Amaury Sport Organisation
The Amaury Sport Organisation is part of the French media group, EPA. It organises sporting events including the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and Paris–Nice professional cycle road races, and the Dakar Rally. In 2008 it organised the Central Europe Rally, a rally raid endurance race in Romania and Hungary.
The Tour de France was instituted by the newspaper L'Auto in 1903. The paper was closed after World War II because of its links with the occupying Germans and a new paper, L'Équipe, took over. L'Équipe organised the Tour until the race was taken over by its parent company, ASO.
ASO organises the Paris Marathon, cycling events in Africa and the Middle East, golf and sailing. ASO also organises cyclosportives events for amateur cyclists, including the L'Étape du Tour and La Etapa de la Vuelta.
The president of ASO is Jean-Etienne Amaury, son of EPA founder Philippe Amaury.Professional cycling events
Current
ASO organises the following professional cycling events:
; UCI World Tour
; UCI Continental Circuits
; Women's
; Amateur
