How I Won the Yellow Jumper: Dispatches from the Tour De France

by Ned Boulting

Follow Ned Boulting?s (occasionally excruciating) experiences covering the world?s most famous two-wheeled race. His story offers an insider?s view of life behind the scenes of the Tour, as well as detailing the complexities and absurdities of reporting on the race and confronting the most celebrated riders?Cavendish, Wiggins, Armstrong et al?seconds after they cross the line. 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. Funny and frank, How I Won the Yellow Jumper is the account of Ned?s journey?that same journey undertaken by many tens of thousands of cycling enthusiasts?from tour trainee to incurable fanatic.

Genres: Cycling, Nonfiction, Sports, Biography, Humor, Travel, Bicycles

316 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2011

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book!

Grew up watching the Tour de France with my Dad, and have seen virtually every stage televised in the 80s, 90s, 00s and 10's to date. Throughout this time the commentary team of Phil Ligget, Paul Sherwen, Gary Imlach and more recently Chris Boardman and Ned Boulting have been my travelling companions as I've learnt how this gruelling sport works. I've watched heady days of dramatic climbs, ongoing duels between champions and of course the gloom of drugs cheats envelop the Tour. Most excitingly, I've watched as British Cycling has emerged from the occasional glimmer of hope to being Green and Yellow Jersey winners! Heady days indeed.

Boulting's book is a wonderful behind the scenes read. His style is conversational, witty and easy going. He covers the big topics and the small idiosyncrases of life following the Tour with humour and personal insight. This isn't a book about the racing - if you want to learn about how the race works, the tactics and regulations, this isn't the book for you - but let's face it, the Tour is so much more than just the race but is a movement, a lifstyle, an annual pilgrimage even. This is a book of the life around the Tour and the challenges of presenting it.

I would certainly recommend this book to all sports fans and anyone interested in the world of road racing. Look out for the edition that includes the update 'How Cav Won the Green Jersey'. I wonder if there will be an update to include the unprecedented British Tour win by Bradley Wiggins?

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read. Light and easy to put down and then pick up again. I enjoyed his writing style and some of the anecdotes made me laugh out loud. It would be interesting to read an updated version after the Armstrong fiasco

[Steve Kimmins · Rating 5 out of 5]

A niche read and something I’d recommend to anyone with a vague interest in the annual Tour de France cycling race and/or France itself. A leisure cyclist like myself can particularly empathise with what the professional cyclists endure, even though far beyond what we’d tolerate on our gentler rides.
It’s the only sporting event I avidly follow, every July (excepting some English football highlights, the active sport of my youth). A grand procession around France every year; a different route each time plainly highlighting the opportunities for tourism, the country’s varied scenery and especially its two major mountain ranges where the professional cyclists always have to suffer at some stage, in the summer heat.

This book is a journalist’s perspective of The Tour. I was a bit apprehensive about that angle, after having read straight histories of The Tour previously, back to its origins in 1903.
It didn’t start well as the author describes his first Tour in 2003, arriving as a general sports journalist who hadn’t bothered to revise up on its background - telling the TV viewers in a live broadcast of the importance of the revered race leader’s Yellow Jersey (Maillot Jaune) as the Yellow Jumper - quelle faux pas!
It almost put me off proceeding further, given the apparent lack of professionalism, but the author is self-deprecating and his knowledge and enthusiasm for the event improves significantly.

The chapters are a hotchpotch of topics. Some cover his personal difficulties and delights of following the 3 week event around France; some cover the problems of interviewing riders during the event (not least the contradiction between rider’s tetchy exhaustion after a day’s ride but their sponsors wanting publicity, which supports this as a professional event); some cover specific riders, not all in a complimentary manner, with the added drama of the regular doping scandals that emerge from time to time.

But if you’re interested in the event then I found this a well written, interesting, entertaining read. It covers The Tour from 2003-2011 but the top rider’s names were still easy for me to recall, despite them now being retired. The Lance Armstrong doping scandal hadn’t fully emerged in the timeframe covered but suspicions about his influence on the race were already apparent to the author and accusations were flying. I read this older book as the author is bringing out his reminisces of the most recent Tours very shortly, and I’m looking forward to it.

