No more ITV Tour de France coverage

Noooooo…!

If they do, then they are likely to know about it now...a real shame as it is good. More power to the people who think they can churn more money for subscriptions to get people to watch this...I suspect a lot will just switch off from trying to follow this and those who do pay are likely to already have a subscription that covers this.

Oh no, it really won't be the same without Gary Imlach presenting and Matt Stephens reporting (plus Chris Boardman if he turns up).

Orla does a decent job holding it together on ES, but they just don't give it the same production values or put each day in context so well.

Oh no, that's a shame. I really enjoy the ITV coverage. Theme tunes a banger as well.

Bollocks. Enshittification continues

on ES, but they just don’t give it the same production values or put each day in context so well

Couldn't disagree more, the Eurosport commentators have incredible knowledge both of the race, the areas, the teams, the politics, the battles.. They're absolutley astounding

(as long as you ignore the pronunciation of names of riders 😀 )

the Eurosport commentators have incredible knowledge both of the race, the areas, the teams, the politics, the battles.. They’re absolutley astounding

some of them, yes. Others, MUCH less so. More, that only really matters if you watch the whole thing. The production values on the "highlights" programme fall WOEFULLY short of the ITV version

The production values on the “highlights” programme fall WOEFULLY short of the ITV version

This. ITV4's highlights show was a highlight (sorry...) in itself, it wasn't just the last 30km of the race replayed. It had history, geology, scenery and architecture, behind-the-scenes racing news, interviews, race analysis...

The production values on the “highlights” programme fall WOEFULLY short of the ITV version

Hence my only really watching the Tour coverage and missing the Vuelta and Giro highlights programmes. I suppose the upside is that it will free up an hour of every evening in peak summer.

Yeah, I'll miss the highlights package - I rarely get to watch whole stages but the hour in the evening on itv is packed and you leave really knowing what happened on the stage.

Hopefully eurosport/discovery will up their game here as 15 minutes of badly edited highlights really doesn't do the same job. I share a disco subscription with a mate (mainly for mtb) so can still watch but Orla has become quite grating and the banter doesn't really work for me.

Overall: gutted!

That's a massive shame.  A core part of the summer - just a really warm, entertaining show - the whole team were great.

Next year will be a bitter-sweet

Yea, we have the eurosport as part of some other package and still watch it on ITV (streamed so you can actually see what's going on rather than the blurred mess of compression artefacts and SD that passes for ITV4). It's a shame so much sport is slowly going behind paywalls.

I went to Ned’s show a couple of days ago...

We're going next week, looking forward to it. Been to a couple of his previous ones.

If EuroSport have any sense, they'll bring David and Ned along with it and finally put Sean Kelly out to pasture.

I've watched Gary Imlach get old, coped with the replacement of Liggett and Sherwen by Ned and David, still remember the original Channel 4 theme tune (and its replacement). After more than 30 years it will be a different July. The end of an ear.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-de-france/cars-set-fire-basque-separatists-inside-story-itvs-tour-de-france-coverage-432763

We subscribed to D+ solely for the cycle racing, then subscribed to itvx (on a £20 for the year special offer admittedly, wouldn't have paid full price) solely so we could watch the highlights programme online without ads, as the broadcast version is so horrible

More to the point, how will I know which funeral / cremation plan to go for?! Has no-one thought about the poor donkey sanctuary?

Been watching on Channel 4 and ITV since probably 1984, so personally gutted to hear this as well.

I doubt very much I would pay to see it even with my history of interest and enjoyment.

I also dislike the highlights package on Eurosport on comparison.

More to the point, how will I know which funeral / cremation plan to go for?! Has no-one thought about the poor donkey sanctuary?

And how are those lions who work for Injury Lawyers 4 You going to keep in antelope steaks?

Shame,I realy like the highlights on ITV.

A good team and their analysis and race comments are usually spot on.

Going to see Ned next week,will be interesting if there are any 'questions' from the audience.

Yep, really disappointing decision. As a former lover of cricket and F1 I haven't watched them in years since they went to sky.

I have a discovery+ subscription so can watch but have always vastly preferred the ITV highlights to Eurosport. There packages provide no context of the stage, either the last 30km replayed or random time/distance jumps without any linking. A jarring watch.

What a shame - been watching it it since the late 80's on terrestrial TV, and the current show is great. The theme tunes are evocative, and I will miss doing air accordian at the start of the programme! I got pretty tired of Phil Liggett in the end, and much prefer the current setup, and i've always enjoyed Gary Imlach's sardonic set-pieces...

