Au revoir

On Sunday, the 2025 Tour de France came to an end and it was time to say au revoir, after three weeks, 76 hours and 2000+ miles of racing.

The final day of a tour always has a different feeling, but this year it was especially true.

Precedent means that the overall winner of that year’s General Classification is decided the day before. This means that the final day is ordinarily something of a procession, with champagne sipped en route, and a carnival atmosphere in the capital.

This year’s event was somewhat different, thanks to the introduction of a hill climb that split the bunch. It meant that winning the day’s stage wasn’t only of interest to the sprinters. Which is how Wout van Aert came to win the stage, showing a rare glimpse of the form that’s largely eluded him this year. 

Adieu 

But this year’s final stage also saw us say goodbye to ITV’s coverage of the Tour, which they’ve offered since 2001. 

As of next year, the live coverage of each of the Tour’s 21 stages will no longer be provided on free to air TV but will be found behind a (pricey) paywall. Hopefully highlights will remain available, but they’ll be harder to find.

The Tour de France has been on free to air TV since 1985. During that time, the sport’s popularity has soared to a peak, in the couple of years following the 2012 London Olympics, and has been declining since. But even with that dip, it’s infinitely more popular than it was 40 years ago, before we’d had 3 different British champions, winning in 6 of 7 years (curse you Nibali).

The reality is that it is a niche pursuit is likely to remain as such.

But ITV’s coverage helped try and stop this being the case and for so long it succeeded. Watching the Tour on ITV helped get me on my bike and for that I’ll be generally grateful – even if I did break my back!

It’s especially sad to see the conclusion of ITV’s coverage, because it’s exceptional.

We’re not simply saying goodbye to hours of live coverage each day, but to a daily highlights’ magazine show that combined sport, history, culture, geography and travelogue into one hour’s commercial TV. Last year even featured a regular geology slot.

So it’s adieu to Gary Imlach’s squintingly professional hosting, and to Daniel Friebe and Matt Rendall’s engaging mix of trackside reporting and travelogue presenting. 

It’s adieu to the dream that is Ned Boulting and David Millar’s odd couple routine, combining enthusiastic amateur and former professional – both offering passionate insights to the sport that runs through thier veins.

Thankfullt, the latter will live on through their plans for a reinvigorated Never Strays Far podcast and vlog, lauching for the 2026 tour.

But it won’t be the same.

The storytelling will shift. And probably not subtly. The stories about castles will be gone. There will be no geology. It’ll be solely about the cycling.

Some will say that’s how it should be. I’m not.one of those people.

Adieu.