On Sunday 27th July the ITV4 screens went blank at the Tour de France for the final time. 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.
Nonetheless, I wasn’t certain when I arrived in Lille for the Grand Départ what the collective attitude would be on the ITV team, in the knowledge that we would be closing the door behind us and disappearing. I thought that heads might drop, and that morale would be low. I could not have been more wrong.
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. Of course, this is an unachievable ambition given how long ITV and Channel Four before have been at the Tour, a show produced in large measure by the same team over many decades. Over the years, as road racing has grown and professionalised in keeping with the spirit of 20th century sport, access to riders has been ever more tightly controlled. 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.
We tried hard over the three weeks of the race to celebrate the heritage and traditions of this free-to-air institution, while holding the 2025 edition very much in the spotlight. 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. That the Tour is so much more than just a bike race has always been both the starting point and the end goal of each and every one of our thousands of shows, both live and for the evening highlights.
I would like, before I close these words, to pay homage to the dedicated team in London, who receive the content we generate on a daily basis from the road in France and fashion it so carefully into a beautifully curated hour long format, perfect for viewers who lead busy lives and cannot spend the afternoon languishing in front of the telly to watch the race live. This remote production team seldom get the credit that they deserve.
As for next year, I wish my friends and colleagues at TNT Sports every success in bringing the race not only to life, but to the widest possible audience. I am sure that many of the ITV viewers will find their way there.
As for me? It may surprise some readers to know that, 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.
I am working on plans with my “Never Strays Far” friends and colleagues David Millar, Pete Kennaugh and the amazing Lizzie Deignan to return to France next year and set up a live watch-along and audio stream that keeps the race at least alive and free to follow in people’s lives. It is a very ambitious project that will require a lot of public back-in, so here’s hoping that plenty of the Cycling Weekly readership lend us their support. We’ll need it.
For now though, if you were an ITV viewer of the Tour, I simply want to thank you. Without you, we would never have been able to do what we did for so many years.
To sign up to hear news of NSF: Live in France, head to www.neverstraysfar.com.
