Back in the ’80s, when I was a teen, sport was brown. World Of Sport seemed to consist of football, horse racing and rugby – all played in mud – and grimy indoor sports such as darts and wrestling.
Pete Muir Editor
Then a young Scottish cyclist called Robert Millar started to do well at the Tour de France, and suddenly there was footage of snow-capped mountain peaks against blue skies, fields of yellow sunflowers and tanned athletes in brightly coloured jerseys. There was no brown in sight (AG2R didn’t exist back then).
It was my first introduction to the world of professional cycling, and it all seemed impossibly glamorous – where were the comb-overs and missing teeth that were an integral part of British sport? And look – they’re all speaking French!
I was hooked, but it seems the rest of country was less bothered. For the next couple of decades TV coverage of cycling remained patchy at best, and the number of Brits competing in the top flight could be counted on one hand (Millar, Boardman, the other Millar, Yates and, er…).
Which is why it was so exciting when all the Lottery loot unleashed a wave of Olympic track cycling medals, which begat Team Sky, which led to Britain’s first Tour de France victory in 2012. All of a sudden everyone loved cycling. You couldn’t move for Brits in the pro peloton; races were covered o
