AV Club's guide to watching Le Tour De France

[Kevin M.]

It is a very basic primer for people who want to try to get into the sport but don't quite know what to make of it. Every year for the last several years, I spring for either the app or web access to view the full coverage of each of the stages. Cycling is the only sport I devote any real time to, and Le Tour is the only race I follow start to finish (though I might start being more attention to the Tour of California now that coverage has expanded). 

http://www.avclub.com/article/10-reasons-why-you-should-watch-tour-de-france-yea-221090

Back when Penn Jillette had a radio show, his sidekick, juggler Michael Goudeau did something I'm going to try this year. He rode his bike as long as the top rider every day. Obviously neither he nor I would ride the tough terrain (I'll be at the beach on the 4th of July when the race begins), but if the first place rider takes one hour to finish, that's how long I'll ride. If he takes four hours to finish... you get the idea. As hot as it has been here in Southern California, I will either lose a lot of weight or be in the hospital.  

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Bob Jersey]

Yup, very good job by them.

It'll be even more exciting this year with the mountain stages coming right up to the day before Paris, the planning of which got kinda hairy in itself after a landslide blocked the original route.

B

[Adam Bowie]

I'm looking forward to this year's TdF enormously - indeed, I'm going out to watch the Pyrenean stages in the second week. Look out for me waving on the side of a mountain somewhere. That's if I don't die trying to ride up some of the climbs (part-way at least).

One thing in the AVClub's piece I would disagree slightly with is the Phil and Paul show. I must admit that I think it's time for a change of the guard. I first heard Phil Liggett commentate on the Tour when we first got proper daily coverage in the UK back in 1985, and it might just be time for a change. Phil and Paul are on the world feed as far as I'm aware, meaning that pretty much every English speaking country gets them, although they switch mics at times so Paul is heard internationally while Phil is doing an NBC Sports-specific live read. 

But I think they're a bit stale now. Recent commentaries with David Millar, the ex-pro (and to be fair, reformed ex-drug cheat) were so much better and more informed about what's happening within the peleton today. The way races are ridden has changed, and it needs someone newer to convey that. 

A couple of interesting innovations in the coverage this year. 

Le Tour has done a deal with GoPro to get more on-board footage from bikes. However it's not live, so won't make the day's live coverage. It should appear on teams' websites, and guess could make the evening wrap-up coverage. They're going to test live footage from a camera in the neutralised start of the race too. 

More interetingly, they're putting live tracker under the saddles of every rider so you should be able to see where every rider is via a website. Pretty impressive technically if it works. On the other hand, I'm not sure what happens when bikes get changed and so on.

http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2015/us/pre-race/news/ahc/tv-gopro-inside-the-peloton.html

http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2015/us/pre-race/news/ahc/dimension-data-completes-big-data-analytics-and-digital-delivery-platform-for-tour-de-france.html

Adam

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[Bob Jersey]

Adam Bowie, to moi and Kevin, in part:

One thing in the AVClub's piece I would disagree slightly with is the Phil and Paul show. I must admit that I think it's time for a change of the guard. I first heard Phil Liggett commentate on the Tour when we first got proper daily coverage in the UK back in 1985, and it might just be time for a change. Phil and Paul are on the world feed as far as I'm aware, meaning that pretty much every English speaking country gets them, although they switch mics at times so Paul is heard internationally while Phil is doing an NBC Sports-specific live read. 

They were thisclose to splitting up years ago, and ISTR that was since OLN turned into Versus.  B

[Kevin M.]

I greatly prefer Phil and Paul to the trio at NBC Sports who do the wraparounds and summaries. Typically on the live US version of Le Tour, the start of the race is done by a different announcer from the UK and somewhere between 30 minutes to an hour into each stage, Phil and Paul do their thing. Phil is, to me, the epitome of a cycling announcer, though his bias for certain riders often shines through. This year, however, a couple of former Le Tour riders have been contracted to contribute running commentary and post-ride reviews, so we shall see what that brings to the show. 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Adam Bowie]

I'm not sure who the other British announcer is that you're hearing, but there is a small group of freelances who seem to commentate on pretty much every English-language cycling feed I've ever seen. They tend not to be network specific and are often employed by the race directly to provide a world feed for any network who isn't using their own team.

In the UK we actually do have a second choice of commentary because as well as ITV4 (who have Phil and Paul), Eurosport also covers the race, with Carlton Kirby and ex-Tour winner Sean Kelly. 

ITV4 puts together a more polished offering, particularly in the highlights package that I end up watching most. But you can have fun during live stages switching between the two feeds trying to avoid commercial breaks. The pictures are all identical, as are the on-screen graphics, since they all come from the host broadcaster. 

Adam

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