5*, because I wasn’t expecting to sympathise with a sporting journalist’s viewpoint, but now I do.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tale of young Ned Boulting. Fresh-faced and innocent as he joins the ITV Tour de France coverage team in 2003. Transferred in from other, lesser, sports Ned is completely green in the ways of cycling – as the description of Gary Imlach quizzing him demonstrates. "They have teams? I didn't know that." But, being on that journey with Ned is part of the joy of this book. He knows he knows nothing, but he's going to have a crack at it anyway. And on the way he'll learn (hopefully in time so he doesn't completely mess it up).

While I didn't learn much about cycling as a sport, I learnt a lot about the behind the scenes action. Just how off the cuff some of those interviews are. Just how randomly some of the ideas are generated (Ned's suggestion to film a night camping out with the fans for example). And much, as both a journalist and a fan, he can be there every day and yet still seem part of a totally parallel organisation from the race itself. I don't think I ever imagined that the racers and the journalists were best friends, but the almost adversarial distinction between the two groups was a surprise. I'd always kinda assumed that the British journalists, at least, were more matey with the British riders than this tale suggests.

The book's chapters are a little all over the place. I don't think a single one stays in the same year for the whole chapter. But this allows Ned to bring us even more into his journey from complete beginner in 2003 through to a seasoned professional in 2010. However, as the book was written in 2011, nearly two years before I read it, time (and some of the cast) have moved on. Interestingly, especially given very recent events, are the three chapters devoted to one Lance Armstrong (former Tour de France champion and now disgraced drugs cheat). At first, you have the expected Lance-appreciation chapter. Armstrong was coming to the end of his first career our young hero starts his story, and it's clear that as pretty much the only cyclist he'd heard of before he's pretty much in awe of the Texan. He goes so far as to describe his retirement as leaving the Tour "diminished by his absence". But this was a journalist still, presumably, unversed in the darker underbelly of cycling. Yet somehow, he manages to reconcile this with his clear description of Lance's, and the peloton's, disgraceful treatment of Filippo Simeoni.

His chapter on Richard Virenque leaves us in little doubt as to the distaste that his fall from grace left in the sport. But the two later Armstrong chapters start to reveal the slow realisation that Ned went through. Written between 2010 and 2011, he obviously doesn't have all the latest revelations to call upon, but it's clear that Ned has transitioned from a Lance fanboy to a much more cynical position. While this is sad in a way, it's much more honest with the reader than the entrenched positions that Messrs Liggett and Sherwen have taken.

As with the doping, a writer always risks getting caught out by things moving on after the book is written. In that case, the march of time hasn't made Ned look foolish. However, it was amusing to read him talk, with sadness, about Wiggins's Tour in 2010 as he totally failed to live up to Sky's expectation. Perhaps, he muses, Sky's plan will need to be about somebody other that Wiggins. Some younger, fresh, talent. Waiting to come through. Ahh, if only he could have had a rewrite in 2012!

Bookended with an only tenuously related tale of Ned waking up in Lewisham hospital after a cycling accident of his own after his first Tour de France. While not necessarily what readers are looking for in this memoir, it's inclusion is worthwhile for the punchline that it ends the book on alone. Overall it's a delightful story of somebody coming to both discover and love the sport of cycling, from the inside. It's hard not be charmed by the tale.

My 2012 edition came with an extra bonus of How Cav Won the Green Jersey tacked on the end. A much shorter tale of his attendance at the 2011 Tour de France, where after Cav pointed out how worthless the Green Jersey was because nobody ever remembers who won it, he went on to win it. Self-referentially, it includes an anecdote where Ned gives Cav a copy of this book How I Won the Yellow Jumper , and Cav asks him to sign it, as well as a terrible photograph of Cav holding the book and looking very shocked.

[Jonathan Daley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and informative dive into the crazy world of Le Tour de France - the most defining race of the best sport in the world.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty solid

[Jim McDonnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really quick, easy and enjoyable read, I could have easily read a version three times longer. Always amusing, interesting and enlightening - with this year's Tour a couple of weeks away I feel like I've been given a little bit of insider knowledge about how Le Tour works and how the pictures and sounds get to our tv screens.

