Wiggins, Chennaoui join Eurosport presentation team for Cycling's Grand Tours

Established cycling journalist Orla Chennaoui also joins the team as Eurosport’s lead presenter. Throughout the year, Orla will be joined by a number of high-profile guests, including former British road race champion Brian Smith, two-time Grand Tour stage winner Nico Roche, 2012 Milan-San Remo winner Simon Gerrans and two-time Olympic champion Jo Rowsell-Shand.

Matt Stephens will be Eurosport’s dedicated reporter on all Grand Tour coverage, bringing breaking news, updates, and interviews from inside the peloton. Rob Hatch and Carlton Kirby will be joined by cycling royalty Sean Kelly in the commentary booth at all three major races.

Every stage of each Grand Tour will feature a 20-30 minute build-up with Orla and guests, where they will dissect the previous days racing as well as looking ahead to the upcoming stage using Viz Libero touch-screen technology. On key stages, popular presenters Dan Lloyd and Simon Richardson of the Global Cycling Network (GCN) will produce a recon, which will be broadcast during the build-up show. The 2019 Giro d’Italia will be the first time that Eurosport and GCN have worked in collaboration at a live event since Discovery took a majority stake in the company in January.

Eurosport’s extensive coverage of the race will be neatly complemented by GCN, who will be on-site at the Giro generating a variety of engaging video content in their own inimitable style for millions across the globe in languages (Spanish and Italian) other than English for the very first time, super-serving passionate fans of cycling like never before.

Eurosport will also launch a new debate show, The Breakaway, at the Giro d’Italia, which will be available on all Eurosport’s digital platforms. The Breakaway offers further opportunity to discuss the biggest talking points from the days action, whilst also getting viewers take on events.

Eurosport’s digital offering also includes live blogs and written reports of each stage by established cycling writer Felix Lowe. The Eurosport twitter page will also be posting race clips throughout each stage, a short highlights video summarising the day’s action, as well as reaction and analysis from the studio. The 2019 cycling season also sees the return of the ‘Average Man’ series, which puts a Eurosport journalist to the test against some of the toughest climbs in cycling.

Jamie Steward, Senior Director of Production & Broadcast at Eurosport, said: “We are incredibly proud of our heritage in cycling and our deep expertise in the sport, and with our collaboration with GCN, Eurosport platforms will be the only place to enjoy a full, 360-degree experience from every stage of all three Grand Tour’s.

Bradley Wiggins added: “Eurosport has played such an important role in developing the sport of cycling in the UK and in Europe for many years, establishing a passionate fanbase of cycling followers.I can’t wait to get in the studio and share my thoughts with the viewers and watch some of the greatest sporting events in the world.