Tour de France trophies made in Bohemia

Trophies at this year’s Tour de France cycling race made by Czech glassmakers under the direction of Škoda Auto’s chief designer.

The Czech producer of light fittings and focal glass art installations LASVIT designed and produced the trophies exclusively for the overall winners of this year’s Tour de France, the most prestigious cycling race in the world, which were based on a design conceived by Lars Kemper (Germany) and Peter Olah (Slovakia) under the direction of Škoda Auto chief designer Jozef Kaban.

“The connection of the Tour de France and Škoda Auto has become a tradition, and this is the eighth year of the car maker being the main sponsor of the race. I was greatly honored when I was asked to design the trophy for the winner of this race,” Olah said in a press release.

“As the automaker Škoda belongs among the best to come from the Czech Republic, we wanted to use a typical Czech product for the trophy. The choice clearly was Czech crystal that due to its properties such as ductility, value and brilliance combined with mastery of the glass makers is predestined to be the perfect material for such exclusive trophy.”

The trophies were officially handed over on Sunday, July 24 to the holders of all four jerseys (i.e., the overall winner of the Tour de France in the yellow jersey; the best rider under 25 wearing the white jersey; the best sprinter in the green jersey, and the best climber wearing the spotted jersey) during the results announcement at award ceremonies at the famed Champs-Elysées boulevard in Paris. 

The design is inspired by the momentum and atmosphere of this most prestigious and toughest cycling race of the world. The trophies weighing about 2 kg each were handcrafted by Czech glassmakers from Nový Bor. Each one is made out of one piece of crystal glass, which was hand blown and then finished by hand grinding.

“Our collaboration with Škoda Auto, and for such a high-profile sporting event as the Tour de France has again been both challenging and prestigious contract for us,” LASVIT managing director Aleš Stýblo said. “Our production builds on the renowned tradition of Czech glass art and crafts with more than a thousand years of history. We try to combine excellent craftsmanship of traditional handicraft with the creativity of today’s top Czech, Slovak and international designers as manifested in their modern designs.”

Lasvit is a leading designer and manufacturer of bespoke contemporary light fittings and focal glass art installations for the public areas of the world's best hotels and other prestigious commercial or residential interiors. Its has its main design and production base in the Czech Republic, and nine wholly owned branch offices including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Los Angeles, and London.