Phil Liggett outside the NBC Sports commentary box in Copenhagen at the start of the 109th edition … [+]
English broadcaster Phil Liggett today starts covering his 50th Tour de France. Now working for NBC Sports, Liggett has long been known as the “voice of cycling.”
His former TV commentary partnership with Paul Sherwen, who died in 2018, was one of the longest in sport.
The Tour de France starts today with a time trial around the streets of Copenhagen. It’s the most northerly ever start for the world’s largest annual sporting event, and it’s Liggett’s first visit to Denmark.
Liggett arrived early at the NBC booth, and he told me that his rolling contract with the US broadcast company runs until December 2023—the 79-year-old has no plans to retire.
“Why should I?” he asks.
“I am blessed that I’ve got good health, as far as I know.”
Initially covering the race for Britain’s Daily Telegraph, Liggett moved across to TV commentary in 1978, providing insight on short packages broadcast by ITV. When start-up broadcaster Channel 4 planned to air a daily highlights show of the Tour de France, Liggett was hired as the main anchor and live commentator.
“Honestly, it seems like just five years ago when I stood in the Hague on my first Tour de France in 1973,” mused Liggett.
NBC assistant Sarah Bastings hands Phil Liggett an iPad from a draw she has filled with sweets to … [+]
Liggett was an assistant to British TV commentator David Saunders at that event. He also filed copy to the British cycling magazine Cycling Weekly. Before starting in journalism, Liggett was a racing cyclist.
“I went to live in Belgium and I progressed enough to get a contract offer as a pro, but I moved across to journalism instead—it seemed more secure.”
And so it has proved. Liggett also commentates on the Commonwealth Games for Australian TV and other sports during the Olympics, but it’s cycling that has sustained his long career.
“Even though I’ve got a contract with NBC, it’s still my decision on when to hang up the microphone. I’ll be 80 next year; I don’t feel it.”
Winner Team UAE Emirates’ Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia celebrates his overall leader yellow jersey on … [+]
Liggett believes 23-year-old Slovenian rider Tadej Pogačar is a shoo-in for his third consecutive Tour de France victory, elevating him to one of the Tour greats.
This is the Tour’s 109th annual edition—Pogačar’s victories in 2020 and 2021 saw him win three different classifications, awarded with different colored jerseys during each Tour, a dominance not seen since the 1970s and the all-round dominance of the Tour by the Belgian rider Eddy Eddy Merckx, winner of five editions of the race.
“Pogačar is still a kid, and he’s got youthful enthusiasm, but he’s got [body performance metrics] that are out of sight,” said Liggett.
If Pogačar wins the 2022 Tour and goes on challenge for next year’s event, it’s another shoo-in that the “voice of cycling” will continue to be that of Phil Liggett.
