NBC SPORTS’ PHIL LIGGETT SET TO COVER 50TH CAREER TOUR DE FRANCE AS LIVE COVERAGE BEGINS THIS FRIDAY, JULY 1 ON PEAco*ck & USA NETWORK - NBC Sports Pressbox (2024)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 29th, 2022

NBC SPORTS’ PHIL LIGGETT SET TO COVER 50TH CAREER TOUR DE FRANCE AS LIVE COVERAGE BEGINS THIS FRIDAY, JULY 1 ON PEAco*ck & USA NETWORK

“I caught Tour fever in 1973, and so far it has lasted for 50 years.” – Liggett on covering 50 Tour de France races throughout his career

Live Coverage of All 21 Stages of Tour de France Begins Friday at 9:30 a.m. ET on Peaco*ck & USA Network; Concludes Sunday, July 24 at 10 a.m. ET on Peaco*ck & USA Network

STAMFORD, Conn. – June 29, 2022 – NBC Sports’ cycling play-by-play caller Phil Liggett, universally known as the “voice of cycling,” will cover his 50^th Tour de France (45^th time calling the race on television) when NBC Sports’ live coverage of the 109th Tour de France begins this Friday on Peaco*ck and USA Network.

“When I returned from my second Tour de France in 1974, I remember saying to my wife Trish, ‘You won’t believe it, but there are journalists who have been following the Tour for over 40 years – you’ll never see me there in 40 years’ time!’” Liggett said. “But, I caught Tour fever in 1973, and so far it has lasted for 50 years.”

Liggett began covering the Tour de France as a print journalist in 1973 and started calling the race on television in 1978. Including this year’s event, Liggett will have covered over 114,500 miles of Tour de France racing – the equivalent of making more than four and a half trips around the Earth.

Phil Liggett’s “Things You Might Not Know about Covering the Tour de France”

• • “To keep up with the Tour de France, which is about 2,100 miles over three weeks, the TV commentators drive approximately 3,500 miles around the race route, often reaching their hotels at midnight, but ready to call the race from the finishing line the next day.

• • “In the early days, I started just half a mile ahead of the riders in a group of maybe 500 cars. Before the finish, I had to gain three hours on the riders and jump into the commentary box to pick up the action to the finish line. It was a dangerous existence and I was the happiest guy in TV when the system changed because of the extended coverage of the event due to its popularity. We now travel to the next finish in the evenings.

• • “During my 50 years, I have been lucky enough to call every English-speaking rider ever to win the Tour de France and also every one of the 34 stage victories of Britain’s Mark Cavendish, which equaled the record of the great Belgian Eddy Merckx in 2021.

• • “When Greg LeMond became the first (and only) winner of the Tour in 1986, he had to sit with me on top of an open bus waiting for a satellite live cross at midnight into the States. He was amazingly tolerant as all he really wanted to do was celebrate his victory with the team, who had booked a boat on the Seine and were ready to party.

• • “When the Colombian journalists (TV and radio) came to the Tour for the first time in the mid-80s, they produced their radio programmes from the roadside telephone boxes and had their pockets full of French francs to pump into the telephones (no mobile phones, of course) to run a half-hour live show into Bogotá.

• • “Throughout the ‘70s, walking into the press room, where up to a thousand journalists were banging out the stories on typewriters, was deafening. And, finding a seat through the smoke of so many cigarettes was perhaps not the healthiest existence either. No mobile phones, so always a rush to the telephone operators and then a wait of up to two hours to get your collect call through to the UK or the States.

• • “As the race became more popular and television was producing non-stop live coverage lasting up to six hours, we had to request that the organisers move the toilets to within a one-minute walk from the commentary positions, so a quick visit was possible during the commercial breaks. They still do this now.”

Bob Roll will join Liggett on the call as an analyst, with Liggett and Roll on site at each stage of the Tour de France for the first time since 2019. Steve Porino and former professional cyclist Robbie Hunter will serve as reporters.

Paul Burmeister will host daily pre-race and post-race studio coverage, along with former professional cyclist and analyst Christian Vande Velde and American Grand Tour champion Chris Horner.

NBC Sports will present three weeks of wall-to-wall live and encore coverage of the 109^th Tour de France on Peaco*ck and USA Network. Daily live coverage of the Tour de France, featuring all 21 stages, begins Friday, July 1, at 9:30 a.m. ET on Peaco*ck and USA Network with the Tour de France Pre-Race Show, followed by Stage 1 at 10 a.m. ET on Peaco*ck and USA Network.

Peaco*ck will providelive streaming coverage of every stage of the 2022TourdeFrance, featuringlive, start-to-finish coverage of every stage. Peaco*ck’s coverage includes simulstreams from USA Network and NBC shows, as well as commentary from the world feed. Peaco*ck will also feature full-stage replays, highlights, stage recaps and rider interviews.

To sign-up and watch every minute of live action from the 2022 Tour de France, click here.

Peaco*ck’s expansive programming features live sports coverage including MLB Sunday Leadoff, golf, NASCAR, INDYCAR, Triple Crown horse racing, the USFL,Sunday Night Football, Olympic sports, Premier League, Notre Dame Football, and much more. Peaco*ck also offers daily sports programming on the NBC Sports channel which streams Peaco*ck Original Brother from Anotherand staples likeThe Dan Patrick Show,Pro Football Talk Live, and The Rich Eisen Show.

NBC SPORTS’ 2022 TOUR DE FRANCE SCHEDULE

(subject to change, all times ET)***All live coverage on NBC and USA Network is also available on the NBC Sports app:

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