No more ITV Tour de France coverage

Thats not cynicism it is straight sexism – a woman can only be in that to role to titillate men, they have no knowledge or interest in the sport.

Not at all. I think Gabby Logan is a superb presenter (regardless of what you think of the sports she presents on). I also think Dani Rowe is pretty good on Eurosport as an analyst (though I admit some bias here as I was in the same club/team as her when she was a teen and had a couple of winters with her on my rear wheel on club runs). I just don’t rate Ms Chennaoui. If anything I think the sexism is the other way around – I think there are some men who don’t see her failings in the role for sexist reasons.

I like Orla. I think she’s a huge cycling fan and advocate for the women’s side of the sport in particular. I just don’t like the content-light forced bonhomie format of The Breakaway. I’ll usually put on the multi-audio stream instead, even though the pre-race interviews get replayed later during the race.

I thought the writing was probably on the wall for cycling on ITV when they dropped the Vuelta coverage a couple of years ago. Sad times for road cycling’s profile in the UK. I’m no fan of sports-washing teams and otherwise wouldn’t be upset to see Ineos go, but with Sky/Ineos’s worst ever year and continuing decline is this ITV move a bad sign of things to come?

OK, hands up, I missed the negative Orla comments before my last post.

Honestly she’s one of the best things about the ES coverage IMO though, and not just because I’m a divorced dad.

Maybe it helps if you know her from her days on the Cycling Podcast? Yes she has a very modern, mainstream presenting style – but she often makes some of the most perceptive comments in their analysis chats.

I thought the writing was probably on the wall for cycling on ITV when they dropped the Vuelta coverage a couple of years ago. Sad times for road cycling’s profile in the UK.

I thought this at first, but it looks like the rug got pulled from under ITV by ASO and WBD going exclusive for the UK. I bet ITV would have continued if they could have.

If only ASO had been following WBD’s coverage of the DH, they might have had second thoughts eh.

I think it would be in the best long term interests of WB-Discovery to sell a slightly more polished version of their highlights package to a free-to-air UK channel. Renewing their customer base in the long-term seems likely to depend on some sort of way into the sport for new viewers. I imagine a huge chunk of UK cycling fans got into it from watching the tour on free to air TV, certainly my own route into the sport was watching Armstrong vs Pantani years with my dad as a teenager.

Didn’t watch the ITV highlights a great deal as they have clashed with kids bedtime for ages and the ITV app doesn’t have it on demand soon enough after broadcast – was a better package than eurosport for sure, although they were equally prone to just showing the final climb when I did watch ITV. Absolutely loved the rest day magazine shows though. If you’re already a cycling fan and watch the stages live then I’d think £7 is a bargain to not have to watch the ITV adverts for 3 weeks straight.

Agree with chakaping on Channoui – she’s been in cycling for a long time and when you hear her on a podcast she knows plenty – she also knows the difference between being an analyist and a presenter. She is quite extroverted though, especially if you compare her presentation style to Imlach’s dryness*. Sometimes the bantz on the Breakaway can be a bit grating, but its something for them to talk about on boring sprint days.

*Disclaimer – I may fancy the pants off one of these presenters.

I watched one stage on itv 4 last tour. I think i was at my dads. I was surprised how little cycling the hour contained. I think we spent a lot of time looking at a macaron shop.

Not just me then! I preferably watch the live Eurosport coverage as it happens and then catch up on any developments on the ITV4 show later on – riders who have dropped out, and late breaking news, etc. In the last few years the ITV show has become useless for that, the cycling highlights are extremely short and I increasingly see pieces on history, the area, the food or something which would be fine if they were showing more of the actual cycling. If Daniel Friebe is on my screen then it’s probably time to fast forward for me.

Also, there’s a lot of people on this thread saying that they’ll have more time to ride in July if the ITV coverage goes – I’m not sure how devoted you are to riding your bike if 45 minutes of TV can hijack your whole evening.

An interesting interview with Ned

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/its-going-to-damage-cycling-in-the-uk-ned-boulting-david-millar-and-pete-kennaugh-react-to-itv-losing-tour-de-france-rights

Looks the ad’ revenue has fallen to the point that itv couldn’t put in a competitive bid for the rights

An interesting interview with Ned

not an interview, just taken from his podcast. I listened yesterday and Ned speaks, then there are fairly lengthy pre records from the others. All quite emotional – worth hearing. It’s the latter part of the latest episode

They’d all clearly become great friends and loved doing it. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2B1d4F8C0yha0TdTiRTMo8?si=sXpuaRLXTIKKh2lyPRjsNA

 I was surprised how little cycling the hour contained. I think we spent a lot of time looking at a macaron shop.

But on purpose. The whole ethos of the ITV coverage was that it was for the casual viewer who may have stumbled across the program, or watch the tour each year simply for the scenery or the regional history, or the macron shop.

@b33k34, listened to it last night, the tail end of the podcast as he talks about his years presenting the show was very affecting, likewise Davis’s piece. It’s a loss fo’shure

Also, there’s a lot of people on this thread saying that they’ll have more time to ride in July if the ITV coverage goes – I’m not sure how devoted you are to riding your bike if 45 minutes of TV can hijack your whole evening.

