Orla Chennaoui is currently leading Eurosport’s coverage of the Tour de France, but how much do you know about the sports presenter? The 42-year-old has been part of the station’s coverage of cycling events since 2019 and has been working in the journalism industry for more than two decades. 

Background

Chennaoui was born in Draperston, County Londonderry, in Northern Ireland. 

Initially, Chennaoui undertook an undergraduate degree in Law and French at Queen’s Belfast University, before moving to Edinburgh to complete a postgraduate diploma in journalism at Napier University. 

The presenter worked in print journalism at first, spending time with Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News. 

Her first job in broadcasting came at 2 Ten FM, a local radio station in Berkshire, and she later joined Sky News as their Northern Ireland correspondent in 2005. 

Chennaoui did have ambitions to become a war correspondent but found the requirements of the job too difficult. 

After covering the Olympics for Sky in 2012, Chennaoui decided she wanted to work in sport permanently and moved to Sky Sports. 

Having spent 14 years at Sky, Chennaoui moved to Eurosport in 2019. 

Orla Chennaoui

Former athlete 

Chennaoui was a talented athlete growing up and is a former all-Ireland triple jump champion. 

Speaking on the The Game Changers podcast, she said: “I used to be a track and field athlete as a kid,” she said. “It was such a huge part of my life growing up. I think only now that I’m considerably older, I realise how formative it’s been in my character, my strength and my discipline.

“I dreamt for years of representing Ireland at the Olympic Games and it never happened, but it has led me into this beautiful career. That’s actually been considerably more rewarding, so I’m very grateful for that.”

What’s happening in the Tour de France? 

It was Australia’s Michael Matthews who won the hilly stage 14 of the race –– escaping a 23-man break early on the 192.5km ride from Saint-Etienne to Mende. 

Matthews was overtaken by Alberto Bettiol on the final climb but managed to regain the lead and secure the fourth stage victory of his career. 

Overall, after 14 stages, Demark’s Jonas Vingegaard leads with an overall time of 55 hours, 31 minutes and one second. 

Defending champion Tadej Pogacar is second as he seeks a third straight Tour de France title. 

Britain’s Geraint Thomas, who won the race in 2018, is in third place as it stands.