@onewheelgood no need to do a Van Gogh, it’s only a change of coverage!

Good to see so much love for it anyway, hope the programme makers know how highly people think of their work.

On the subject of sport and paywalls, it's obviously worked well enough for top-level soccer - but perhaps ASO are being short-sighted in taking the WBD megabucks and potentially cutting off a pipeline of future fans?

If they are not working on the tour for another media channel it will also mean the end of Never Strays Car TDF.

Double gutted.

This is gutting. The highlights show is the most perfect and best put together sports show in the UK. The Eurosport version is so poor in comparison.

That’s a massive shame. A core part of the summer – just a really warm, entertaining show – the whole team were great.

That's how I feel too. **** Eurosport.

Oh well, that's another sport I won't be watching.

Sadly, I'll still have to pay Discovery+ for a couple of months for the Classics but there's no way round that, as far as I can see.

As much as I've loved watching the Tour over the years, back to the Channel 4 days as others have said, I don't really have time for anything other than the highlights now and Eurosport offerings were crap.

On the subject of sport and paywalls, it’s obviously worked well enough for top-level soccer – but perhaps ASO are being short-sighted in taking the WBD megabucks and potentially cutting off a pipeline of future fans?

It's an odd one, arguably Pro cycling is like 90's Premier league football still.  It's as good as it's going to get, but it's not the global behemoth it could be. The problem is if they want to grow the audience and make £££ that's going to mean the classics and other smaller but traditionally important races being replaced by new ones in other markets. If you want to sell cycling to viewers in the Emirates / Kazakhstan / California , you need races in the Emirates / Kazakhstan / California not some rainy windswept corner of Belgium.

Hopefully in 20 years time we're not bemoaning the lack of Paris-Roubaix whilst riders attend contractually obliged pre-season races elsewhere.

🙁

Cancelled my Disco+ sub mid TdF because I realised I just didn't care enough. Didn't are enough to watch whole stages (life is just too important to devote so much of yours watching other people living theirs) and their highlights are shite. The ITV ones were much better. Orla Chennaoui just annoys me for some reason and Sean Kelly should have been pushed out to pasture around the end of the last millennium.

The ITV mob are just plain better at doing their jobs - that's the presenters, the hired in experts and the editorial staff.

Beyond some grumpy middle aged men - it's a shame for the UK cycle industry too. The last thing they needed was the removal of free to air access to watching an hour or so of their products ridden by people who look like they know what they're doing.

@onewheelgood no need to do a Van Gogh, it’s only a change of coverage!

I worked somewhere once where it was part of the banter to randomly insert anagrams into your speech. I can never hear 'end of an era' without mentally substituting 'ear'. Sorry.

Anyway, it may only be a change of coverage, but as others have said, much though I like Orla, the Eurosport coverage is just not as good. It's competent enough, but somehow the C4/ITV programme had a warmth and charm that Eurosport cannot replicate.

It’s an odd one, arguably Pro cycling is like 90’s Premier league football still.  It’s as good as it’s going to get, but it’s not the global behemoth it could be.

It's got more commercial potential, for sure, but I don't think WBD are the operator to realise that potential.

They won't be giving it the big budget Sky Sports treatment that the footy or (presumably) golf get. They'll continue on a shoestring with their clunky, lazy editing and patchy commentary and presenting.

Same probably applies to the DH, sadly.

I thought TDF existed to be a massive, beautiful advert for potential paying visitors to France. If that was the case, you would think they would want it viewed by as wide an audience as possible, rather than hiding behind a paywall.

Rubbish news, won't pay to watch it. Will be end of an era,

Oh man, that is gutting though I did suspect this must be on the cards sooner or later.

I have Eurosport but it their coverage seems quite functional and staid to me and you can tell they just lob it together with less thought than ITV. I will definitely miss Ned Boulting and David Miller (plus also Daniel Friebe tbf).

I find the actual commentary on Eurosport highlights pretty irritating tbh (I think its Carlton Kirby and Rob Hatch maybe?) though the Eurosport post-race analysis is quite good.

Thats really disappointing.  They had the highlights package down to a tee.  Gary Imlach will be much missed as will the theme tune.  Just won't be the same with Eurosport.

Terrible decision by the money men

No issue with the race coverage on Eurosport, but the whole package as others have said on itv highlights is great.

