How I Won the Yellow Jumper—Dispatches from the Tour De France

Paris, 4 July 2003: My first Tour de France. I had never seen a bike race. I had only vaguely heard of Lance Armstrong. I had no idea what I was doing there. Yet, that day I was broadcasting live on television. I fumbled my way through a few platitudes, before summing up with the words, ". . . Dave Millar just missing out on the Yellow Jumper." Yes, the Yellow Jumper.

Following Ned Boulting's (occasionally excruciating) experiences covering the world's most famous two-wheeled race, this story offers an insider's view of life behind the scenes of the Tour, as well as detailing the complexities and absurdities of reporting on the race and confronting the most celebrated riders—Cavendish, Wiggins, Armstrong and more—seconds after they cross the line. Eight Tours on from Ned's humbling debut, he has grown to respect, mock, adore, and crave the race in equal measure, and what's more, he has even started to understand it. This is a funny, frank account of Ned's journey—that same journey undertaken by many tens of thousands of cycling enthusiasts—from tour trainee to incurable fanatic.

Ned Boulting started his broadcasting career as a reporter on the show Soccer Saturday, in 2006 winning the Royal Television Society's Sports Reporter of the Year Award. He has presented two Tours of Britain for ITV, as well as the inaugural Tour Series, and contributed features and live reports on eight Tours de France.