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the accidental tour-ist. (final) dispatches from the road. ned boulting. bloomsbury hardback, 277pp illus. £20

we've been through all this before, but suddenly its relevance has reared its ugly head once again, and simply needs to be cited as part of this review. following many happy years of eurosport, through more commentators than i can truthfully recall, the cycling horizon took on a far darker hue earlier this year, when owners warner brothers/discovery decided to forcibly transfer velocipedinal activity to tnt sports, the re-named edition of bt sports. where many had watched all manner of cycling via eurosport on the telly box as part of their sky package, or, as did i, via a monthly subscription to the online player, at the end of the 2024 tour de france, eurosport discontinued their proprietary online broadcasts, switching continuing subscribers to discovery+.

i was one of those who was provided with a healthy discount on that discovery+ subscription fee until december 2024 by way of compensation for the sudden demise of the eurosport equivalent. but, as previously explained at length, warners/discovery paid £6.7 billion for the sole rights to england's premier league football until 2030. along the way, they hoovered up the same rights to the tour de france and pretty much every other world tour race, mountain bike event and cyclocross season. to fund all this, the monthly subscription price dramatically escalated from £6.99 to an unpalatable £30.99. i can only assume that warners/discovery/tnt aren't overly concerned about the size of their cycling audience.

but the acquisition of exclusive rights to the next five years' worth of tours has had the collateral effect of removing free-to-air broadcasts from itv4. in other words, if you're not subscribed to tnt sports, this is the last year you'll be able to watch le tour.

that means, of course, the excellent commentary partnership of ned boulting and david millar, captained by gary imlach (who knew the latter didn't own a bicycle?), has metaphorically joined the dole queue. and since this will be the end of ned's twenty-two year association with the tour, over the course of 277 pages, he offers his acutely observed reminiscences.

"I had experienced the sometime glares of Cavendish, the inscrutability of Nibali, the excessive pre-answer nodding from Froome and the sheer oddness of Peter Sagan."

arguably unlike many of the professional peloton who have written in partnership, or have engaged the services of a ghost writer', mr boulting is a remarkably adept and erudite writer, as well as a commentator of particular note. his association with former professional, david millar, however has produced a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts; two disparate individuals who seem genuinely to complement each other to the extent that their extracurricular activity (the never strays far podcast - "a title that doesn't make sense"), has proved every bit as popular as their commentary exploits.

"I went to the Giro to commentate daily with Mat Stephens, while David remained at home in Spain. Every morning I would set my alarm for 6:30am, wake up in a state of disorientation, insantly dial David up on a Zoom call and, without any preamble, start to record a podcast."

former eurosport commentator, the late david duffield, was somewhat of an expert in waffling endlessly about nothing in particular during particularly lengthy sprint stages. he was even given to describing his and sean kelly's travel plans as they wended their way around france during the tour. but by and large, it's only the commentary to which viewers are party; behind the scenes is hidden between gary imlach's introductions and daniel friebe's on-screen insights. but now, all (or at least some) can be revealed.

"Those who provide the words alongside the action at say, football, rugby, cricket, athletics, tennis or any of the much, much bigger and more lucrative sports benefit in one peculiarly meaningful way: they can actually see what they are talking about. In road racing, we can't."

ned's appreciation that the sports mentioned above are 'much, much bigger and more lucrative' than the decidedly niche sport of cycling, is paid testament by citing the late richard moore "telling me that he'd once seen froome walking down a london street pushing his bike alongside him, dressed in a team sky tracksuit, being totally ignored by every single passer-by". mr boulting is well aware of his place and that of cycling in the grand firmament; there is no grandstanding here.

along the way, we are treated to tales from his solo theatre tour, a series of extravaganzas that were to begin life as an evening with chris froome, where ned would ask searching questions at various locations throught the uk. close to the start of this venture, froome pulled out. we also learn of his lengthy relationship with mark cavendish, the transition from cycling journalist to cycling commentator, and the often hilarious brompton adventures. but, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and on 27 july this year, it seems that they will.

"I am dreading our final descent into Paris. I already fear the moment that I will glimpse the Eiffel Tower by night on the last transfer I make to the capital city..."

in truth, this is not only the entertaining recollections of one of cycling's finest commentators, but also something of an historical document, a last treatise on the changing face of sports broadcasting, where those with money can run roughshod over the needs or desires of a rapidly disenfranchised audience. the sport may be the very definition of the word niche, but it has been all the better for ned boulting's twenty-two year association with the yellow jumper.

thursday 19 june 2025