“The road racing scene in the UK is in deep trouble” – TNT price hike rubs salt in the wound of ITV exit for British cycling fans

For over two decades, ITV’s coverage of the Tour de France brought the world’s biggest bike race into millions of British homes. On Sunday, that era ended. The broadcaster signed off from its final Tour with a moving tribute, full of memories, gratitude, and emotion. The finality of it left many fans asking what the future holds, not only for television coverage, but for British cycling itself.

Since 2002, ITV had been the home of the Tour de France on free-to-air TV. Before that, Channel 4 carried the race from 1985 onwards. That meant four decades of free access to the world’s greatest cycling event for British audiences. For many fans, July has always sounded the same: the signature opening music, the voices of seasoned commentators, and the blur of yellow on sunlit roads in France.

That access is now gone. And with it, a big part of the sport’s visibility.

The implications are as clear as they are expensive. When Eurosport transitioned to TNT Sports earlier this year, it marked the beginning of a pricing overhaul. What once cost fans £6.99 per month now demands £30.99. Just one day after ITV’s farewell broadcast, TNT confirmed another price hike, this time to £33.99. For cycling fans who don’t follow football or rugby, the cost of watching their favourite sport has ballooned to over £400 a year.

As Peter Kennaugh, former Team Sky rider, put it during ITV’s farewell montage, “It’s quite heartbreaking that it won’t be, you know, free to air anymore.”

For casual viewers, ITV’s free coverage offered the chance to stumble across the Tour, to be drawn in by the spectacle without needing a subscription. But with the race moving fully behind a paywall, it’s harder for the sport to attract new fans. “I don’t really see how it grows from behind a paywall,” Matt Rendell said. “People aren’t going to be sort of glimpsing it out of the corner of their eyes.”

Beyond the monetary impact, ITV’s departure is cultural. For many in the cycling community, viewers and broadcasters alike, ITV was more than just a channel. It was a community, a tradition, and a shared language spoken every summer. “This is my first year with the ITV family,” said Alex Dwsett in the farewell video, “and also my last year with the ITV family.” Others echoed the same feeling: “My highlight has just been the friendships I’ve made along the way.”

In its final broadcast, ITV reflected on the evolution of the sport. “It’s hard to overstate the impact that the Tour de France success of those Sky years, and before that Cavendish for HTC-Columbia, had on the British racing scene,” commentator Ned Boulting said. Mark Cavendish’s rise, along with Geraint Thomas and Bradley Wiggins, shifted cycling into the British mainstream. “There was a period of time where [Cavendish] was the British sports star in any sport.”

Now, with Cavendish retired and Thomas likely to follow soon, the next generation faces a much more challenging landscape. Boulting pointed out, “The road racing scene in the UK is in deep trouble. The number of races and the number of athletes signing up is dwindling.” Without regular coverage, the pipeline from grassroots to professional racing weakens even more.

“At a grassroots level, it’s really interesting because there are so many amazing volunteers and clubs in the UK,” David Millar noted. “But the amount of events in the UK is not what it was 10 to 15 years ago. That’s actually declined.” That loss in visibility and participation could have a lasting effect. British cycling success once fed off its visibility; now the opposite may happen.

The commentary team spoke with pride about the quality and integrity of their work. “I think there’s been a commitment to journalism, a commitment to saying what needs to be said for our own integrity, whether it’s going to be liked or not.” The production built a reputation for knowledge not just of the race, but of the culture in France too. Even when the sport was under clouds of suspicion or scandal, the ITV team stuck to a high standard.

The broadcast, and Boulting, signed off with a simple truth: “The Tour will of course continue as it always has. But for everyone here who brought it to you for free for 25 years on ITV, it was never just about the race. It was about the experience.” And that experience was deeply British in its tone and passion.

ITV’s exit marks more than the end of a contract, as it severs a connection between British audiences and one of sport’s most poetic epics. The Tour de France is not going anywhere, but the way it is experienced by millions in the UK has changed, perhaps for good. “We look back not with sadness, but with fondness and immense pride.”

The question now is whether a sport that once thrived in the public eye can continue to grow behind a paywall. For a generation of fans, ITV was the Tour de France. It wasn’t just about coverage. It was a companion to the summer, and as one commentator put it, “a burst of laughter between the climbs.”

The road continues. But the view has changed.