Phil Liggett, the global doyen of cycling commentary, has announced his (partial) retirement. I spoke to him on Thursday.

Fitz: Phil! You’ve just finished covering your17th Olympics! That must make you – dot three, carry one, subtract two – old enough to remember when the Dead Sea was only sick? Is it that simple equation which caused you to announce that on the day that this is published – Sunday – is not just your birthday, but also the day of your retirement from the Olympics?

Phil Liggett with Cadel Evans in 2010. Liggett predicted Evans would win Le Tour, 13 years before it happened.Credit: Vince Caligiuri

PL: Yes. I won’t be at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles because I don’t want to bore people, and I’ll be approaching 85 years of age. But I will be doing all my other work for the foreseeable future, and so I will be on the Tour de France, which will be my 53rd, and I will be at the Tour Down Under and so on. So not full retirement, but it was certainly nice to be able to read all these kind obituary pieces, and see what people think of you after your “death”!

Fitz: How old were you when you became completely engrossed by cycling? And how do you explain its massive attraction to those like me, who try, but just don’t quite get, why people are so absorbed by it?

PL: Growing up in regional England, I was totally useless at every other sport. In rugby, they just threw me into touch. In cricket, I couldn’t bowl. In football, the only goal I scored was when the goalkeeper had gone home. But I loved fishing and bought a bike, so I could put the fishing pole along the crossbar. And then my best friend said, “Phil, I want you to come cycling with me this Sunday.” I said, “I’m not coming out on a Sunday on a bike or anything else. It’s the only day of the week I get a hot meal.”

Fitz: You nearly missed out on the whole thing?

The key to good commentary? “Tell the story in pictures, to add to what the audience can already see.”Credit:

PL: Yes, but then he kept on about all these places he’d seen, like Wales, which was only 20 kilometres away. I’d never been to Wales, as we had no car in the family. And so I went cycling, and I found out how engrossing the sport is for the friendship and wonder of seeing so many things, how beautiful my country was, and that I was also quite good at riding a bike.

Fitz: So good in fact, you nearly went on the Tour!

PL: Yes, I went to Belgium for a year to see if I could get a pro contract, but unfortunately, I wasn’t as good as a guy called Eddy Merckx who, to this day, is the greatest bike rider who’s ever lived. Since then, we’ve become friends and I told him: “You’re the reason I didn’t turn professional.” To which Eddie said, “What’s the reason?” “Because I could never beat you, Eddy, you were too good.” And he looked at me. His eyes went from my feet to my face, and then he said, “You ... beat me?” I said, “That’s what I mean. That’s why I didn’t turn pro.”

Fitz: And so to commentary ...

PL: Yes, I started by picking up a microphone at a local bicycle race. Before long the BBC rang up and said, “Can you do a radio report on this race for 30 seconds?” And I remember saying to my wife, “You won’t believe it, the BBC just sent me a check for £15 for a 30-second report!”

Fitz: And look at you now, Phil. Looking back over all those Olympics, including the winter ones, could........

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