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ITV4 to provide full live coverage of next month's OVO Energy Tour of BritainTour of Britain 2016 (picture credit SweetSpot Group).jpg

ITV4 to provide full live coverage of next month's OVO Energy Tour of Britain

Race starts in Edinburgh on Sunday 3 September and finishes in Cardiff a week later
by Simon_MacMichael
Wed, Aug 23, 2017 18:55
7

ITV4 will next month broadcast every minute of all eight stages of the OVO Energy Tour of Britain, the first time the race has ever received full coverage.

Matt Barbet and former pro Yanto Barker will be returning to present the up to six hours of live coverage each day, with a highlights programme following in the evening.

The race starts in Edinburgh on Sunday 3 September and finishes in Cardiff a week later.

> OVO Energy Tour of Britain 2017 route

Alastair Grant, commercial director at race organisers SweetSpot, commented: “It is fantastic news that for the first time viewers on ITV4 will be able to watch every second of the OVO Energy Tour of Britain live, from our start in the heart of Edinburgh to the Cardiff finish, we look forward to providing viewers nationwide with a showcase of the best Britain has to offer this September.

“We are also delighted on behalf of our partners and regional stakeholders thanks to the greatly increased promotional platform that this extended live coverage will deliver, with over 15 hours’ more coverage.”

Among the stars expected to line up for the race are Dimension Data’s Mark Cavendish and Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas, provided both make a full recovery from the injuries they sustained at the Tour de France last month.

They will be joined by other stars including the Katusha-Alpecin pair of Tony Martin, the world time trial champion, and former Milan-San Remo and Tour of Flanders winner Alexander Kristoff, who has been in rich form after winning the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic earlier this month.

Race sponsor OVO Energy’s managing director, Chris Houghton, said: “We’re proud to be the title sponsor of the country’s largest free-to-watch sporting event, the Tour of Britain.

“This year, fans won’t miss a pedal stroke – with extended live television coverage of up to six hours each day across all eight stages of the race. Those tuning in will witness the most exciting Tour yet.”

ITV4 is in its tenth year of covering the race, having first aired evening highlights shows in 2008, and began live coverage in 2012.

> Strongest ever field expected for this year's OVO Energy Tour of Britain

Tour of Britain 2017
ITV4
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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7 comments

Avatar
El Camino | 6 years ago
0 likes

ToB will surely be Hugh Porter and that other bloke.

Avatar
chadders | 6 years ago
1 like

NOOOOO please dont make me listen to Boulting and Millar comedy duo!!!!

Avatar
littlegermanboy replied to chadders | 6 years ago
2 likes

chadders wrote:

NOOOOO please dont make me listen to Boulting and Millar comedy duo!!!!

There's always the mute button, or Carlton et al on Eurosport. IMHO B&M have come on leaps and bounds since the 2015 Vuelta and I mostly now prefer them to Phil and Paul, who were sounding pretty tired by the 2015 TdF (if Sherwen trotted out that Adam Hansen 'pain for breakfast' quote one more time... no).

Avatar
dottigirl replied to littlegermanboy | 6 years ago
1 like

littlegermanboy wrote:

chadders wrote:

NOOOOO please dont make me listen to Boulting and Millar comedy duo!!!!

There's always the mute button, or Carlton et al on Eurosport. IMHO B&M have come on leaps and bounds since the 2015 Vuelta and I mostly now prefer them to Phil and Paul, who were sounding pretty tired by the 2015 TdF (if Sherwen trotted out that Adam Hansen 'pain for breakfast' quote one more time... no).

Indeed. For the Vuelta, I've been recording ES live and ITV4 for the highlights, and B&M have far, far more insight that their ES equivalents. 

On ES, Ashley House appears to have been sidelined in preference to more time with JAF, who i find nigh-on intelligible. I'm not even sure if he knows what he's trying to say most of the time! I think House used to summarise pretty well, despite not having the in-depth knowledge, and he used to keep Flecha and LeMond's rambling in check. Now, I'm FFing most of their coverage, apart from listening to the interviews.

Avatar
stephen ashforth replied to chadders | 6 years ago
0 likes

chadders wrote:

NOOOOO please dont make me listen to Boulting and Millar comedy duo!!!!

Since the Vuelta will still be going on, I would expect B&M to continue their commentating duties on that.  Not sure who will do the Tour of Britain for ITV4

Avatar
handlebarcam | 6 years ago
0 likes

Now every primary school on the route will get on the telly. But good news for some nearly always means bad news for others, in this case fans on Quincy, Ironside, Minder and The Professionals.

Avatar
littlegermanboy replied to handlebarcam | 6 years ago
0 likes

handlebarcam wrote:

Now every primary school on the route will get on the telly. But good news for some nearly always means bad news for others, in this case fans on Quincy, Ironside, Minder and The Professionals.

It's only a week, seventies telly addicts.

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