James Arnold is Animating the Tour de France Femmes Athletes and It’s So Cool
If you follow bike racing, you’ve probably seen James Arnold’s animations before. The UK artist creates animated versions of all of our favorite cycling heroes and cycling moments from around the world, with incredible attention to detail. He doesn’t just mimic an athlete’s physical appearance, he also includes hints of their personality, humor, and background. Oftentimes, he sets each unique Reel he creates to music that matches perfectly.
In preparation for the Tour de France Femmes, which starts Sunday July 23, 2023, Arnold has been posting animations of the women who will be toeing the line for 8 stages. He decided to make animations of 22 women from 22 teams. The artist includes a mini interview with each athlete.
“I loved watching the TDFF on television last year,” he told Bicycling in an email. “And wanted to encourage others to watch this year. Using my social accounts to promote the TDFF is the way I can do that. And I also like a challenge. Twenty-two riders from twenty-two different teams is quite a challenge.”
When Arnold posts the animations to Instagram, he also shares information about the athletes—accomplishments, answers to questions, and interesting facts. He gets in touch with athletes via social media, and asks them a few questions to get to know them. “I really enjoy reading through their replies,” Arnold said. “Especially what was their favorite pizza topping. I love a good pizza.”
For his animation of Simone Boilard (St Michel - Mavic - Auber93), when asked if she could be any other cyclist for a day, she would choose, she said, “Marianne Vos. She knows exactly what to do in any racing situation.” And her favorite pizza topping? “Separate from the traditional ones, figs are my favorite toppings.”
In his animation of Lotta Henttala (AG Insurance - Soudal Quick-Step), which includes her son, Olavi, riding on the back of her bike, Arnold asked how she got into bike racing. She said, “I have competed my whole life in all kind of sports, but cycling because my dad brought me to cycling,”
In order to choose which riders to animate, Arnold asked his followers for input. “I asked my Instagram followers for suggestions for who I should animate from each of the 22 teams. I wanted to animate some lesser known riders and my followers gave me the names of some riders I wouldn’t have necessarily thought about choosing. Margaux Vigie, a rider from Lifeplus-Wahoo, filled in the gaps for teams with missing rider suggestions.”
And the riders love to see the animations. They’ve sent Arnold all kinds of lovely messages thanking him for including them. So far his favorite animations to create for the TDFF have been, “The ‘pocket rocket climber’ from Italy, Gaia Realini who stands at just 150 cm. I am also looking forward to posting Teniel Campbell next week. With Gaia being just 150 cm. and Teniel standing at 186 cm. I needed to adjust my ’standard’ rider template,” Arnold said.
Arnold is happy to do anything he can to promote the women’s race. “If I animate male, pro cyclists I know I’ll get lots more comments, shares, and likes on social media, but at the end of the day it’s not about that for me. If I can help shine a light on women’s racing then that’s ultimately more fulfilling than watching my follower numbers increase.”
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