Phil Liggett

Phil Liggett MBE
Commentating at the 2010 Bay Cycling Classic
Born	11 August 1943 (1943-08-11) Bebington, Merseyside, England
Residence	Bayford, Hertfordshire, and South Africa
Nationality	British
Occupation	Cycling commentator and journalist; also commentates on events such as snow-sports and triathlon
Years active	1967–present
Employer	ITV (Britain) Versus (US) SBS (Australia)
Style	Play-by-play
Television	Tour de France Summer Olympics Winter Olympics World Championships

Phil Liggett, MBE (born 11 August 1943) is a British commentator and journalist who covers professional cycling. He currently commentates on the Tour de France and bike races for Versus, ITV and SBS. He is a former amateur cyclist and received a professional contract in 1967; instead of turning professional, he saw a future in sports journalism after he wrote a few articles in cycling magazines about races in which he participated.^{[citation needed]}

Liggett initially wrote for Cycling magazine, and moved on to work freelance for The Guardian,The Daily Telegraph and The Observer. In 1997, he was appointed Cycle Sport magazine's international editor. He has also written books on cycle racing.^{[citation needed]}

Between 1972 and 1993, Liggett was technical director of the Milk Race. His involvement with organising cycle racing events led to his becoming vice-president of the Association Internationale Organisateurs des Courses Cycliste. In 1973, age 30, Liggett became the youngest ever UCI international commissaire.^{[citation needed]}

Liggett has reported on 13 Olympics and 38 Tours. He is usually teamed with Paul Sherwen. Liggett has covered other sports including triathlons and ski jumping. Combining this other coverage with his Tour de France work has enabled Liggett to become one of the few sports journalists to work for the American Big Three networks: ABC, CBS, and NBC.^{[citation needed]} He has had a long time association with Australian network SBS and covers the Tour de France with Sherwen, as well as covering other Australian events such as the Tour Down Under. He has covered Johannesburg's 94.7 Cycle Challenge for South Africa's SuperSport, an event which attracted 25,000 entrants in 2010.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, Liggett was awarded an MBE for his voluntary and professional service to cycling.

Liggett is known for colourful expressions about riders or racing conditions with often literary overtones. A collection of these "Liggettisms" was published in 2005. In 2009, he was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame.

Liggett's home town is Bebington, Wirral, though he now lives in Bayford, Hertfordshire. He spends most of his leisure time in South Africa where he has a house in the Southern Cape and a game farm near the Kruger National Park. In 2009 he joined the Tour de Munster 4-day charity cycle for the final 2 stages around Kerry and Cork.^{[citation needed]}

For ten years, from around 1997 to January 2007, Liggett was president of the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC), Britain's national cyclists' organisation. He was succeeded by Jon Snow, presenter of Channel 4 news.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Cycle Show – day 1, Witcomb Cycles' blog (includes pictures of Liggett) – 11 October 2007
• Phil Liggett on Twitter
• Phil gets a birthday cake while on a cycle August 2009