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  • Published: 15 June 2012
  • ISBN: 9780224083362
  • Imprint: Yellow Jersey
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $24.99

How I Won the Yellow Jumper

Dispatches from the Tour de France




A funny and frank account of falling in love with the Tour de France by television's quintessential roving reporter, Ned Boulting.

'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.'

Follow Ned Boulting's (occasionally excruciating) experiences covering the world's most famous cycling race. His story offers an insider's view of what really goes on behind the scenes of the Tour. From up-close-and-personal encounters with Lance Armstrong to bewildered mishaps with the local cuisine, Ned's been there, done that and got the crumpled-looking t-shirt.

Eight Tours on from Ned's humbling debut, he has grown to respect, mock, adore and crave the race in equal measure. What's more, he has even started to understand it.

Includes How Cav Won the Green Jersey: Short Dispatches from the 2011 Tour de France

  • Published: 15 June 2012
  • ISBN: 9780224083362
  • Imprint: Yellow Jersey
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $24.99

About the author

Ned Boulting

Ned Boulting started his broadcasting career at Sky in 1997, working as a reporter alongside Jeff Stelling on the now legendary show Soccer Saturday. In 2006 he was given the Royal Television Society’s Sports Reporter of the Year Award. In addition to his work as a football reporter for ITV, he has now presented seven Tours of Britain, the Vuelta España, the Tour of California as well as the Tour Series and the inaugural Women’s Tour. He has contributed features and live reports on twelve Tours de France. He is the author of the much-loved books How I Won the Yellow Jumper and On the Road Bike.

Also by Ned Boulting

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Praise for How I Won the Yellow Jumper

Very funny

Reader's Digest

His journey from self confessed 'football hack winging it in a sport beyond his ken' to his initiation into the Tour's nuances and eccentric characters delivers an amusing, warm and easy read

London Cyclist

This is, I'd say, the most enjoyable book of its kind since Tim Moore's French Revolutions, and is ideal for filling in the gaps between transmissions from this year's race

Guardian Sports

Hugely enjoyable...The only real problem with this book is that it's making me wish away the start of the summer and fast-forward to 2 July and le grand départ

Helen Pidd, Guardian

Hugely enjoyable... Brilliant

Ben East, Metro

I thought Ned was an old hand at the Tour. Evidently he was clueless... Told with panache

David Millar

A candid, insightful and often hilarious account

Alastair Campbell

Quirky, warped, enthusiastic and funny

Chris Boardman

Genuinely funny

Richard Williams

Made me chuckle

Mark Cavendish

Hilarious behind-the-scenes anecdotes

Glasgow Herald

Tour history is blended with anecdotes revealing the personalities and quirks of professional cycling

Times Higher Educational Supplement

An irreverent and funny take on cycling’s biggest race from a man who has seen it up close every year since 2003

Lesley McDowell, Glasgow Herald

I found his behind-the-scenes look at the famous race both highly amusing and telling in equal measure

Johann Lamont, Scotland on Sunday

Cycling at its best is fiercely cosmopolitan and internationalist, Boulting provides the kind of commentary the sport deserves, and will need if it is to fulfil its undoubted potential to reach out and grow

Mark Perryman, The Huffington Post