cycling and the Tour De France are Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen.
Sherwen rode Le Tour a number of times whilst anchorman Liggett has
commentated on the race for ITV, Channel Four and now ITV 4 since 1978.
They were both looking forward to the race and providing detailed
coverage of the race. Most of this will come from extensive tours of France
and anything they don't know they will use from the tour guidebook
which details every turn of the road and every landmark.
When they are not at the microphone, checking the road for the next stage or
speaking to riders or hot footing it to the finish of the next stage, they host a number of press conferences and public/corporate events.
Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen
On race days, both get to the stage finish early and check their notes
before going live on air or recording pieces to camera for the highlights
show.
You can find details of their coverage by clicking on www.ITV.com/tour
This morning, they hosted a press conference for Team Colombia with Paul translating for the French media. This is an American registered team which took over from T-Mobile and has won over 50 races in their first year.
Their riders include world champion on the track, the Isle of Man's Mark
Cavendish and a rider being tipped by many as a favourite for the race
in George Hincapie, riding his 13th tour.
Cavendish, who is an excellent lead out man and was a stage winner in
the Giro D'Italia, said that it was good for the team to put last year
behind them and it was good to be in a very strong team who were
focussed on doing well.
Mark Cavendish (centre) welcomes his team mate on stage.