Ned Boulting reflects on “a curious three weeks” as ITV bids farewell to the Tour de France

Nearly three weeks ago, the Tour de France ended with Tadej Pogacar sealing his fourth yellow jersey. For British cycling fans, the final stage brought more than the usual celebratory feeling, as 2018 champion Geraint Thomas bowed out of the race for good, and ITV signed off after more than two decades of free-to-air coverage. The network’s last highlights show aired on July 27, before the world’s biggest bike race moved to a £33.99 paywall on TNT Sports and Discovery+.

ITV commentator Ned Boulting reflected on the emotions behind the scenes, telling Cycling Weekly, “It was a curious three weeks, knowing that this moment was coming. The crew behind the camera, many of whom have been part of the circus for longer than I have (almost a quarter century), have of course known since November that this would be their last. So it’s not exactly come as a surprise.”

His arrival in Lille for the Grand Départ left him wondering whether morale would falter in the face of a long goodbye. “I thought that heads might drop, and that morale would be low. I could not have been more wrong.”

Instead, the ITV team threw themselves into the coverage with a quiet determination. “Straight from the start, when we first saw the riders line up for stage one, there was an unspoken understanding that this should be, if we engineer it, the best three weeks of output we have ever put on air,” Boulting said. He acknowledged that the ambition was almost impossible, given the long legacy of ITV and Channel 4 before it, but the sentiment was clear.

Boulting also spoke of how access to riders has changed in the modern era. “Gone are the days, perhaps understandably, when we could simply maraud around hotel rooms and foyers with cameras, and the riders would welcome us in. So, the bar is very high.” Yet, through all the shifts in broadcasting, he stressed one constant: “The one thing the show has always nurtured among its team members and indeed its millions of viewers, is respect for the race, even if we have simultaneously been able to revel in its idiosyncrasies and absurdities.”

He reserved special praise for the production staff who worked from London throughout the race. “This remote production team seldom get the credit that they deserve,” he said, noting how they shaped daily footage into a “beautifully curated hour long format” for viewers unable to watch live. Looking ahead, he wished TNT Sports well in carrying the Tour forward and hoped that many ITV viewers would follow it there.

As for his own future with the race, Boulting offered a personal note about how he would continue commentating on the race next year: “Since my very first experience of the Tour de France was when I was sent to work on it in 2003, I have never simply watched it from afar on the telly. I don’t intend to start now.”