One of the world’s great sporting occasions is ready to get rolling as hundreds of riders prepare for the 109th edition of the iconic Tour de France.
The Tour de France spans three weeks, four countries, and 3,328km along a route of five altitude finishes, two time trials and potentially six sprint stages. After three days in Denmark which showcases the most northerly Grand Depart in the renowned event’s history, there will be also be incursions into both Belgium and Switzerland before the finale in Paris.
Television presenter and cycling specialist Ned Boulting is preparing to cover the Tour de France for the 20th time in his career, and he is certainly aware of what the race means to the world of cycling and the wider sporting landscape. While he conceded his obsession with the Tour is almost to the detriment of the rest of his life, Boulting would not have it any other way.
“British writer Ian Stannard summed up the Tour de France for me years ago when he suggested that as far as the general public is concerned, there is only one bike race,” Boulting exclusively told Mirror Sport . “Unless you’ve raced the Tour de France, no one is ever going to take you seriously, which is deeply unfair because there are huge and important bike races across the world throughout the year.
“But the Tour de France is by far the tallest sunflower standing out of the field; it really overshadows absolutely everything else, and it’s the total benchmark. It's like having the World Cup and the Olympic Games every single summer.
“It’s a fascinating event that weeds itself into your DNA and never lets you go. From crisis to crisis, drama to drama, doper to doper and winner to winner, there are just so many layers of complexity - and it has become my life’s obsession.”
The Tour de France has a rich, emotive and powerful history with Boulting suggesting that even a stage victory - let alone an overall Tour win - is the ‘ultimate ambition’ for riders around the world. Boulting, an author of two books centred around the Tour de France, was particularly confused when the British public considered Bradley Wiggins’ 2012 Olympic gold more impressive than his Tour win, even though it was ’21 times harder’ to achieve.
However, Boulting’s favourite aspect of the Tour de France stems from the sheer unpredictability of the race along with the notion that something unprecedented will happen at any time in the race. He hailed Mark Cavendish’s 2021 stage victory as ‘totally unexpected’, but the memories he prefers to recall are far more comical.
“When I think about my 20 years at the Tour, the things that stand out to me fall into the category of the absurd moments, whether it was the French gendarmerie accidentally pepper spraying the entire peloton and bringing the race to a halt,” the 52-year-old added. “Or the inflatable ‘kilometre to go’ arch collapsing with absolute pinpoint precision on Adam Yates, knocking him off his bike just as he was set to take the yellow jersey for the first and only time in his career. Moments like that are just laugh out loud funny and they will always be my most treasured memories of the Tour de France. It’s the stuff when order and chaos collide with the Tour de France - that’s what makes it different from golf, snooker or indeed any other sport in the world.
“At its heart, there is something wild and uncontrollable about the notion of 170 blokes riding their bikes up and over mountain ranges and along hundreds of kilometres of open road. It’s chaos; scantily-regulated chaos. The only certainty at the Tour de France is that something you have never seen before and something that the race organisation has no idea how to deal with will almost certainly happen.”
Boulting believes the route means fans will be left in suspense to see who emerges triumphant until the long individual trial of Stage 20, which he suggested ‘hangs over the race like the sword of Damocles’. He is fascinated to see how riders will fare as the race begins in Denmark and goes over an 18km bridge, which is reportedly windy ‘even when not windy’ - so the excitement begins immediately.
While Tour de France technical director Thierry Gouvenou intricately designed the route, it is the riders who ultimately make the race - and there is plenty of British interest for domestic fans to follow. Boulting suggested two Ineos Grenadiers riders who could be in contention for the yellow jersey if things go their way in 2022.
“Geraint Thomas is in very good form - and he will only get better if he can stay up,” Boulting suggested after pondering the thought for a moment. “He does have a habit of crashing a little too often, but assuming he doesn’t crash, Thomas will get stronger and stronger over the next month and ideally will peak at Stage 20 - the unusually long individual time trial of over 40 kilometres where riders can claim back handfuls of time.
“The other British rider, who is making his debut at the Tour de France this year, to follow is Tom Pidcock. He’s on the same team as Thomas, but if something happens to Ineos Grenadiers’ ambitions, Pidcock will be cut loose. It would be a really exciting prospect as he can climb, sprint, and time trial with the best of them.”
However, there is really only one man when it comes to being the favourite for the 2022 Tour de France - and it is the two-time reigning champion, Tadej Pogačar. The Slovenian won three different jerseys during each Tour victory, a feat that was not seen for nearly four decades.
Only Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Miguel Indurain and Chris Froome have won three consecutive Tours. The race is seemingly Pogačar’s to lose, and while Boulting suggested his rival and compatriot Primož Roglič will challenge, he believes a less-high profile name could steal the spotlight.
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“On [Primož] Roglič’s team, there’s a Danish rider called Jonas Vingegaard, who I think is better. I think he could win the Tour de France,” Boulting boldly declared. “He’s slightly more of a hipster choice because he’s under the radar, but on the evidence of the warm-up race, I think he’s stronger than his team leader.
“If he keeps himself in the general classification mix, Roglič tends to have one bad day where everything goes wrong, and then Vingegaard will slipstream past him and into the team lead for Jumbo-Visma.”
Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates - whom Pogačar rides for - are the two major contenders, with the latter team believed to be stronger although Boulting fears that could be to the detriment of the two-time champion. The 23-year-old has won the Tour in the last two years by sitting on rival trains before besting the leaders in the final push.
While Boulting joked that the Tour de France is perfect to have on in the background of an afternoon nap, he became far more serious when comparing the event to the stunning recent five-day Test match between England and New Zealand in the cricket.
“It was five long days that wasn’t resolved until the final session on the fifth day, and it could have gone in any direction - that’s the Tour de France, but instead of five it is 21 days,” Boulting concluded. “At any given moment, everything could happen and that is why you can’t take your eyes off race.”
Ned Boulting is on tour this Oct/Nov with his one-man stage show Re-Tour de Ned. Tickets are available from www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/ned-boulting
