Tour of California

I find Brian Smith so unbearable that I put up with Phil and Paul. They just get weirder, it's as if Phil wanders in and out of the room, takes a look at the screen and repeats what Paul has just said. Plus their mics kept fading which just added to the air of randomness. They weren't helped by the time gaps being shown on screen being wrong a lot of the time..

I thought I was hearing Dan Lloyd on Eurosport?

Phil and Paul were useless. I'd also trade all the fancy graphics for a steady picture and motos that didn't interfere with the racing.

I thought the ToC coverage was excellent too, the best, most informative graphics for a bike race I have yet seen.

I totally agree with this - make a big mention of it in my Round-up which I have just posted:
http://thejerseypocket.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/going-west-tour-of-california-round-up/

really? I watched some stages on Eurosport, camera work and footage transmission pretty appalling during most of these :-/

Wiggins set a goal and went for it in much the same was as at Paris Roubaix. I'm quite impressed. I genuinely thought he was finished after last years Giro.

Hope he goes for the hour record now.

The only worthwhile innovation I thought was the arrow pointing to the riders and showing who was who. It's difficult to tell a lot of the time from the aerial shots.

I have a lot of nostalgia wrapped up with Phil & Paul commentary so it wasn't an easy switch for me. I would have thought that Paul taking the lead role - which he clearly was here - would improve things but, as WillMelling says, Phil just became even more of a distraction.. I couldn't anything they said seriously. I did listen to them one night for 'comedy value' and I guess that is the sign of a final straw.

Would still take them over Kirby though.

Dan Lloyd is doing rider interviews at the Giro at the moment I think.
Agree about the camera transmission - all the broadcasters suffered with the same feed. I thought the constantly available graphics on the breakaway composition and profile on one screen really helped - especially if you were coming into the race halfway through.

I totally agree with this - make a big mention of it in my Round-up which I have just posted:
http://thejerseypocket.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/going-west-tour-of-california-round-up/

I wasn't as impressed. I remember it being glorious HD and this year they seemed to fall back to SD and then it'd get all blocky and they'd pull back to the finish line waiting for the signal to come back. They need more cameras or signal boosters or something.

Also, showing the bloke's 1 lap to go victory salute mistake when he's in the break the next day is not fair. Save it for 'Watts' like everyone else.

Phil and Paul? Did ITV have coverage?

They need to move the split times and stuff up the top of the screen like other races. That way I can fast forward ToC whilst keeping an eye on the break time so I know when to watch from. #girogetsmyviewingtimeovercali :)

Phil and Paul are still considered the cream of the crop for US viewers. Christian Vande Velde was there with them too and occasionally was allowed to represent the sane and coherent element of humanity.

Anyway the Giro has started properly now. If yesterday is anything to go by it's going to be mental.

highfive

Phil and Paul? Did ITV have coverage?

Phil Daniels and Paul Daniels, ITV2 innit.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/may/18/bradley-wiggins-wins-tour-of-california

This guy narrating the video. I think he's been given anagrams of the riders' names.

Declanbolg?

I think having a reasonably accurate distance to go is pretty much a fundamental cornerstone of any TV cycling graphics.. It's not great when you see a rider go past e.g. a 3km to go sign and the graphic still says 5.6 or something.

Also seconding Phil and Paul over Carlton Kirby any day of the week. Clearly a student of the Hugh Porter "try to convincingly act like you've never seen a bicycle race before in your life" school of commentary, but at least Porter doesn't pretend to know what's going on.

I like Kirby, though I can see why other people don't. Anyone but Brian Smith though, his tone of voice never changes and he appears to regard humour as a weakness.
Nothing's better than coming back from and ad break and discovering that Sean Kelly has been left on his own, though. It's like he's been left to defuse a time bomb.

The commentary really was poor. Not just the usual diet of serially getting riders' names wrong (I think Phil Liggett had about four different versions of Tao's name), misidentifying riders, seemingly watching a different race, technical problems, etc., but also lots that was quite funny if you could be bothered to concentrate on it.

shot of breakaway group going uphill

"They're really going for it now, but perhaps only going at 45 km/h, slower than the peloton."

shot of peloton going downhill

"Now, here you can really see that the peloton are capable of going a good 5-6km/h faster than the breakaway."

shot of peloton going up a slight incline

"We can't see any sprinters, they must be in trouble."

camera shows Matt Goss and John Degenkolb

shot of peloton crossing a perfectly level bridge

"Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan must be struggling by now to stay in contact."

another shot of the peloton

"Look how comfortable Peter Sagan looks, he's definitely chilling."

"It looks as if the breakaway will stay away this time."

shot of the breakaway being swallowed

I may have made some of this up or misremembered it. :)

Some of it definitely happened, though.

Paul definitely said Brad was leading by being 30 seconds slower than the next rider.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/may/18/bradley-wiggins-wins-tour-of-california

This guy narrating the video. I think he's been given anagrams of the riders' names.

Declanbolg?

Terpestra ??? You made that shit up .....and Amgen pronounced Ameg .....wtf?

You had one job.....

You join me as we look down on these cyclists that look somehow like cattle in a mad way, but cattle on bikes.

.

I think I prefer Phil and Kirstie.

deep

Final 3 kms of the last stage from the viewpoint of Giant-Shimano;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeCRnFq_9Lo&feature=youtu.be

"Baargh... Go AwAy"

:-)

That is fairly awesome.