Definitely not trying to present myself as a saint/martyr to the cause or anything, as I made my choices and am happy with them, but with work/young kids bedtimes/dinner/going to bed at a reasonable hour myself to deal with the inevitable early rise of the aforementioned young kids, it really is a straight up choice between an hour of tv or an hour or so riding the bike.

the tail end of the podcast as he talks about his years presenting the show was very affecting

Just caught up with it; they’re all (understandably) emotional about it. The points David & Pete make completely echo what’s been said in this thread, mainly that C4/ITV coverage was fundamental to a generation growing up into cycling enthusiasts. The lack of free-to-air TdF will be a huge, detrimental loss to so many people, and like Pete Kennaugh says, it might not be felt straight away, but in many years to come. Sad times.
Phil Liggett at the start was funny af, though!

I get free Discovery+ with my Sky subscription so I guess I’ll still keep watching it. Same with DH.

It’s not free.

ITV chose not to renew, which tells you all you need to know. Advertising revenue is affected by the low viewing figures, and look at some of the adverts…….Give me strength.

They’d dropped the Vuelta highlights for the same reason. Pro cycling is a niche sport after a decade when it went through a boom……

I’m not sure how devoted you are to riding your bike if 45 minutes of TV can hijack your whole evening.

Rather than getting home for 7, a ride straight from work, getting home sometimes after 9 is possible.

Yes, I know that the cycling can be recorded, but that invariably leads to not getting time to watch it or hearing the results from somewhere

Maybe Channel 4 will pick it up again at some point?  They used to do some great coverage back in the late 90’s with Phil Liggett at the helm.

 Maybe Channel 4 will pick it up again at some point?

It sounds like the issue is that WBD have exclusive rights rather than that ITV don’t want it (or can;t afford to outbid WBD for the UK rights exclusion) – although that’s based on me reading this thread, not listebed to the podcast yet.

I’m not sure how devoted you are to riding your bike if 45 minutes of TV can hijack your whole evening.

this also assumes you’re only ever watching the highlights and not getting drawn in to watching an entire stage!

Advertising revenue is affected by the low viewing figures, and look at some of the adverts…….Give me strength.

If they’d have bothered to do even the slightest bit of audience research – maybe not even research, just some basic common sense! – they’d probably have realised that funeral plans and help the whales/donkeys/cats/children with cleft palates are not exactly the sort of “products” that the average Tour viewer is going to get enthused about.

I always felt it was a missed opportunity not to combine the homeless donkey with the helpless child walking 5 miles for water, I think both would have benefitted from that arrangement.

I’m not sure how devoted you are to riding your bike if 45 minutes of TV can hijack your whole evening.
this also assumes you’re only ever watching the highlights and not getting drawn in to watching an entire stage!

That’s what people seem to be saying. I’m in complete agreement that trying to watch entire stages can affect your mid-week riding. 45 minutes of highlights can be viewed while you’re eating your evening meal, if needed.

Anyway, I once had a nice walk around a local hill with Brian Venner, who owned the company that started doing the highlights. We were organising a stage of the MTB Tour of Britain and VTV were filming it. I remember him making the shape of a screen using his thumbs and ‘filming’ a climb as imaginary riders came up it, with the valley as a backdrop. It didn’t look all that great on the TV because the 1 in 4 gradient didn’t really translate.

 just some basic common sense! – they’d probably have realised that funeral plans and help the whales/donkeys/cats/children with cleft palates are not exactly the sort of “products” that the average Tour viewer is going to get enthused about.

I suspect it’s bang on for the audience of time-served, wrinkled old roadies and STW posters. The reality is that younger folk these days don’t consume their media on conventional, scheduled TV channels, so you’re likely left with a viewership composed of people who remember the Channel 4 highlights programme and think of David Millar as a young whippersnapper.

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I saw Ned Boulting’s TdF show in Buxton last night, he made some occasional references to the TV coverage changes. The show was also peppered with video pisstakes of the adverts that litter the ITV4 show, some of them very funny.

He’s a very good stage presence – mix of low key acting, good story telling, deadpan humour and thorough preparation.

https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/ned-boulting

The main part of the show is the story of the 1923 Tour, the bit of film he discovered and the research etc behind it all but there’s a lot of references to the current Tour, some stories from commentary and being on the road.

If you get a chance, it’s well worth seeing.

Ned’s show last night was indeed very good. He more or less said what many on this thread have deduced, that some youngsters could miss out on watching the ‘free’ highlights show, which could easily start a little seed in the back of their brain that they could get into cycling and one day be the very next Sir Cav, Pidders or Pog. It’s not good for British cycling and getting people ‘on their bikes’.

He also let ‘slip’ that Pete Kennaugh will be a DS for Astana, interesting thought I.

Daniel friebe has some interesting points in this weeks cycling podcast. As well as lamenting the loss of an excellent TV thing, he notes the changing media landscape, and that the young ‘uns don’t really watch tv. Perhaps we’re all being a bit too stuck in our ways to realise that today’s kids will probably get hooked on cycling from TikTok, YouTube etc in the way we did from Ch4/ITV.

It doesn’t stop me being sad that my favourite TV show is going off air, but I think there’s something in that