Ned Boulting's writing style is informal, natural and very readable. He has plenty of Tour anecdotes from his years as a reporter there; and although he doesn't offer any conclusive opinions about the more controversial aspects of the race, there's plenty there to inform the reader just a bit more about them.

But the book isn't about controversy, it's about entertaining and amusing stories, the delivery of which hit my funnybone spot-on time after time. I definitely intend to spend this year's race pronouncing each and every rider's name in an exaggerated and unlikely comedy Geordie accent.

If you like Le Tour, you'll like this book.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have watched the Tour on Channel 4 and now ITV 4 for many many years now, and read as much about the sport and the riders as I can. It was nice to read up on the view from the journalist.

Boulting was a football journalist before landing in France 2 days before the start of the 2004 tour with almost no preparation. He was briefed by members of the team and dropped from a great height into the deep end. The first interview he had with a rider he asked about the yellow jumper (normally jersey) and his reputation was made.

The book loosely follows each Tour, and is interspersed with lots of chapters on individuals in the production team, and riders. There are some really funny bits, and a poignant tribute to a great camera man. This was written prior to Wiggins triumph in 2012, and he writes of the promise that he shows in the Tour, and the Fall of Armstrong, that with hindsight the signs were probably there.

Great read, must for all cycling and Tour fans

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Ned's first book about life behind the scenes as a commentator on the Tour de France and tells how a total cycling novice gets thrown in at the deep end, learns the lingo and eventually becomes a huge fan, despite the wobbly start. Ned tells it like it is; long days, living out of a suitcase, crumpled shirts, deadlines, bruised egos, coffee, uncomfortable hotel beds, adrenalin, lycra, elation and disappointment, but his three-week Tour life on the road is recounted with humour and interspersed with some great facts and trivia for wannabe tour nerds like me.

[Soho_Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not entirely sure why I still watch the Tour de France. After all, it has been proven that many of the higher ranked competitors over the years were cheating and even last year’s champion, Chris Froome, is under suspicion due to some adverse test results that are as yet unexplained. It’s certainly not due to wish-fulfilment, as I’ve not ridden or owned a bike for years, lacking the balance and confidence to ride one and with aging knees making the pedalling motion uncomfortable. But for some reason, I’ve long followed the Tour de France on television and read many books relating to cycling and Le Tour over the years.

Ned Boulting also seems to have no idea why he is at his first Tour de France in 2003, having been plucked from other sports reporting to cover Le Tour. His first report has him referring to the yellow jersey, worn by the race leader, as the yellow jumper, hence the title of the book. Fortunately, this rookie error wasn’t to harm his career and in following years, he developed a passion for and understanding of this great event as he continued to report on and from it. Through the stories in this book, Boulting shares his growing experience and confidence over several years.

The first thing that struck me about the book is the way it is presented. It is not chronological, but split into sections dealing with different aspects of life following Le tour around France for 3 weeks every July. He covers everything from the terror of reporting live when you haven’t a clue what’s going on, to the difficulties in speaking to some of the riders and the difficulties in actually speaking to them when you’ve achieved the near impossible of persuading them to speak in the first place. There is a lot of action from behind the scenes, from the joys of food on the go to the more questionable enjoyment of French launderettes on rest days, portable toilets and camping half way up a mountain to experience Le Tour from another angle.

Boulting writes with great humour, seemingly finding something to laugh about in every situation, more often than not at his own expense. Whilst this is his story and he is a central character, he writes in a way that ensures the book is by him, but not all about him. Indeed, apart from a few brief mentions about a cycling accident he had shortly after his first Tour, which I suspect are largely included so he can laugh at himself some more, he’s far more often a narrator than a character in his own book. This leaves the way open for the men who do all the hard work on the bikes to take centre stage and those who support the efforts of the riders and people like Boulting and others who report on the tour to come out of the background and into the sight of those of us who would see nothing more than the people directly in front of the cameras.

This means that for any fan of Le Tour de France, this is a hugely insightful read, presenting Le Tour from a heretofore unknown and unseen angle. Thanks to Boulting’s experience at relating Le Tour to a television audience who may know as little as he did back in those early years, his style is open and informative, but presented simply and without burying the reader in jargon, which with this being Le Tour, would mostly be in French words we don’t understand anyway. Boulting writes like a man who could be sitting next to you in the pub upon his return, telling you what he’s been doing on his holidays, except not missing out the bits that you wouldn’t have taken a photo of and relishing the stories where someone got drunk and fell over, occasionally himself.

