ITV’s Ned Boulting returns to Newbury with Tour de France stage show
Ned Boulting, ITV’s lead Tour de France commentator is coming back to the Corn Exchange on Tuesday November 1, with his one-man stage show that takes you behind the scenes at the Tour de France.
The cunningly entitled Re-Tour de Ned is an "indispensable theatrical road map for anyone aspiring to wear the yellow jersey on the Champs Elysées" – a really very rough guide to the tactics (pedal faster) and challenges (not pedalling fast enough) which will need to be deployed to win the biggest bike race in the world.
Ned’s visit to Newbury is the 20th leg of a 29-date tour across the country. He previously appeared in Newbury with his one-man stage show four years ago.
He said: “On November the 1st I’m coming back once more to the Corn Exchange in Newbury. I’ve got no corn to exchange, just a couple of stories about cycling".
The commentator's love affair with the Tour de France began in 2003, and the 2022 edition will be his 20th working behind the mic at the world’s biggest cycle race.
"My last stage show tour was in 2018 so I’m excited to be getting back out there. Along the way, there will be time to call to mind the greatest racers of the age, and to do hopelessly bad impressions of them.
"There will be scope to celebrate all that is French about France, and all that is Tourish about the Tour: Stuff like ignoring 12th century cathedrals, peeing at the side of the road, pushing spectators over, punching demonstrators and generally behaving like a shaven-legged hooligan for a month while riding over entire mountain ranges!
"Join me for another ride through the peaks and troughs of the silliest and the grandest month of the year. I’ll hand out copious, thoroughly unreliable, advice on How To Win The Tour de France. Or if not that, then at least How To Watch It On The Telly!”
Former pro cyclist David Millar – Ned's Tour de France co-commentator for the last eight years – added: “If it’s anything like the previous editions then you’re guaranteed to leave the theatre with a smile on your face. Ned provides a fantastic look behind the scenes at the Tour and you’ll get small insight into what I must put up with travelling around France with Ned for a month every July.”
The 2022 Tour de France starts on July 1, with the first of three stages in Denmark before finishing on the Champs-Elysees, 21 stages later, on July 24. So Ned then has just 10 weeks to write, develop and perfect the show before the first doors open in October.
Tickets available exclusively through www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/ned-boulting