Noooo...

the C4/ITV programme had a warmth and charm that Eurosport cannot replicate

This... The commentary team were as much part of July as the Tour, for me.

I'm more likely to ride out to France to see a stage or two than get a Eurosport sub. Just not that bothered by racing overall, the Tour is as much about it being part of summer evenings and a love of France overall since the mid 80s, as the racing itself.

Will be end of an era,

and the start of an error.

Though to be fair if Ned and David start doing cricket it might make that watchable.

I've waxed and waned with following pro cycling over the years, but I've always dipped in and out of the ITV coverage of le Tour.  This year was like the early 2010s again, avoid coverage during the day, get home in time for the highlights to see how Cav has done.  Loved it.

Ned, Gary and David will be sorely missed.

Football seems to be the only sport that has thrived since going pay for view. I suspect that had more to do with it being culturally embedded in the nations psyche as well as the money Sky spent promoting it.

Like others I no longer watch cricket or F1.

What I've seen of DH in the last couple of years hasn't inspired me, the Redbull coverage was a weekend staple for my lad and I.

I will bid a fond adieu next summer, then likely put pro cycling in the box with cricket and F1...

This sucks. Big time sucks. Suckedy suck suck.

Been watching it every season since the late eighties.

ITV coverage is an institution. Summer won't be the same without that team, as it has evolved through the years...

Gutted

Watched it for years - 50% for the race and 50% for commentary from Gary and the crew. They always seemed to have the balance right on what's actually going on in the race plus realising that a lot of us also like gratuitous shots of French countryside and pointless trivia on geology.

And yes the highlights show was put together perfectly right down to the choice of each closing music track - I can't see Eurosport getting any of that right, that was Imlach humour.

As someone already pointed out, more enshification of life.

There's just something almost ineffably relaxing during the TdF when the Eurosport coverage is being loud and a bit raucous, to turn over to ITV4 and be soothed by Ned & David discussing something gently. It's not that I don't enjoy the Eurosport team, because I really do, but Dan Lloyd leaving meant it's just been much more apparent that they do things differently; both are good, but there's not always the need for a big production. I just found myself erring towards ITV4 far more in the last few seasons. Less CGI, which is a good thing, but that theme music! That's a crying shame if it doesn't get aired again.
Sad times, yet again.

I have no interest in road racing at all.

I don't understand the tactics.

I only know the names of about 4 riders in the grand tours.

BUT

I could happily watch every second of the tdf as its shown on itv4.

I can't put my finger on it,  but there's something about the combination of the scenery, commentary and crowds that makes it wonderful.

Write to ASO pointing out the error of their ways.  Ch4/ITV provided coverage when it was a niche interest, but giving it exclusively to Eurosport is going to lose a lot of viewers and hurt interest in the sport.  They'll be back to niche interest and no free to air coverage before they know it.  They should look at the example of how cricket suffered in general when it removed a lot of coverage from free to air.

Ah that's a real shame - watching the Tour through the ITV4 highlights has been a summer tradition for me for about the last 10 years tbh. Sad to see it go

That's a real shame, great highlights. Eurosport doesn't come close.

Ch4/ITV provided coverage when it was a niche interest

On the contrary, CH4 viewing figures were around 1M back in the days of only 4 channels; it's a struggle to get even half of that as far as I'm aware.
I'd wager that there are far more Slovenians watching than Brits, for example.

Thinking about this a bit more, looking on the bright side .. I'll be getting out in the evenings in July a lot more in future.

So lets say you're a retrogrouch technophobe tightwad who does not subscribe to any paid-for services, as they barely watch film or tv ever, the only satellite things they're aware of are in orbit- what would be the cheapest way to continue watching LeTour? Am thinking.... free trial of Amazon Prime then take out a July only subscription to discovery+ ? Watched through smart TV or Xbox...would that work?  Or is there another way?

Gutted like everyone else. As already said, the highlights ITV put out are really good, actually highlights with some other good stuff on slow days rather than the end of the race that Eurosport do 🙁

Will also miss Gary's sarcasm!

So lets say you’re a retrogrouch technophobe tightwad who does not subscribe to any paid-for services, as they barely watch film or tv ever, the only satellite things they’re aware of are in orbit- what would be the cheapest way to continue watching LeTour? Am thinking…. free trial of Amazon Prime then take out a July only subscription to discovery+ ? Watched through smart TV or Xbox…would that work?  Or is there another way?

