Why I speak in defence of ITV4’s Tour de Yorkshire cycling commentary – Yorkshire Post letters

IN response to the letter from Paul Rudyard (The Yorkshire Post, May 11), I must leap to the defence of the commentators of the Tour de Yorkshire on ITV4.

The Tour de Yorkshire is primarily a bike race with a travelogue as a by-product.

Ned Boulting and David Millar make a very knowledgeable commentary team and with the professional cyclists as guest presenters, they impart insight into tactics, teams and general interest items to the viewers – whether keenly interested in the sport or not.

Yes, the pictures showcase this wonderful county of ours and we all have much to be grateful to Sir Gary Verity for bringing this spectacle to Yorkshire.

I thought that the team commented well on the sights when appropriate with extra facts.

Many of the sights were captioned anyway or so iconic that they needed no comment.

My only downside to the coverage was the length and frequency of the ad breaks, thus denying many villagers, who had gone to much trouble to decorate their village and turned out to show their support for the race, their moment in the spotlight.

But then, the advertising revenue probably pays for the coverage, so we can’t have it all ways.