The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO and also A.S.O.) is a

private company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...

, founded in 1992, that is part of the privately-owned French media group

Éditions Philippe Amaury Éditions Philippe Amaury (EPA), also known as Groupe EPA or the Groupe Amaury, is a French private media group founded by Philippe Amaury (1940–2006) whose widow, Marie-Odile Amaury, owns a majority of the company. The CEO of the company i ...

(EPA). ASO organises the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

and other cycling races, as well as golf, running, sailing and off-road motorsport events over 250 days of competition per year, with 90 events in 30 countries. The president of ASO is Jean-Etienne Amaury, the son of Philippe Amaury and Marie-Odile Amaury, and grandson of EPA founder,

Émilien Amaury Émilien Amaury (; 5 March 1909 – 2 January 1977) was a French publishing magnate whose company now organises the Tour de France. He worked with Philippe Pétain, head of the French government in Vichy France during the Second World War, but ...

Cycling

The Tour de France was instituted by the

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

'' L'Auto'' in 1903. The paper was closed after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

because of its links with the occupying Germans and a new paper, ''

L'Équipe ''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby, motorsport, and cycling. Its predecessor, '' ...

'', took over. ''L'Équipe'' organised the Tour and in 1965 the newspaper was acquired by Émilien Amaury. ''L'Équipe'' organised the race until it was taken over by its parent company, ASO. , ASO claimed to be the world leader in bicycle race organisation with 132 days of competition each year.

Current

ASO organises the following cycling events: ; UCI World Tour *

Critérium du Dauphiné The Critérium du Dauphiné, before 2010 known as the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, is an annual cycle sport, cycling road bicycle racing, road race in the Dauphiné region in the southeast of France. The race is run over eight days during ...

* Eschborn–Frankfurt *

La Flèche Wallonne La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium. It is part of the UCI World Tour. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is ...

Liège–Bastogne–Liège Liège–Bastogne–Liège , also known as ''La Doyenne'' ("The Old Lady"), is a one-day classic cycling race in Belgium.Cycling Weekly, UK, 13 March 1993 First run in 1892, it is the oldest of the five ''Cycling monument, Monuments'' of the Eur ...

Paris–Nice Paris–Nice is a professional road bicycle racing, cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the ...

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the 'Cycling monument, Monuments' ...

Volta a Catalunya The Volta a Catalunya (; Tour of Catalonia, ) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of the Basque Country. The race has had ...

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; ) is an annual stage race, multi-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Ital ...

(alongside Unipublic) ; UCI Continental Circuits * Arctic Race of Norway *

Paris–Tours Paris–Tours is a French one-day classic road cycling race held every October from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours. It is a predominantly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys; the highest point is 200 m ...

* Tour du Faso * Tour of Oman *

Deutschland Tour The Deutschland Tour (English: ''Tour of Germany'' and sometimes ''Deutschland-Rundfahrt'' in German) is the most important Race stage, multi-stage road bicycle racing, road bicycle race in Germany. Initially the race was held in May/June, but fro ...

* Tour of Saudi Arabia ; Women's * Tour de France Femmes *

La Vuelta Femenina La Vuelta Femenina (; "The Female Tour") is an elite List of women's road bicycle races, women's professional bicycle race held in Spain. The race is organised by Unipublic and Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), which also organises the men's Vuel ...

* La Flèche Wallonne Féminine * Liège–Bastogne–Liège Femmes * Paris–Roubaix Femmes ; Amateur & other *

Tour de l'Avenir Tour de l'Avenir () is a French road bicycle racing stage race, which started in 1961 as a race similar to the Tour de France and over much of the same course but for amateurs and for semi-professionals known as independents. Felice Gimondi, Joo ...

* Shanghai Criterium * Saitama Critérium

Former

Critérium International The Critérium International was a two-day Stage (bicycle race), bicycle stage race held in France every spring from 1932 until 2016, typically the last weekend of March. It was formerly known as the Critérium National de la Route, first run in ...

* Tour of Beijing * Tour of California *

Tour de Yorkshire The Tour de Yorkshire was a road cycling race in the historic county of Yorkshire, England which first took place in May 2015. It was promoted by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and was rated as a 2.HC event as part of the UCI Europe Tou ...

/ Women's Tour de Yorkshire *

La Course by Le Tour de France La Course by Le Tour de France was an elite List of women's road bicycle races, women's professional road bicycle race held in France. First held in 2014 as a one-day race on the Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France, Champs-Élysées in ...

Tour de Picardie The Tour de Picardie was a professional multi-stage cycle road race that was held between 1936 and 2016 in Picardy, France. In its last twelve editions, it was organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a se ...

* Tour of Qatar /

Ladies Tour of Qatar The Tour of Qatar was an annual professional road bicycle racing#stage race, cycling stage race held in Qatar. First organized in 2002, the event was part of the UCI Asia Tour until 2016. The Tour of Qatar#2017 Cancellation, 2017 edition was to ...

* World Ports Classic

Golf

* Lacoste Ladies Open de France * Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge

Motorsports

* Andalucía Rally *

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally () or simply "The Dakar" (), formerly known as the Paris–Dakar Rally (), is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). It is an off-road endurance event traversing terrain much tougher than convent ...

* World Rally-Raid Championship

Sailing

* Tour Voile * Nice Ultimed

Other

Paris Marathon The Paris Marathon () is an annual marathon (sport), marathon hosted by the city of Paris, France. It is the largest running event in France in terms of finishers and is typically among the five largest marathons in the world. The marathon begi ...

References

External links

* Sports organizations of France Tour de France Cycle racing in France Dakar Rally Sports event promotion companies Cycling organizations in France Amaury family {{Cycling-org-stub