Monthly subscription to Eurosport via their web app and cancel once it's over?

I have no interest in road racing at all.

I don’t understand the tactics.

I only know the names of about 4 riders in the grand tours.

BUT

I could happily watch every second of the tdf as its shown on itv4.

I can’t put my finger on it,  but there’s something about the combination of the scenery, commentary and crowds that makes it wonderful.

That actually sums up a lot of Tour viewers. Everyone watches the Tour in the same way that everyone sits there and watches horse dancing in the Olympics cos everyone watches the Olympics. If you put horse-dancing on TV on its own or on a paywalled channel, it'd get 4 viewers, 2 of whom thought that the weather would be on next.

If you put horse dancing on as part of the Olympics, twelvty million people watch it, none of them having the slightest clue WTF is going on but just kind of enjoying the general spectacle and going with the flow.

Hell, even my Mum watches the Tour - my Mum can, with difficulty, distinguish the front end of the bike from the back end and the only rider she ever knew was Mario Cipollini cos he had a "funny name" (her words) and Phil Liggett used to shout it a lot in the days when he was winning! But she'll watch the Tour, at least having it on in the background so she can look at the scenery and the chateaux.

WB/Discovery/ASO are going to find out the hard way that the Tour isn't as big as they think.

I can see the rationale for their decision, but I can't believe the figures will work out. Pro cycling isn't yet a major league sport, despite the ASO thinking it is.

Monthly subscription to Eurosport via their web app and cancel once it’s over?

Thanks, and is that an app that works on a common smart TV or only on desktop/ tablet?

Cripes, am so OldSkool...

This is a rare thing, pretty much universal agreement about a subject on STW. I'm trying to remember the last this this happened, if ever?

It’s a shame so much sport is slowly going behind paywalls.

meh, at least now I can spend more time riding my own bike rather than sat on my arse watching someone else ride theirs!!

the Tour isn’t as big as they think.

I thought there was some niche statistic that if you took live spectator numbers it is by far the biggest sporting event in the world... no idea how that translates to worldwide tv viewing stats.

Bloody hell that shit - even though I have Eurosport, I never watch the Eurosport TdF

Whats more I am sure it will have a massive impact on Sales revenue in the UK cycling industry. More people are out on the roads during and after the TdF.

Someone needs to start standing up for TV rights in the UK. No DH mtb and the biggest road biking race on the planet will effect the UK bike industry

@crazy-legs are the organisers of things like the tour of Britain worried about the impact this will have?

meh, at least now I can spend more time riding my own bike rather than sat on my arse watching someone else ride theirs!!

haha, yea it's always a challenge in July to make sure I get on the bike and out the door before the coverage starts

Thanks, and is that an app that works on a common smart TV or only on desktop/ tablet?

Cripes, am so OldSkool…

It's now part of Discovery+ so you sign up for that at £6.99, if you have an app for discovery+ on your TV then it'll work via that otherwise laptops/phone/tablet

It’s now part of Discovery+ so you sign up for that at £6.99,

Eurosport and Discovery + are currently part of standard Sky subscriptions, even if the Discovery interface is absolutely shockingly bad

 It’s as good as it’s going to get, but it’s not the global behemoth it could be.

I think anyone who genuinely believes that elite cycling is every going to be a 'global behemoth' is slightly deluded. Grand Tour racing in particular is a bit like test cricket in that it takes ages - a lot of the time it's actually quite dull - and the detail of tactics etc is complicated. Plus the Tour de France dwarfs ever other event.

And if this season's anything to go by, there's a reasonable chance that the next few years are going to consist of Pogacar riding off the front of the peloton to victory at varying points. Without jeopardy, sport tends to get dull.

I thought there was some niche statistic that if you took live spectator numbers it is by far the biggest sporting event in the world

the trouble is, the TDF is a business like most big sporting events, and hordes of people turning up at the side of the road for free isn't making them any money! A quick google suggest the whole TDF brings in (a lot) less money total than just the broadcast revenue Man City receives each year for their televised games. They are a tiny business in the grand scheme of things. I can't see this paying off tbh.

 a tragedy

Holy Hyperbole!

Meh, ITV only picked up the rights because C4 dropped them didn't they?

It's just sports broadcasting Eurosport are fine, ITV are OK, does it really matter so long as it's on some free to view channel?

