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Vittel has joined Champion, LCL and Skoda as one of the four key partners of the Tour de France in 2008. The bottled water brand from Nestlé Waters will replace Nestlé Aquarel, the official water of the Tour de France since 2001.

The partnership deal demonstrates the strength of a sporting event that, despite being plagued by drug scandals in recent years, retains its power of attraction to owners of popular consumer brands. Moreover, the move should enable Vittel to revive its sporting roots and benefit from widespread global publicity the cycling extravaganza brings.

Hubert Genieys of Nestlé Waters commented: “Given its background with strong links to sport, its international reputation and its commercial strength, the Vittel brand adds a new dimension to the partnership that has joined Nestlé Waters and the Tour de France.”

For Vittel, the partnership with the Tour de France in the middle of its summer peak is a powerful push to drive its multiple distribution networks. The Tour de France is the world's biggest annual sporting event watched by over 2 billion TV viewers. The aura of the Tour is particularly strong in countries where the Vittel brand has a strong presence, such as France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and the UK. It is expected Nestlé will develop large promotional advertising actions around the event sponsorship this summer.

This is not the first time that the paths of the Tour de France and Vittel have crossed. The famous bottled water brand from the Vosges region of France was offered to spectators of the Tour de France in the 1960s via the publicity caravan and organised Flèche Vittel, predecessor of the current Team Classification. Furthermore, the Tour set off from the famous spa in the Vosges in 1968,

Besides cycling, Vittel has supported many other French sporting events in the past. At the end of the 1960s, Vittel became a shirt partner for all teams in the France Football Championship while 30 years later the brand rolled out an ambitious sponsoring policy with several French Olympic federations including athletics and swimming.

Vittel is the number two still water brand in France and the market leader in Germany. Around 55% of its sales volumes are exported around the world.