If there is a downside to the book, it’s that the age of it means so much has changed since publication. Although it covered a period during which drugs were being cracked down upon and Floyd Landis was disqualified for failing a drugs test, it was written during a period where everyone still thought Lance Armstrong was a hero and record breaker rather than a cheat, so whilst the report from L’Equipe that he had been caught cheating was covered briefly, the full truth did not come out until much later. It also misses much of the success of British Cycling, with only Bradley Wiggins’ 4th place in 2009 and crash in 2011 getting much of a mention and Froome not present at all, with Team Sky in genesis and not in race winning form and Cavendish winning the green jersey, but far from being the record breaker he would later become. However, there are later books which will most likely cover these areas and it’s not the fault of the author that publication dates have left these holes, as the rest of the book suggests he would have covered them in an even-handed, gently self-deprecating and amusing way if they had.

However, the age of the book and how much the landscape of Le Tour has moved on since publication does mean it’s not up to date enough to be worth reading now. However, as well written as it is, had it covered a period right up to date, I wouldn’t have hesitated to recommend it, so good is the book, the writing and the insights it provides.

[Richard Olney · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a well-thought idea that for some activities, it's very hard indeed to write about them. Music is perhaps the exemplar of this idea and sport another. However, though it's especially difficult to write accurately about the experience of the sportsperson if one isn't the sportsperson, it is possible to write from the outside about the culture surrounding it. With some sports, writing of the culture doesn't enhance the activity, while i like football and love rugby i can do without tales of bar room nights and mischief in the dressing rooms.

Cycling, with the whole dizzying merry-go-round of the Tour de France especially is one of the sports i can read about and enjoy. It seems to attract good writers more than bad, much like Cricket and Boxing, the activity itself is really a small part of the experience, the point if you will.

Mr Boulting's book, as much about him and television and people and France and french people is one i've really enjoyed.

Each chapter focuses on one particular aspect of the experience of the Tour; cyclists are profiled, the chapter on Mr Boulting's night under canvas on a mountain with the rest of the travelling fandom of Le Tour is especially vivid, television and the trials involved in broacasting live from a different, often remote part of Europe every day, and he pays affectionate tribute to his colleagues, lightly taking the mickey out of them in a very British way, though the butt of most of his jokes is himself.

I don't suppose i've learned anything much about what it's like to be a Tour de France rider, but i think i have learned about what it's like being part of the media following them.

And, if the test that an article about music is good is that it makes you want to play the music then this book passes as perhaps for the first time in years, i will watch some of the Tour de France this year.

[Heather Belleguelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoy listening to Ned (and David Millar) commentating on bike racing so was happy to pick up a copy of this book in a second-hand bookshop. The book is a little dated as it was published in 2011. However, it gives an interesting and entertaining insight into some of what goes on to bring us the televised version of the Tour, as well as pulling back the curtains on some of the faces and voices we’re used to having on our screens and in commentary. There are moments of drama and humour aplenty, all told in Ned’s inimitable style. One of the things I found most interesting was Ned’s slight obsession with Lance Armstrong, and it was enlightening to hear his thoughts about the now-disgraced cyclist. It was also rather entertaining reading his descriptions of David Millar with whom he now commentates, not just on the Tour but the Vuelta and other races as well, and with whom he also appears to be good friends. And then there are his thoughts on the brand-new Team Sky and the up-and-coming young sprinter, Mark Cavendish. Perhaps it was actually even more interesting reading the book at this distance than it would have been when it was new. Maybe one day Ned will write a follow-up book giving us further insights and anecdotes from the greatest show in bike racing.

