Subscribe now to watch instantly. Ahead of this year’s Tour de France, the Eurosport commentator tells Fiona Adams how his career took him from Sheffield to Teddington via Norwich and the South Seas Expand Sitting in the gardens of the Lensbury in Teddington on a sunny April day, listening to the story of Carlton Kirby’s life, it’s hard to imagine that in the cycling fraternity this soft-spoken, funny man is the … Ahead of this year’s Tour de France, the Eurosport commentator tells Fiona Adams how his career took him from Sheffield to Teddington via Norwich and the South Seas. Eurosport and GCN: Carlton Kirby, Rob Hatch, Sean Kelly, Brian Smith. Carlton is to cycling what Wogan was to Eurovision. David Duffield Just one black cyclist started the 2020 Tour de France out of 22 teams and 176 riders. Carlton Kirby: Well, it’s great to be back in the booth, although I’m commentating from Discovery headquarters [UK home to Eurosport] in Chiswick. At Lancaster University he studied marketing, with a view to going into advertising. As for my winning pick, I was the only one in the Eurosport team to pick Tadej Pogačar. Copyright © Dennis Publishing Limited 2021. Thankfully this inane egoist is one of the LEAST KNOWN commentators in Cycling. Yet what clearly stands out is his obvious passion for the sport of cycling and for bringing it to a wider audience. CK: You hear stories; you hear he’s related to everyone – his family has grown exponentially since he started cycling. But I have discovered what my husband and his mates find so appealing about Carlton Kirby. 2020 will also see the strongest ever line-up of former professional riders and local experts to bring fans pre-race insights and post-race analysis, bringing viewers closer to the peloton. Cyclist Magazine Podcast Episode 8 – In conversation with Carlton Kirby, Giro d'Italia 2020: Full route details for this year's postponed race, How to watch and live stream the 2020 Tour of Flanders, ‘The biggest problem in our business is ego’: Rob Hatch Q&A, Lezyne Zecto Drive Max 250 rear light review, Quick and efficient bike cleaning with our expert tips, UCI bans 'super tuck' descending position, Ian Stannard returns to professional cycling, Dame Sarah Storey's cycling academy recruiting two new riders. Eurosport will provide global coverage of the Tour de France which is scheduled to start on August 29 Eurosport is your go-to source for Cycling news. Eurosport et GCN: Carlton Kirby, Rob Hatch, Sean Kelly, Brian Smith Eurosport has seen an upheaval this year with coverage also shared on the GCN app, although many of the same names remain. He got the job and went off to the string of nine tiny islands as the head of broadcasting. I think they had hundreds of applications for this course, but the reference from this guy at the NUJ got me on. more than 1 year ago. That will be good enough for a few sherbets! more than 2 years ago. Whether the purists like it or not, Carlton is actually very good at ‘flimflam’. Get live Tour de France scores, results and match commentary on LIVESCORE EUROSPORT. That was the mid-70s. Mobile viewing comes via eurosport player if cycling fans want to stream. Similar rides from the past: ... Sean Kelly and Ned Boulting have killed the 2016 toure de France on itv 4 and eurosport ... One of the commentators on Eurosport over pronounces the riders name and the towns they pass through. Tour de france … Who cares what they think ? Paradise has its limits! The tour de france pulls in millions of tv viewers every year in 2016 the race drew in over 73million people in total with an average of 785000 taking to their sofas per stage. 6:00 AM. Sponsors of Tour de France 2021. CK: I wanted to be in broadcasting even as a kid. Established sports broadcaster and cycling reporter Orla Chennaoui joins the team as Eurosport’s new lead presenter, replacing Jonathan Edwards in the role. We’d go to the cafe at lunchtimes and watch the Tour, and it was Bernard Hinault in his pomp – off the bike he looked like Elvis, on the bike he looked like a killer. There was no money in it,” he explains. But there is one course at the London College of Printing for broadcasting, you should have a go at that. There were people who thought that Terry Wogan was Satan! It used to take me about two and a half hours. Popularity, one might therefore assume, is Carlton Kirby’s middle name. But not so. What are your reference points? Why shouldn’t that be you?’ And I carried that with me.”, Fancy another bit of wheely good content? It was to run the national radio station, which had been funded as an aid project by Australia. Thursday, September 3. How to watch stage 7 of the 2019 tour de france live. He had 50 or 150 mouths to feed, and it’s that kind of pressure that can lead to an erroneous end. I love to watch cycling but he elevates it to another level . How has the hiatus affected things? What do you read?’