But one two-man team has a really quite unusual role in helping France's most famous cycle event run smoothly.

Every day two people drive out in a minibus along that day's route with a very specific task – turning the obscene graffiti in the road into cute cartoons. And now they have been made the subject of a Dutch TV show NOS Sport.

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Thousands of fans from around the globe flock to line each section of the 3,500km route, and many of them like to write slogans in the road cheering on their favourite teams or favourite rider.

This is not a problem, but there are also a significant number of people who turn their artistic talents in a more childish direction – making the classic drawing in the road of a man's genitals, or “a cock 'n' balls” as it is more colloquially known.

This presents a bit of a headache for Tour organisers, since the race is televised in countries around the globe and screening obscene images is a bit of a no-no for most major broadcasters.

Hence the specialist anti-graffiti team. With no time to scrub the drawings off before the first riders come through, the duo instead exercise their own artist talents to turn the drawings into cute little cartoon characters.

The video below which is with Dutch subtitles shows the lengths the two men go to to cover up the rude artwork.

Team leader Patrick, who spends the other 11 months of the year working as an undertaker in Templeuve, north east France, previously told French radio station France Info that it is not just obscene graffiti they cover – they also deal with offensive messages and any political slogans.

He said: “My greatest joy is to receive the email in January where I am invited to do the Tour.”

But as this tweet below shows the odd cock 'n' balls slips through their grasp.