It's a tragedy for me. Genuinely one of my very, very few "must watch" programmes a year.

The highlights programme is so good that, come evenings in July, my fiancee - who has zero interest in watching any other sport except gymnastics - will be the one putting the TV on and tuning to ITV4 before I do.

does it really matter so long as it’s on some free to view channel?

It's not - or won't be - that's partly the point people are making.

It’s just sports broadcasting Eurosport are fine, ITV are OK, does it really matter so long as it’s on some free to view channel?

Like politicians not knowing the price of milk or bread, not knowing you're paying for eurosport via some TV package is unforgivably Bougie!

?

I think anyone who genuinely believes that elite cycling is every going to be a ‘global behemoth’ is slightly deluded.

OK, maybe slightly hyperbolic, but it's still a strangely European (mainland) sporting obsession.  The UK's always been on the fringes of that, and the rest of the world doesn't seem to care.

Evidenced by most of the sponsors being very Euro-centric. Rather than the Chinese betting firms that have taken over football shirts.

Unfortunately not Meh for me - Eurosport coverage is basically shit. From Sean Kelly to the computer generated 'newsroom'.

But who knows - maybe they'll up their game.

Discovery+/Eurosport is so cheap it's virtually free. £6.99/month (and no yearly sub) is a bit of a bargain IMO.

Can't vouch for their cycling coverage as I've not watched it, but their coverage of WEC/LeMans is excellent.

there’s a reasonable chance that the next few years are going to consist of Pogacar riding off the front of the peloton to victory at varying points.

.. until he gets busted ; )

That's a massive downer. Really enjoyed watching the show for three weeks over the summer (and some of their other race coverage) and far prefer it to Eurosport. The show also got the rest of my family into cycling (mainly thanks to Gary Imlach and his infinite collection of John Smedley tops, and Chris Boardman). sigh. I guess we'll wait and see whether Ned, Dave and Gary pop up elsewhere.

Gutted

I will most likely be subbing to D+ again next summer for the DH (and moaning about the commentary etc. obvs), but I really dunno if I'll bother with the TdF highlights on there.

Like the DH, it should be a golden era for the sport - but we're lumbered with second-rate coverage.

Like the DH, it should be a golden era for the sport – but we’re lumbered with second-rate coverage.

Other than the fact that Eurosport have every minute of every day's racing of almost every major cycle race, plus decent coverage of quite a few smaller races that the people who only watch ITV4's highlights have never heard of, AND cyclocross, yes, it is rubbish!

So, not having Eurosport, and only having a NotVerySmart smartTv (that won't take the app) - the options seem to be a month subs to Disco+ on an Ipad or console.... I'd happily pay 6.99 to watch LeTour... I'm not paying £70per month for 637 things I have no interest in.

Or do that thing you always wanted to do, sell-up/ downsize - buy a camper van and go full dutch following the Tour through the Alps riding am: then lazy afternoons camped-up at the side of some col- deckchairs, beer, sun, fancy dress....

.

Eurosport and Discovery + are currently part of standard Sky esubscriptions, even if the Discovery interface is absolutely shockingly bad

Can someone clear this up for me. I've got Eurosport via my sky subscription but a week or so back when Il Lombardia wasn't showing live on ES I registered for Discovery+, but they wanted an extra sub to view. Am I missing something or is it the case that I need to elbow Eurosport and pay for Discovery instead?

Seems a bit shortsighted to me. The whole business model of cycling revolves around sponsorship and a huge chunk of those sponsors get most of their value from getting their logo in front of eyes on the tour. Fewer people watching the tour makes the entire sport less valuable, and I can’t see WBD increasing the viewership from behind a paywall.

The whole business model of cycling revolves around sponsorship and a huge chunk of those sponsors get most of their value from getting their logo in front of eyes on the tour. Fewer people watching the tour makes the entire sport less valuable, and I can’t see WBD increasing the viewership from behind a paywall.

Yep. Putting niche sports behind a paywall is a really bad idea because your market shrinks to the people who are already invested / interested enough to watch.

One of the main reasons that the Tour eclipses both the Giro and the Vuelta is that it is on free-to-air TV in so many countries. As a result, it's the one GT that everyone goes for, the one that everyone knows.

Cycling became huge in America when Lance was winning* the Tour. If he'd have done the same in the Giro and/or the Vuelta, no-one would have noticed.

*I'm parking the obvious debate as to whether he actually "won" anything...