[Mark White · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a behind the scenes look at one man's journey from ignorant but enthusiastic beginner to accomplished cycling commentator. Ned's description of how the reporters work, live and survive through the course of the TdF is always entertaining and at times laugh out loud funny. And like the sport it follows, it is at times touched with tragedy. Highly recommended for cycling fans or anyone who has watched Le Tour and wanted more. My copy of Jumper was a charity store find that will be remaining on my shelves. This is very rare from that source as it is often apparent why the original owner parted with the book. 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

[Sal · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Tour is always a highlight of July for me, and I've watched the old C4 coverage that morphed into the ITV4 team for many years. Ned Boulting is a much loved and familiar part of that coverage, and this book has a lot of entertaining insights into life as a journalist on this crazy 3-week bike race.
Whilst I enjoyed this book it did leap around all over the place - one minute charting the rise of Mark Cavendish and the next talking about mushroom toilets and the problem of getting your laundry done on rest days!
The book was published in 2010, so it also suffers from the reader knowing about the Lance Armstrong revelations to come. The issue of doping is mentioned but not in any depth. Boulting isn't an investigative journalist, and there is still an aura around Armstrong and his team that now feels strange.
An interesting book for adding to our understanding of the Tour.

[Dr K P Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read that is a snapshot of the tour in 2011 and the previous decade ish of races.

It’s before the absolute dominance of team sky so there’s no mention of what’s to come. Which seems weird as the hopefulness about British racing is just about to pay off in spades.

Also weird - the approach to the Voldemort of cycling who hasn’t yet been revealed as the greatest cheat in the history of sport.

At the end of free to air cycling in the UK this is a strangely nostalgic book and it’s sad to think the ITV coverage is no more. The way in which there are seeds of the future collaboration between Ned and David Millar is also really quite cool.

A must read for cycling fans.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It sometimes seem to deride a book to call it 'fun'...or 'little'..however here goes this is a fun little book.
Not much to say that the title doesn't thing is this is just dispatched from the Tour de France and as such takes it organisational matters.. comradely banter...cycling superstars and scandal of the sporting type.
Written with a light touch which again is no bad thing..I enjoyed this as I have a prior book by the author.

[Ness · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who used to work in press offices for sporting events I loved Ned's tales of following around the media circus. The worst part is always trying to get interviews with the competitors. The last thing they want to do is talk to the press but never understand they wouldn't have a job without the media coverage.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was such a great depiction of both falling in love with a sport and the sheer character of everything Tour de France. Ned Boulting is an insightful and very amusing writer whose turn of phrase is often poetic enough to engage on a general literary level. I can’t wait to read his other books.

[Malcolm Balster · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much has changed for both Ned and the Le Tour since this was written. Armstrong has been struck from the records and Cav now is joint holder of the most stage wins. But it was great going back down memory lane to be reminded of the exploits of Evans and the Schlecks, and to be reminded of when Ned was the man on the ground and David Miller was a genuine rider and stage winner.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable behind the scenes look into the Tour de France from a journalistic perspective. The stories told had me smiling at times and the book has left me with a greater appreciation for what goes into the ITV broadcasts that I watch on the TV. Recommend for any cycling fan.

[Craig Hatton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick holiday read. As a big cycling fan this was really interesting. Even if you only have a passing interest in cycling, or more specifically the Tour de France, it would still be worth the time to read as it provides insights into touring around France and some excellent stories.

[Hannah Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable and amusing insights into the TdF, focusing on the years 2004 to 2011.
Unfortunately I didn’t realise this when I bought the book (it was published in 2012). So, unfortunately, pretty dated.

[Daz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable insight into the life of a Tour De France reporter. Delivered with typical Boulting dry wit and sarcasm.

Well worth the read if you are a TDF follower.

[Ally Fraser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initially disappointed it wasn't a riders perspective it turner out to be a really entertaining read with as many twists and turns as the route the riders take.

[Mikko Pietilä · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luin uudestaan vuosien jälkeen. Mainio kirja.

[Mat Greener · Rating 4 out of 5]

All chapters have Ned's humourous style but some chapters are more interesting than others. Well worth a read for fans of the tour de France even if was written in 2010

[Sarah De Beer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and interesting read. Thought I'd be bored but behind the scenes of the Tour de France is actually very interesting.

Would be interesting to see an updated version as this is now quite old.

[mark feenan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Light hearted look at all things Tour De France. Very enjoyable read.

[Chris Howland · Rating 5 out of 5]

truly well written anecdotes from the many years Ned Boulting has covered Le Tour. An easy, humerous read.

[Jonny Brick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A jolly good read full of personality and gags. One for the suitcase.