding, and then, already in his early 20s, he became involved with the high echelons of cycling race management in the UK.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this episode, Matt and Simon go over Simon\u2019s first contact with the world of cycling and the Tour, how it feels to see guests\u2019 faces lit up during the \u0160koda VIP Tour experience, the immense growth of the Tour and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift as events, how the fans are \u201cabsolutely essential\u201d, what exactly happens when you get the \u201cgolden ticket\u201d to see the Tour as a fan with the \u0160koda hospitality team, and much more.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s undeniable that the fandom of any sporting event massively contributes to its atmosphere and popularity \u2013 and the Tour [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":199083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329,334],"tags":[6399,8603,433],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-199082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","category-socialising-and-culture","tag-matt-stephens","tag-simon-donnellan","tag-tour-de-france","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Podcast With Simon Donnellan of \u0160koda\u2019s VIP Tour de France Experience<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s undeniable that the fandom of any sporting event massively contributes to its atmosphere and popularity \u2013 and the Tour de France sits among the few\" \/>\n<meta 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