Tour de France: Who is Eurosport presenter Orla Chennaoui?

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. 

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. 

Most of us are ready for stage 15. Are you? @AdamBlythe89 @mcewenrobbie @daniellloyd1 @eurosport @gcntweet @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/qu8XBUKYv8

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. 

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