Get rid of Carlton Kirby

Agreed

What a silly thing this is. Heaven forfend commentators should have a personality.

Yes! Please let this petition be successful.

I think he's well aware of this petition - nowadays, he often mentions how much he likes Pinot (a blatant lie).

He’s got to go!!

I already signed the petition but do have to say that it would just be nice if someone told Kirby Carlton about his commentaries...maybe he just doesn't know he is doing all that rambling around and those constant jokes? Watching the Tour of Slovakia right now, and the best part was truly his commenting at the end...passionate and without jokes.

Please retire Kirby. There are so many good commentators why keep him. Tour of Slovakia he gave the wrong name in the final uphill sprint on stage 2. He was convinced someone else should win that he can’t conceive someone else took it. I too watch the Tour on ITV 4 because of him

Your friends agree with you - hardly surprising. 1,850 people - rising every day - don't. They don't scream on Test Match Special.

More Dan Lloyd please!

Personally, I find him extremely easy listening. He reminds me of the brilliant Test Match Special team, with his seemingly effortless, relaxed style of making lengthy, uneventful periods entertaining. Since hearing about this petition, I've asked a few people for their opinions, and not one will be signing this.

Eric's comments (two) are here.

I could do a better job commentating myself. There's no other commentator in any sport that I could say that about. I'd simply: bother to learn who the riders are bother to learn the rules (e.g. from this Vuelta - bothering to find out how many points there are for what type of climb) not be disrespectful - at best - to non-Anglo riders actually talk about the race - i.e. what is happening now, not imagined nonsense, what might happen in the future, etc. and so on allow the co-commentators to say something sensible - Sean Kelly used to be good at this job, but he so consistently has to answer nonsensical questions that he seems to have lost the will to do a decent job not scream incoherently.

3/4/22: Commentating during the 2022 Ronde with 222km to go, Kirby says: Aranburu could have finished as high as 5th in Milan-Sanremo, but didn’t think it was worth his while so he eased off at the end and came in 13th. Twaddle. Nobody – but nobody – doesn’t sprint for 5th at the end of a Monument. Pure invention; based on nothing. I’ve now just watched the end of Milan-Sanremo again: Aranburu wasn’t in the first group behind Morhoric, so he literally couldn’t have come higher than 10th. And within the second group, he sprints hard, coming 13th overall. Drivel. Again. 26/8/22: Stage 6 of the Vuelta, Kirby informs us (clearly based on nothing) that Mark Padun is 'a master' at descending in the wet (at that precise moment, Padun is descending very gingerly, taking pretty poor lines). Minutes later, Sean Kelly points out that Padun is 'not getting around the corners well... not comfortable whatsoever on the descent'. Kirby laughs. For no reason. 27/8/22: Stage 7 of the Vuelta, Herrada wins the sprint and has his arm in the air in celebration. Kirby tells us that Batistella is punching his handlebars in celebration. How can someone who watches so much cycling know so little? Punching the handlebars is the almost universal sign of frustration at losing. Even my partner, who doesn't watch cycling, could tell who had won. But Kirby is only interested in his own narrative: McEwen told him twice that Herrada had won, but Kirby kept eulogising about Batistella's 'win', even as Herrada celebrated further coming past the camera. Utterly self-absorbed: he had already decided who'd won. It's embarrassing now. 1/9/22 – 4.2km to go, Stage 12 Vuelta a Espana: the riders are going uphill. Kirby: ‘… as they get to this step, but it doesn’t last long, it’s like your mum’s old step, give it a polish, give it a clean and then a clean pair of heels to everybody else…’ And this sort of meaningless, demented jabber is not at all unusual – I could have chos

And there's another one above - so you get two comments. How's that for freedom of speech (a rare commodity in a country where protesting against a monarchy gets you arrested and charged).

Your comment disagreeing with this petition is immediately below this one. I haven't deleted anything.

I would much rather ITV4 covered cycling's Grand Tours for one simple reason; Carlton Kirby. His excruciating wordplay, lack of knowledge, frequent changes of tack and Murray Walker-esque idiotic ranting nearing the end of the stage/race just undo all the good work done by the others in the Eurosport/GCN commentary team (and I don't include Sean Kelly in this group, he brings very little to the party, to coin a Kirbyism). Pension this prattling man off or send him to motorsport where the din he makes won't disturb people, and let the younger members step up.

I'd be surprised and disappointed if that were true - as it would mirror Kirby's behaviour when he blocks anyone on Twitter who makes the slightest criticism of him. But this is not a debating forum so I'm not sure what you're doing on it; you're clearly not going to change anyone's mind here - and if you think you are, you must have Kirby-esque arrogance! Don't personally know anyone who loves road cycling who enjoys his commentary. But clearly there are some that do. So I'd be very interested to hear what drives anyone to find his commentary anything other than unfunny, irritating, ignorant and self-absorbed. So do please try to re-post.

I couldn't disagree more. I love Kirby's droll sense of humor. He's a pleasure to listen to. Identifying riders? I'd say he's as good as anyone else. It's no easy task. If you really want to hear poor commentating, try Bob Roll on Peacock

I see, you remove comments that support Kirby and disagree with your narrative. Classy

I couldn't disagree more. I love listening to Kirby. I love his droll sense of humor and all of his witty expressions and colloquialisms. Have any of these haters ever tried commentating on a bike race? Identifying riders? It's no easy task. If you want to hear terrible commentating try listening to Bob Roll and Christian Vandevelde in the USA on Peacock. Unbearable. Kirby keeps it light and enjoyable, but gives some serious passion when the race is on the line.