Book Review: “How I Won The Yellow Jumper” by Ned Boulting

For any fans of the Tour de France, who watch the ITV4 programme avidly during July, you will no doubt know the dulcet tones of Ned Boulting. He has become synonymous with the ITV4 programme, where he interviews the likes of Mark Cavendish post race, or whoever is currently sitting on top of the GC on that particular day.

I was looking forward to reading Ned’s book, as I thought it would be interesting to hear what non-cyclists think of the cycling world, for Ned himself is the first person to say that he had no idea about the Tour de France when he was first drafted onto the production team back in 2003, calling the yellow jersey “the yellow jumper”.

Ned’s book is easy to read, interesting, funny and witty. It might put you off ever wanting to work on a Grand Tour as he tells of incidents where he had little time to sleep, late finishes and early starts, and a lot of driving around France in the customary Renault Espace. But it is insightful nonetheless.

The book in itself is a breath of fresh air due to the dead pan, matter of fact way in which Ned narrates his various experiences. He has the ability to look at what he has done from what appears to be somebody else’s perspective. At certain points, it’s “no holds barred” where he recounts his experiences with Mark Cavendish, Robbie McEwen and Team Sky.

There is also a section about how Cavendish became the green jersey winner in 2011, as well as an hommage to Thomas Voeckler and throughout the book there seems to be an undercurrent of utmost respect for Gary Imlach, and Chris Boardman.

If you haven’t got a copy yet, I would thoroughly recommend this book – add it to your Christmas list at the very least. It’s only £8.99 from Amazon and other bookshops and you can even buy the eBook version, if that floats your boat.

For my part, I am hoping that Ned does a follow up – his behind the scenes view of Team Sky in the 2012 Tour de France would be an interesting read! Bravo, Ned! Keep up the good work! This book gets our Star Buy rating.

Title:
How I Won The Yellow Jumper: Dispatches from the Tour de France  

Author:
Ned Boulting    

Published by:
Yellow Jersey Press (Random House) & Vintage Digital

Available in Paperback, iBook & Kindle

Price:
RRP £12.99 (Paperback), RRP £12.99 (eBook)