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Veteran cycling journalist William Fotheringham bids adieu to Tour de France after more than a quarter of a century

Guardian writer's career on the race has spanned three decades coinciding with huge changes in the sport and the way it is reported...

William Fotheringham, one of Britain’s longest standing and most admired cycling writers, has filed his final stage report on the Tour de France – for the time being at least – as he bid ‘au revoir’ to the race after covering 26 editions over almost three decades.

He announced his farewell in an article published yesterday on the Guardian’s website, and was taken aback by the reaction to the news from professional colleagues, fans of the race and even former world champion Mark Cavendish.

His blog post for the Guardian yesterday had the title, Tour de France: why I am bidding au revoir to the greatest race of all, and that choice of French phrase by someone who graduated from Cambridge in the language is no accident.

It’s clear from the dozens upon dozens of messages Fotheringham has received on Twitter that he was equally as respected as his reports of the race were eagerly anticipated (and even after watching a stage live, it was always illuminating to read up on his take of it, and his reporting of the aftermath).

“I will return to the race, I would hope, but not as a full-time, daily reporter, which is what I have been for 26 of the past 27 Tours – 20 of them completed in full – with all the stimulus, constraints, rewards and stress that role entails,” he wrote.

“I won’t be on the road next year; if and when I return it will be at a time of my choosing, to write about it in a different and equally rewarding way. I would hope it will be for the Guardian, but that particular decision can wait.”

His time following the Tour de France encompasses more than a quarter of a century in which both cycling, and the way the sport is followed and reported on, have undergone huge changes.

Back in 1990, the first year Fotheringham covered the race, if you missed the Channel 4 highlights show, the morning papers were the next best way to follow it but there certainly wasn’t the same depth of coverage that British success over the past decade has brought about.

Copy would be phoned in or perhaps sent by fax if a machine were available, with a strict word count. And as Fotheringham recounts, the race had an intimacy, a connection between the racers and the men writing about them that has been eroded over the years as the event has assumed truly global status.

It’s a far cry from 2017 when multiple outlets report each stage live, the whole of each stage is shown on TV as it happens, reports can be published online within minutes of a stage finishing, British riders are enjoying unprecedented success and the sport is booming in the UK.

In his blog post, Fotheringham recalls some of the more memorable episodes of his time chasing the Tour de France – including, in 2008, the first of 30 stage wins by Mark Cavendish, whose newspaper column he ghosted that year, leading to the gloriously self-indulgent front-page headline of Guardian man wins Tour de France stage.

To be honest, if Geraint Thomas were still contributing to our Tour de France previews on road.cc, as he did back in his early days at Team Sky, we’d have been tempted to follow suit after the Welshman's victory in this year’s opening stage.

Fotheringham wrote: “My favourite remains a time trial in 2001 or so, following Jacky Durand (who knows why): Dudu’s bars came loose, he had no team car with him, but we happened to have an allen‑key set – the best thing about the Tour being that such a thing could probably happen even now."

In conclusion, he said: “It has been a good race this year; massive events such as Peter Sagan’s eviction, a wealth of attacking, and a tense – if slightly sterile – battle for the yellow jersey. It had its undercurrent of controversy but we are used to that now.

“I am far from looking at the race with the ‘tired eyes’ Jacques Goddet said reporters displayed when they slammed his 1968 Tour. And that, as much as anything, is why now is time for something else in July.”

We’re guessing there are some things he won’t miss about the race, however, and that's even before one starts to consider how many jambon et fromage baguettes an on-the-road journo may have gone through in more than a quarter of a century  – which, by the way, based on three and a half weeks on each edition is getting on for two years of his life.

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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11 comments

Avatar
Valbrona | 6 years ago
1 like

Tifosi: 'Didn't it ever occur to you that riders were putting in unnatural performances?'

WF: 'Of course it did'.

Tifosi: 'Well then, why didn't you write or say anything about these unnatural performances'?

WF: 'I was on the gravy train like everyone else. I had a living to make. Fuck independent jounalism when you have a mortgage to pay'.

Avatar
bobbinogs | 6 years ago
1 like

When it comes to writing books I have always found Fotheringham incredibly boring.  The chap seems to find little real joy in things and, instead, reduces even the most exciting stories to the same level of engagement as a train timetable. 

Avatar
bob_c | 6 years ago
0 likes

From his Twitter feed it looks like he is generally annoyed with the limits that Sky places on press access i.e Froome - sorry, I mean "Kenya born Froome" - didn't spend most of the rest days talking to journalists. 

Avatar
bob_c | 6 years ago
3 likes

Does anyone know why he has such a problem with Chris Froome? Some of his recent articles on the Guardian have been very odd

Avatar
number9dream replied to bob_c | 6 years ago
3 likes
bob_c wrote:

Does anyone know why he has such a problem with Chris Froome? Some of his recent articles on the Guardian have been very odd

Agreed, his almost twice daily articles focussing on why Froome/SKY is/are so disliked seemed to detract from his otherwise insightful take on the Tour, although there were a noticable number of errors in the coverage this year. The real interest as ever with cycling coverage in the Guardian was the BTL debate.

 

Avatar
Leviathan replied to number9dream | 6 years ago
0 likes
number9dream wrote:

The real interest as ever with cycling coverage in the Guardian was the BTL debate.

What have mortgages got to do with the Tour, or am I missing something? I think it is such a shame that the French don't support Monaco-resident Chris Froome more.

Avatar
kitkat replied to Leviathan | 6 years ago
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Leviathan wrote:
number9dream wrote:

The real interest as ever with cycling coverage in the Guardian was the BTL debate.

What have mortgages got to do with the Tour

Or Bacon, Tomato & Lettuce?

Avatar
number9dream replied to Leviathan | 6 years ago
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Leviathan wrote:
number9dream wrote:

The real interest as ever with cycling coverage in the Guardian was the BTL debate.

What have mortgages got to do with the Tour, or am I missing something? I think it is such a shame that the French don't support Monaco-resident Chris Froome more.

BTL = below the line (that separates the actual real writers from the frothing seething anger of the internet commentariat, cf road.cc comments section)

Avatar
davel replied to number9dream | 6 years ago
0 likes
number9dream wrote:
Leviathan wrote:
number9dream wrote:

The real interest as ever with cycling coverage in the Guardian was the BTL debate.

What have mortgages got to do with the Tour, or am I missing something? I think it is such a shame that the French don't support Monaco-resident Chris Froome more.

BTL = below the line (that separates the actual real writers from the frothing seething anger of the internet commentariat, cf road.cc comments section)

Avatar
abrooks replied to bob_c | 6 years ago
1 like
bob_c wrote:

Does anyone know why he has such a problem with Chris Froome? Some of his recent articles on the Guardian have been very odd

You mean the 'Kenya born' Chris Froome, if recent articles are any indication.  I agree, odd tone when it comes to him.  One theory was that he ghost wrote Wiggins's book, but I'm not sure if I buy that.  Would love to know.

Avatar
BarryBianchi | 6 years ago
0 likes

Shame. Very few decent journos in cycling - he's one of the best.

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