A FAREWELL TO ITV

Last Sunday night the ITV4 screens went blank at the Tour de France for the final time. It's been 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 known since November that this would be their last. Nonetheless, I wasn't certain when I arrived in Lille for the Grand Départ what the collective attitude would be on the ITV team. I thought that heads might drop, and morale would be low. I could not have been more wrong.

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Straight from the start, when we first saw the riders line up for stage one, there was an unspoken understanding that this should be 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 4 before have been at the Tour, a show produced in large measure by the same team over many decades. 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 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.