Victoria’s first Director of the state’s and the nation’s one and only Office for Women in Sport and Recreation, has another first under her belt, the first woman to join the coveted SBS Tour de France broadcast team.

A former Australian road cycling champion, Dr Bridie O’Donnell is no stranger to elite road cycling and the Tour and will add valuable insights into a commentary team which has previously featured the legendary Phil Liggett and the late Paul Sherwen. Following her international cycling career, Bridie has worked with SBS over many years, commentating the Road Nationals in Ballarat, and the UCI Road World Championships and she is looking forward to being part of the team that bring the world’s most prestigious cycling event into the homes of Australians,

“I’m super excited to be joining the commentary team each night over the 3 week tour: Matthew Keenan and I will be in Melbourne, and 3-time green jersey winner Robbie McEwen will be with 24 year SBS TDF veteran, Mike Tomalaris and the super production team, in Sydney.”

Bridie has watched le Tour every year since 1996 and has been a fan, a spectator and a competitor and now a commentator of cycling over many years,

"I’ve been following this race for 25 years, and I’ve been lucky enough to be on some of the infamous climbs to watch the riders blur past. I really can’t wait to call this race every night! I’m also thrilled that SBS will also broadcast every stage of the 2020 Giro Rosa, which will overlap with the final 10 days of le Tour.”

“2020 has been a difficult year for so many reasons, all of us have endured the health and economic impacts of the pandemic. The effects of the coronavirus across Europe meant that the Tour de France was in doubt, and then postponed by 2 months, so the fact that the iconic race is going ahead is a minor miracle in itself!” 

To watch all the action as it unfolds visit https://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/article/2020/08/10/how-watch-2020-tour-de-france-live-sbs