The Tour Down Under is the southern hemisphere’s biggest bike race, season opener for the UCI World Tour, and a jewel in South Australia’s sporting crown.
Santos is South Australia’s biggest company, and one of the country’s biggest polluters. When it was founded in 1954, Santos was known by its full name: South Australia Northern Territory Oil Search. According to its own website, “Today it is one of Australia’s largest domestic gas producers and a major LNG (liquified natural gas) exporter to Asia, with operations across Australia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and beyond.’’
The Tour Down Under was first held in 1999. Santos has been its longest headline sponsor, holding the naming rights since 2010.
Late last year – staring down another summer of record heat ahead and with South Australia in the grip of both drought and a toxic algal bloom – FrontRunners launched a campaign focussed on the impact of fossil fuel sponsorship and climate change on the race, competitors, South Australians and beyond.
The website ProtectTDU.au was created specifically for the cycling community, with at-a-glance overviews of how extreme heat is continuing to impact the race, and how fossil gas companies such as Santos use sport sponsorships to create positive connections with grassroots communities.
For us, one of the most heartening aspects of the campaign was how aware many professional cyclists already are of the impact fossil fuel pollution and sponsorship are having on the sport they love, and how eager they were to get involved.
Australian champions Cyrus Monk, Maeve Plouffe and Brodie Chapman spoke unflinchingly to leading climate journalist Royce Kurmelovs for a major feature story in the Guardian.
Cyrus also discussed the issue on ABC’s Radio National Breakfast, and Maeve made the campaign her own. After writing a story for The Guardian, she guested on leading sport podcast Perceived Pressure, and worked with FrontRunners to helm a community ride and run on the final day of the 2026 Tour Down Under, leading over 100 fans on a spin around her hometown.
Olympic champion Grace Brown made time amongst her commentary duties to help out with Maeve’s ride, and also spoke with Professor Lauren Rickards for the SBS Cycling podcast about how extreme weather threatens the entire sport, from degrading road infrastructure to the logistical challenges faced by event organisers.
Then, a week after the final weekend of the TDU had to be altered due to 42C+ temperatures, FrontRunners CEO Dave Morris joined Nobel laureate climate scientist Mark Howden on one of Australia’s leading cycling podcasts, The Nero Show. In this interview, Dave and Mark covered the full gamut of issues, from how climate change is currently tracking, to the role of Australia’s fossil fuel industry in both making that change happen, and using sport to continue and extend their businesses.
Among the news media, some of Australia’s top satirists saw opportunity in the irony of big polluters aligning themselves with peak athletic performance, with both The Betoota Advocate and The Juice Media covering Santos’ sponsorship of the Tour.
As the twin crises of record-breaking drought and the algal bloom continue to impact South Australia, seeing a flagship fossil fuel sponsorship given the scrutiny it deserves has been an encouraging validation of the work FrontRunners continues to enable.
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