Q&A Phil Liggett

Cyclist: You’ve followed every Tour de France since 1973, but how did you get into journalism in the first place?

Phil Liggett: I was trying to be a professional in Belgium, and I thought that Cycling magazine wasn’t giving a fair crack reporting on us riders. So I phoned them up and they said, ‘Well, we haven’t got the money for a reporter, so write us a story every Sunday and tell us how you’re all getting on.’

So I’d go down to St Peter’s station in Ghent, to this little cafe opposite, borrow the guy’s phone and put in a reverse charge