What goes on Tour…
… doesn’t stay on tour. We meet team Lidl-Trek’s official videographer Sean Hardy to discover how he captured the chaos, the camaraderie, and the untold stories of this year’s Tour de France Femmes.
By Glorious
Photography by Sean Hardy
The 2025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift demanded everything from those who travelled with it. Over nine stages between 26th July and 3rd August, the peloton tackled 1,165 kilometres and 17,240 metres of climbing, the toughest route in the race’s history.
It began in Brittany’s Vannes, crossed the rugged Massif Central, and finished high in the Alps with a brutal double act – the Col de la Madeleine followed by a summit finale at Châtel, Portes du Soleil. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won both mountain stages solo, and with them the overall title, becoming the first Frenchwoman in 36 years to win any version of the Tour de France.
Fans turned out in force, lining roads and mountain passes, banging drums and cowbells, waving flags, and roaring riders over the line. But behind the noise and heroics is a travelling world few get to see. For director and photographer Sean Hardy, the Tour is a place of routine and chaos, family and fatigue, all viewed through the filter of a fast lens and a very full memory card.
“Photography was never the plan,” Sean laughs, “All of this was a pleasant mistake to be honest!” His twenties were spent touring with bands, and by thirty he was managing a team in an office job, raising kids and looking for something new. “I got back into cycling around this time and wanted to race some cyclocross. I took the camera along to take some snaps of the riders, just to study how they jumped on and off the bike so I didn’t look like a dick!” The pictures he took, intended just for analysis, found a far wider audience when he uploaded them to Facebook. “They just took off. Local riders loved them, then suddenly I was being asked to shoot for Rouleur magazine.
Before I knew it, I was at Paris-Roubaix photographing pros in the velodrome. For someone who grew up glued to the Tour de France on the TV, that was mental!” Eight years on, he’s built a career that spans Grand Tours, docu-series and team embedded work, all anchored by the same instinct to tell real stories.
Lidl-Trek, one of the top women’s professional cycling teams and a key player in this year’s Tour de France Femmes, has been Sean’s main focus. The team, known for blending seasoned champions with rising stars, operates with military precision, where every detail of race day is mapped out. Sean’s day often begins well before sunrise, with his gear packed and his mind already alert for moments to capture. While the race might look glamorous from the outside, Sean says it can quickly feel like groundhog day.
He describes a routine of almost daily hotel moves, early breakfasts, and suitcases being loaded onto the truck. “You then head to the race and the format is the same there. Bus meeting, riders get ready and then leave to race. You then follow that race to the finish and capture the riders arriving. It is then a mass exit to the next hotel where you check in, recharge and backup your gear, shoot riders getting massages, dinner, bed…repeat.” Sean admits finding fresh moments to shoot every day can be tough, but he has learned that embracing the flow of the day rather than fighting it helps feed his creativity and leads to better work.
madness
As Lidl-Trek’s embedded videographer, Sean’s job is officially to produce interviews and long-form stories for the team’s “All Access” documentary series. But he never stops shooting stills. “I was a photographer before I ever directed film, and I can’t help seeing moments in that way,” he says. “I want to show what it actually feels like to be here.
I used to go after perfect images, technically great shots, but now I think people just want to feel the madness and camaraderie for themselves.” For the 2025 Tour, Sean left the big kit behind and shot everything on a Ricoh GR3x, a small point-and-shoot with a flash. “The camera is so small it doesn’t change the environment. You’re not hiding behind a huge lens- you’re talking with riders and just snapping shots. They barely notice, so the images are more natural, messy, and real.”
Sean has to deliver a huge amount of content every stage, often working under tight deadlines. “Turnaround is unbelievably quick. I am shooting stills and video in the morning and then jump on the bus, begin editing straight away. I generate probably 30/50 edited images and what we call ‘splices’ which are 60-second video reel kind of things… I then do the same the second the race has finished.” Longer documentaries require weeks of planning either side, but the daily routine never lets up.
That same intensity runs through team Lidl-Trek. The 2025 race marked a season of transition for the team, shifting from high-profile veterans to a renewed focus on developing younger talent. Experienced leaders like Ellen van Dijk and Lizzie Deignan stepped back from leading roles, while promising riders such as Niamh Fisher-Black rose to the challenge.
Fisher-Black impressed with a strong 5th place finish overall, demonstrating the team’s blend of emerging potential and seasoned experience. Sean has witnessed the women’s Tour grow steadily in energy and media attention, edging closer to the scale of the men’s race each year. “There are so many more cameras, so much more excitement. The organisers want to build it steadily and make sure it sticks, give it the foundation it needs. I believe they will.” He’s been part of that story from the start. “The women I have shot every year with the team, so I think that was the fourth? Or third?!”
He’s covered the men’s Tour de France for seven years too, but France’s obsession with the race, he says, is about far more than just sport. “It’s a race that craves stories and people love a story. All the stories from it, from glory to bust. It has all the emotions.” Reflecting on what makes the Tour de France Femmes so special, he adds, “The country itself. The fact is it is so damn bloody hard! You cannot imagine how hard it is, what these athletes put their bodies through. It never fails to impress me and each year they get better and better and better. It is mindblowing.”
