Škoda rises to occasion turning penis graffiti into playful, feminist artworks to promote the Tour de France Femmes

As the world’s biggest cycling event drew to a close, the Tour de France faced a familiar challenge as it does every year, hundreds of penis drawings were again graffitied onto the race route.

But instead of simply painting over them, Škoda, Official Main Partner of the Tour de France, with the help of AMV BBDO, transformed the crude markings into artworks that promote the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, currently racing until 9th August 2026, using the visibility of the men’s race to shine a spotlight on the women’s peloton.

While the men’s Tour de France attracts a global television audience of more than 3.5 billion, the women’s race reaches around 23 million viewers. This campaign aims to leverage the Tour de France audiences to help promote women’s cycling and boost those viewing figures.

Each year, organisers deploy a specialist team known as the ‘Eraser Men’ to remove offensive graffiti from the route before it is broadcast around the world. Armed with rollers and large quantities of paint, the team works stage by stage to cover the markings before the race passes through.

Above artwork designs by Cécile Dormeau and Erin Aniker with Mathilde Jacquemet, Jo Hicks and the Erasermen pictured below

This year, at certain stages ŠKODA equipped the Eraser Men with specially designed stencils created by female artists, allowing them to transform the graffiti into striking artworks that celebrate the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

After a successful trial run last year, Škoda has partnered for the official launch of the 2026 campaign, with French illustrator Cecile Dormeau and London-based illustrator Erin Aniker (pictured below) who are both known for their bold and playful women focused artwork and campaigns. The two illustrators playful designs have incorporated the original graffiti and transformed it into bold visual imagery that promotes the women’s race and encourages fans to follow the action through #WatchTheFemmes, the official race hashtag.

L-R: Jo Hicks, Mathilde Jacquemet, Erin Aniker and Cécile Dormeau pictured painting the designs at last years test run

Artwork designs by Cécile Dormeau

The designs were then adapted and hand-painted speedily onto the route to cover the offensive graffiti by female street artists Jo Hicks and Mathilde Jacquemet (pictured above and below) alongside The Erasermen. The street artists often had only minutes to apply the designs to the road ahead of the on-coming cyclists and TV cameras on the cycling route.