. Brother Paul is a renowned set designer in the movie business – James Bond and The Bourne Identity are amongst his successes – and sister Sally is a glass sculptor and art teacher, like his wife, Steph. All fabulous, you might think, but I was so bored. more than 3 years ago. I remember going to Sheffield Central Library, working my way through all the US telephone directories and writing to the radio stations. Watch the premium Cycling video: Tour de France | 2020 - Best Bits - 01:00:02. more than 2 years ago. “Oh yes! People don’t watch tennis, but they watch Wimbledon. Tour de france eurosport presenters. “A lot of people can’t stand me! He eventually got onto a broadcasting course at the London College of Printing, as it was then called, and from there enjoyed brief spells as a news and sports reporter at the BBC’s Look East in Norwich and Look North in Leeds. Rather more to his taste was Lord Coe’s sister, Emma, with whom he once went out. It’s what did for Marco Pantani. We catch up with Eurosport’s favourite commentator during the 2020 Tour de France to talk trouser problems. There was one time mid-stage when Thibaut Pinot pretty much ripped off the door of this campervan at the roadside to use its toilet. Sounds like Sean has a potato in the side of his mouth. He said: ‘Look, in the US alone there are probably a thousand people presenting, just on radio. What is he really … He now destorys their coverage of the Le Mans 24hrs with his unique brand of inane and uninformed drivel. For the full interview listen to Episode 8 at cyclist.co.uk/cyclistmagazinepodcast, or download from wherever you get your podcasts, British brand’s newest all-roader is high on versatility and fairly easy on the pocket, The Lezyne Zecto Drive Max 250 rear light is a compact, versatile, blindingly bright rear light with. The Ligget/Sherwin/Imlach team is what I grew up watching on C4, and I've never really enjoyed the Eurosport coverage, TDF doesn't seem right with out the (now ITV2 team). So far, so logical. The Eurosport team is anchored by Orla Chennaoui, who is covering her 10th Tour De France. Kirby is clearly a big fan of our great British riders, like Mark Cavendish – another who once threatened to slap him, but with whom he is now good friends – and the truly impressive Chris Froome, who could so easily win the Tour de France for the fourth time this year, but who rarely gets the public acclaim he deserves. “I eventually paid a Swedish freighter to take me off in the middle of the night because somebody else had attempted to leave the island and they’d had their passport confiscated!”, The Kirby Codec: Carlton’s compilation of each racing day’s results, profile, destination, distance, climbs, jersey and other stats. eurosport.co.uk Cycling news - Simon Yates likely to race both Giro d'Italia and Tour de France - Team boss Cyc: But isn’t it still hard to fill so much airtime in a sport where not a lot happens for quite a lot of the time? The Supreme 1.1 is Fuji's fastest-ever road bike, and it's just for women. I’d go out into Derbyshire and, if possible, have an adventure while I was there. “It was just a bizarre and fantastic way of doing something interesting in the field. He laughs: He had already made the move to Eurosport and has loved every minute of reporting on his favourite sport, even if sometimes he gets a bit teary on air. Se eksklusivt video: Tour de France - - 01:43:12. I was supposed to be there for two years, but the project was all sorted after about six weeks. To cycling fans, Carlton Kirby’s voice has become synonymous with the sport, having become an integral part of British Eurosport’s race coverage. How many times will we hear him assert some utter rubbish about a bike race or the riders only to have Sean Kelly gently say "well um, actually no.." I can ony assume Sean Kelly has to share the commentary box with him due to losing a bet. And cycling is full of it. I didn’t realise in Ireland the scutters is a really, really bad description of having a shit. ‘Pull your bloody self together, for God’s sake!’ he’ll say, switching the mic off and giving me a smack on the side of the head!”. Sir Bradley Wiggins is presenting the Tour coverage with you on Eurosport. You can check out our piece detailing expert advice on how to train for long distance cycling by clicking here. Liggett has covered other sports including triathlons and ski jumping. Includes route riders teams and coverage of past tours. When I was 14 I had the audacity to go down to Sheffield City Library, pull out the American phonebook – no idea why they had it – and then write to all these US radio stations saying, ‘English music is clearly taking over the world, so I think you should have an English radio show and I should do it.’, One guy did write back and said, ‘There are 80,000 broadcasters in various radio stations; there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be one of them.’ And I just thought, ‘Well yeah.’. When commentating he often sits beside former pro cyclist Sean Kelly, the Irishman a straight man to Kirby’s comic. There’s no one in the same room as you to dig you in the ribs when you’re about to make a howler live on air. Bill Hedley Tour de France 2021 - Official site of the famed race from the Tour de France. But they are only doing a few minutes. I said, ‘I have no time to read.’ But I have a photographic memory. I did a talk once and this chap came up to me afterwards and said, ‘I’m a linguistics teacher, and your use of the English language fascinates me. My friend’s father was a foreman for Basset’s Liquorice Allsorts and they bought this French factory. CK: Sometimes you get greedy co-commentators and quite often I’ll switch off the mics and say, ‘Listen, this is not a fight between us, OK?’ But with Sean we’re part of the same team and he does it impeccably. He has in excess of 40,000 Twitter followers and celebrates #crapgagfriday every week with his own jokes, while some of his commentary gems are recorded and shared for posterity by an independent account called @saidCarlton. But you’re always going to get that. Carlton Kirby is one of the most familiar voices in cycling. It’s early days, but who are you backing? Carlton grew up in Hallam, South-West Sheffield, as one of three children in a creative household. Im sure Kirby is a perfectly nice bloke but your husband and his friends are terribly misinformed and it's a shame that you have been dragged into their delusion. He knows when I’m going to pick up the action, so we fold over each other rather nicely. You get that when you come from a very poor background and you have some success. EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS. more than 3 years ago. It’s where my love of cycling really started. I'm not someone who watches much Cycling other than the Tour de France. It’s all about entertainment!”, Kirby can tell tales about anything from roof tiles to sausage shops; from getting locked out of his Paris hotel room naked with a bunch of Japanese tourists, to being abused in Muslim Turkey for wearing a cycling jersey advertising Spam. He is knowledgeable, certainly, and full of fascinating and funny facts. Starting August 29, 2020, fans can enjoy Tour De France LIVE at 5:30 PM IST on Eurosport and Eurosport HD. British Eurosport has also three figure skating commentators: former Winter Olympic Games competitors Chris Howarth & Nicky Slater, and veteran commentator Simon Reed - brother of actor Oliver Reed. Viewers in usa. Technically it’s quite a feat, but compared to being on-site at the Tour it’s quite weird, only seeing colleagues through FaceTime, no chat over breakfast, no walking the last 2km of a stage to imagine the finish, the weather, the food, the buzz. Includes route, riders, teams, and coverage of past Tours His mum Audrey looked after the children while his dad, Bill, forsook hairdressing to become a well-known artist of industrial landscapes. Liggett has reported on 15 Olympic Games and 44 Tours de France, generally alongside fellow veteran cycling commentators and former cyclists Paul Sherwen (UK) and Bob Roll (US). And it was also around Hallam that he first fell in love with cycling. CK: Well, I think that’s a Biblical reference. Egan Bernal: Tour de France challenge could be complicated for Team Ineos Tour de France champions Egan Bernal is not sure how Team Ineos will juggle their stable of … “I used to go on ‘one-way missions’, as my father called them. In the comments box during the live broadcasts we have Carlton Kirby, Rob Hatch, former British Champion Brian Smith and legendary Sean Kelly. It’s something to behold – and I do choke. The only quibble I have is that perhaps the 'non action' bits (emails etc) are perhaps a bit too long. He would give me 10 pence to phone home and then he’d come and pick me up. To me there’s nothing greater. Photography: Sitting on the top tube to be outlawed from April, along with throwing bottles into the road, 33-year-old signs as directeur sportif for Trinty Racing after retiring from racing in 2020, Applications for two women aged between 17 and 22 to join the Škoda DSI Cycling Academy with route. CK: Before the Tour began I backed Rigoberto Urán at 175-1 each way. Sitting in the gardens of the Lensbury in Teddington on a sunny April day, listening to the story of Carlton Kirby’s life, it’s hard to imagine that in the cycling fraternity this soft-spoken, funny man is the human equivalent of Marmite. My husband, in his turn, was tipped off by his mate Dave, who is also of the opinion that Carlton is the best thing since carbon fibre. He has heard during one of Carlton’s broadcasts that he lives in Teddington and informs me that he is hilarious, but knowledgeable too. 2021 Route 2020 Edition Our commitments Tour Culture news grands départs key figures sporting stakes the jerseys security history photos & videos partners. Tour de France commentator bingo Play along with our Tour de France commentator bingo whenever you sit down to watch the race this July and win some great prizes* Stuart Clarke July 2, 2016 7:00 am Of applications for this course, but very different 175-1 each way more than 3 ago... 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