With little opportunity for other riders to take the fight to Tadej Pogačar, as well as two ascents of a least favourite climb, “underwhelmed” is the first word Ned Boulting uses to describe his feelings about the route of the Tour de France 2026.
The broadcaster is preparing to shadow the race – and the Tour de France Femmes – next year with his former ITV co-presenters David Millar and Pete Kennaugh, as well as Lizzie Deignan, on their Never Strays Far podcast.
Boulting was impressed with the way the men’s race was bookended, he said, welcoming the addition of new team time trial rules on stage one, and the inclusion of the Montmartre circuit in Paris – plus its longer stretch to the finish line.
Speaking about the 26km ITT on stage 16 – which is the only individual time trial and one dominated by the 9.7km, 4.3% climb over the Cote de Larringes – Boulting said: “It sounds really counter-intuitive, after years of railing against exactly this,” he said, “but I now yearn for the time when you had a sort of 50, 60-kilometre flat individual time trial.
Of the good bits, Boulting praises the Barcelona Grand Départ and the new team time trial rules, which see rider times taken individually rather than on the fifth rider.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
And of the repeat visit to Montmartre, copying last year’s ‘special’ Paris finish to celebrate 50 years of finishes on the Champs-Elysées, Boulting adds: This time last year, I was bemoaning the change from the traditional Champs-Elysées circuit. And I hold my hands up, I was completely wrong. I thought the Montmartre circuit worked brilliantly last summer. And I’m not surprised that they’ve included it again.
“I’m pleased that they’ve altered it slightly just to put it slightly back in the balance as to whether or not a sprinter could win it,” he adds, alluding to the extra Champs-Elysées circuit thrown in after the final Montmartre climb this year.
In lieu of the ITV coverage he has been a part of for more than 20 years and which will be much missed next year, Boulting and his team will be following the Tour instead with their Never Strays Far this summer, producing what he terms “Tour-adjacent chat” – all live, it should be noted.
“What we’re going to do, and this is the fascination of it,” he enthuses, “is we might go to the odd stage start potentially, or kilometre zero, but we’re not going to go near any of the finish lines.
“Every stage, we’re going to set up somewhere interesting, somewhere relatively unknown, somewhere slightly low-key and somewhere very authentic in the middle of each course that perhaps has a little bit of interesting culture or history associated around it, and where the mayor will welcome us into the local village square and feed us with champagne and local produce.”
“And we’ll do these live broadcasts every race day, which are not commentary, but they are Tour de France adjacent chat. Let’s put it that way.”