Sean is hesitant to compare the two races directly. “They are different and similar in so many ways, the women’s tour is growing and growing and is beautiful to see, while the men’s still remains one of the world’s biggest sporting events. The men’s is a three week race where the women’s is still only 8/9/10 stages.” This year, though, stood out. “The crowds. It feels like it doubled in size this year and rightfully so. I shoot a lot of the men’s calendar too and you get used to the levels of fans they are accustomed to, but in many ways women’s cycling is better to watch. It’s shorter and punchier. Stages are good bike racing.
It’s all the drama of what you expected almost condensed to a tighter package, which in turn generates a lot of emotions.” And with a Frenchwoman finally taking the yellow jersey, he expects even more momentum next year. “The final outcome could be outstanding for women’s cycling.”
Much of the magic, he insists, is found far from the finish line. Sean’s access extends far beyond what most fans imagine, but it is not without limit. Race ownership rules prevent him filming inside the thick of the competition, so most of his work is on the team bus, at starts, or at the finish. Occasionally, he rides in the team’s support car or feed van, but the best moments appear away from the hustle of the peloton.
Sean’s approach is to stay present without being intrusive, building trust over time and always putting the team’s mood ahead of his own creative needs. “The rider comes first. I’ve built relationships with them and you learn each personality. Part of that is knowing when not to point the camera at them, remembering they are people first. I think showing that level of respect means you get it in return, they trust your work. You have to be aware of the race and what that person is going through. After a few days of exhaustion, people’s attitudes can become more complicated, and addressing that means better results.” That sense of care goes beyond the lens. “If there’s ever a crash, I don’t care about the camera. I’m on the ground to help. Otherwise, I try to stick to my job. If I’m not delivering what the team needs, I feel like I’ve failed them.”
instinct
Full of colour, warmth and a bit of punk philosophy, Sean’s images are distinctly his own. “I have always been drawn to documentary work, capturing real life,” he says. “I look for emotion in an image, something you can connect with.” He avoids clichés. “I watch the other photographers really closely. I monitor their Instagrams and see what they are doing. I watch them at a race and see where they are standing. I peep at cameras and settings to see what they are using and then almost just do the complete opposite. If they are all standing on the left side of the road I will stand on the right.” He’s not interested in recreating what already exists. “I do not need another cliche shot in my Instagram feed. I want something that makes me stop and think ‘what is happening here’. That is my goal, be a little more punk and not be scared to fail.”
The energy in his work comes from instinct. “In the 90s I was obsessed with band photography and looking back on those images it was the vibe of the images I loved. I would look at them for hours just wishing I was there.” Sport gives him that same draw. “I adore sport, the emotion in it. I would shoot any sport to be honest but would love to dive deeper into football for example, the behind the scenes stuff more. You don’t see that much. I like the grassroots of sports too, the build up to something great. You can capture real magic there.” The image that stays with him from this year’s Tour is simple. “Shirin with her dog Luna. She is standing up with her as Luna looks at the camera. I like this because it is exactly what I am looking for in an image. It shows me a glimpse of Shirin’s life beyond racing.”
So what happens when the jerseys have been handed out, the race is over, and everyone goes home? Sean says the feeling is strange. “You spent so much time with staff and riders and created memories and achievements together, as a mini family. You experience each other’s highs and lows and then just part ways, all leave on separate flights and you just arrive home to normal life, it takes some adjustment.” Despite that, he says the madness is part of why he loves what he does. Sean often gets messages asking how to break into cycling photography. He explains it’s very accessible: “You can go to the Tour de France and shoot the whole race if you want, you don’t need a ticket or accreditation, anyone can capture it.” That, he says, is the beauty of the sport—you can get close to the riders, and nothing stops you getting involved.
When the dust cleared from the Alps, Sean released Oh Là Là, his first ever zine, a printed collection of images from the Tour. “I just wanted to print something that I liked,” he says. “These images feel like four years in the making and really lent on the relationship with the riders rather than the race, so it felt personal to me.” He wasn’t sure what to expect, but the reaction was immediate. “I put a pre-order out of 50 and they sold out in two hours. I couldn’t keep up with the messages.” A second limited run sold out in six. The zine is set to be released in September this year; final designs have just been signed off and test prints are due this week. He might do another batch, but for now he’s waiting to see how things go.
Sean’s next stop is fast approaching, with Spain and La Vuelta waiting. “Can’t wait!” he laughs, the tiredness of the last race quickly replaced by new excitement. The pattern of long days, constant travel and searching for those honest, in-between moments is ready to begin again, and Sean would not have it any other way. People often say what happens on tour stays on tour, but through his photographs, the heart and mess of racing life travel far beyond team buses and finish lines. Thanks to Sean, what happens on tour is shared with everyone, long after the roads have emptied and the dust has settled.
Find out more about Sean’s work here, and follow him on social here.
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