The Tour de France Highlights on ITV4

This is the third time I have described the wonderful ITV coverage of the Tour de France, paryicularly the highlights show at 7.00 pm every night on ITV4. The previous occasions were in 2010 and 2013 and, in my opinion, it is still the best highlights programme of any sport.

Lets start with the presenters and commentators. Gary Imlach has presented the programme since 1990, firstly on Channel 4 and then in 2001 when ITV bought the coverage. We first remember Gary as a presenter of American Football for many years on Channel 4. The commentators are now Ned Boulting and David Millar having taken over in 2016 from Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwan. We thought they struggled at first but are now even better than the original pair.

Last night Gary Imlach started the proceedings, as he always does, with a look back on the previous stage. In fact it became a history and character study of the stage winner, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic. From ski jumper to winner of 2019's Vuelta, he is now the bookie's favourite to win the tour! We are then treated to a superb map of today's stage.

In between the commentary we get two short presentations. First up was Daniel Friebe telling us all about sprinters, past and present (today's stage would be a massive sprint at the end). Then Chris Boardman did a piece about handlebars in his "Gadgets, Gimmicks and Game Changer" series. Who would think that the evolution of design through the mid 1980's and 90's would be an interesting topic, but it was. Nowadays it's all 3D printing! In previous years Chris used to show us the finish of each stage and what could happen.

The stage itself was pretty boring, being flat and the peleton not bothered and in a tight bunch. That is until the last few miles when it gathered pace and the peleton was strung out in a long line. But the scenery is always worth watching, picking out the odd chateaux and the obligatory horses. The sprinters did their job at the end. Then we have a postmortem about the stage with Gary Imlach, Chris Boardman and the wooden but knowledgeable Peter Kennaugh appropriately socially distanced. What we heard was the biggest news of the stage. The leader, Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe, had been penalised 20 seconds as he was handed a drink in the last 20K, all caught and highlighted on TV. This meant he lost the yellow jersey and was replaced by GB's Adam Yates.

I always fast forward through the competition until we are shown the route of the next day's stage which will be through the massif central. Should be a good watch. The exit music over the last couple of years has not been at all to my taste. But this year it is better. Last night we had "Nice 'n Easy", but not by Frank Sinatra.