Phil Liggett MBE (born 1943) is a sports journalist and commentator on the Versus (TV channel) and ITV, for the Tour de France and other bike races. He is a former amateur cyclist and received a professional contract in 1967 but 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.
Liggett initially wrote for Cycling magazine, and moved on to work freelance for The Guardian and The Observer. In 1997 he was appointed Cycle Sport magazine's international editor. Liggett has also written books on cycle racing.
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.
Since that early start he has reported on ten Olympics and 37 Tours. He is usually teamed with Paul Sherwen. He is known for colorful expressions about riders or racing conditions with often literary overtones. A collection of these "Liggettisms" was published in 2005. Liggett's home town is Bebington, Wirral. He now lives in Bayford, Hertfordshire, England.
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.
For ten years 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.
Liggett has had a long time association with Australian network SBS and covers the Tour de France with Paul Sherwen, as well as covering other Australian events such as the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under.
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.
An example of his commentary: "And just who is that rider coming up behind, because... that looks like Stephen Roche! IT'S STEPHEN ROCHE!"[1]
In 2009, he was inducted into the
References
- ^ "25 BEST THINGS IN CYCLING". Cycle Sport Magazine. http://www.cyclesport.co.uk/content/25_best_feat.htm. Retrieved 2007-06-12. "Phil Liggett sounded incredulous in his now famous commentary: "It's Roche. It's Stephen Roche."" ; http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sQojh-wqL04 from 2.00 minutes
- ^ "50 Cycling Heroes Named in British Cycling's Hall of Fame". British Cycling. 2009-12-17. http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/sport/article/bc20091216-Hall-of-fame-fifty.
External links
- Cycle Show - day 1, Witcomb Cycles' blog (includes pictures of Liggett) - 11 October 2007
- Todd Carrier's Phil Liggett Fan Page
- PhilLiggett on Twitter
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