Carlton Kirby on Warrington as Tour of Britain host

Warrington will play host when stage five culminates in the town on Thursday.

Carlton said: “The stage finish comes in the next day so I’m hoping we can ride that wave.

“Mick Bennett is the impresario who gets the Tour of Britain together and he’s a genius. He always does a fantastic route and he tries to touch all parts of the British Isles.

“It’s great that he constantly comes through the north of England . There’s always a fantastic atmosphere. Towns and cities really engage with the race.”

READ > Everything you need to know about the Tour of Britain ahead of Warrington stage

The Tour of Britain will ‘showcase Warrington to a substantial worldwide television audience’ and generate ‘a likely economic benefit of £1million for the area’, event organisers say.

Carlton said: “It’s a fantastic race. We’ve got Mark Cavendish this year and Wout van Aert who is a superstar and has won just about everything. For the cycling nuts it is incredible and for the general public there is just the buzz of it.

“When it rolls into town it’s such a fantastic thing. Believe me it will be a party.”

Carlton will be talking about his career tomorrow, Wednesday, at the Pyramid and has timed his visit so it is the night before the big occasion.

He is now best known as Eurosport’s lead cycling commentator who has been in the commentary box for the ‘golden age’ of British cycling and has chronicled the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España among other big races.

But Carlton actually fell in love with all things cycling while taking on Derbyshire’s steep terrain to delivery newspapers.

He said: “I lived on the Derbyshire borders and I only had seven newspapers to deliver.

The Warrington route

“It used to take me two hours to get to these seven hill farms and the money the newsagent gave me didn’t cover the repairs to the bike but I loved it.”

Cycling then began to eat into Carlton’s free time as well during ‘one way missions’ into Derbyshire.

He added: “My dad used to say: ‘Just ride’. Back then every village had a red phone box and I had 10p in my back pocket and he said: ‘When you’re finished just give me a call and I’ll come get you’.

“That was great because I didn’t even have to plan any routes and discovered some fabulous out of the way places.”

Carlton’s introduction to the Tour de France was even more unusual.

When he was 17 he worked at a Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts factory as a summer job. The factory got shut down but he got offered another job at a biscuit factory in Normandy, France.

Seeing it as an adventure to see out the rest of the summer he quickly accepted the job but by the end of the experience it was not Gaufrettes (French vanilla wafer biscuits) he wanted to work with.

Carlton said: “Sure enough, the French love a long lunch and when we came out the factory I’d go to the canteen and the Tour de France was on. Every day I’d watch it for two hours and I became completely hooked. Bernard Hinault was the big hero at the time.”

It was a long journey before Carlton could do what he loved as a living though.

He got his foot in the door in broadcasting working for TV-am on the sports desk.

Carlton added: “When that folded, Jeff Stelling at Sky offered me a tennis gig at Eurosport.

Carlton Kirby

“Bizarrely I was taught tennis by Roger Taylor’s mother. He was British number one for years so on the strength of that I was offered this job. They were only just starting at the time so it was all hands to the deck. I ended up doing things like tractor pulling and the Eskimo Olympics.

“I was basically hanging around but enjoying drinking in the sports commentary from all the experts. But eventually cycling came my way.”

Carlton has been in his element since where he is a fan as much as a professional. But it is hard work too. When Weekend spoke to him, he was preparing for another day covering the Vuelta a España.

Carlton said: “Today’s stage is a bit of a crazy one – it’s six mountains crammed into 152km so I’ve got to learn about all of that.

“It can be a scary schedule. After doing some preparation and research, I’ll be talking from about midday up until about 4pm, then I’ll be doing the post-race show before voicing the highlights.

“I’ll be leaving the studios at about 6pm having spoken all day and you can probably hear from my larynx I’m a bit strained already.

“That’s because we had a very exciting finish yesterday so I was screaming my head off.”

So what is the trick to speaking for six hours without pause?

“I don’t know – it’s something I’ve always been able to do,” he added.

“Some people say: ‘Where’s your script?’ There isn’t one. There have been some commentators where, on a sprint stage, they maybe know who is going to win.

“You can hear their scripted anecdotes and platitudes coming off the screen. It’s pathetic. Whereas I just go freestyle so I just plug myself in emotionally.

“I have been known to shed a tear on air. It’s hard not to get swept up in it.”

Carlton Kirby will be at the Pyramid on Wednesday. Visit parrhall.culturewarrington.org/whats-on for tickets