british eurosport vuelta coverage

[therealtimshady]

i have noticed that the vuelta collides with us open tennis as the giro did with the french open

i wonder if eurosport will do their usual tactic of delaying or cutting short coverage so they can watch some muppets no-one has heard of playing in the first round. hope not but as the zoncolan stage was cut for 1st round tennis i remain cynical.

although as i speak the team time trial stage coverage has been put back by half an hour because of the tennis overunning and having to put on rallying highlights that were also on eurosport 2 - ominous start to be honest

 

[Mellow Velo]

Not to worry.
They only intend to have uselessly short coverage for the most important weekend stages.
Yes, Bola del Mundo.........that means you.

 

[Sneekes]

It's always like that with Eurosport, scheduling is not their strong point.
I don't so much mind if they're showing live sport that over-runs - it's when they delay going to the cycling so that they can show a montage of motorcycle crashes that I get mad.

 

[icefire]

Not to worry.
They only intend to have uselessly short coverage for the most important weekend stages.
Yes, Bola del Mundo.........that means you.

Add Xorret de Catí, Peña Cabarga and Lagos de Covadonga to the list

 

[therealtimshady]

It's always like that with Eurosport, scheduling is not their strong point.
I don't so much mind if they're showing live sport that over-runs - it's when they delay going to the cycling so that they can show a montage of motorcycle crashes that I get mad.

oh yes, ive had that one before - those bloody motorbike crashes leaving me shouting "GET ON WITH THE CYCLING COVERAGE MORONS"

i know some people hate phil and paul on itv4 (personally i think their great) but i wish itv4 would do the giro and vuelta as well

 

[Mellow Velo]

Add Xorret de Catí, Peña Cabarga and Lagos de Covadonga to the list

No, no, my good man. Cati gets the best they have to offer.

Saturday, September 4, 14:45-16:45: Stage eight, LIVE, British Eurosport

Check here:
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/27082010/58/vuelta-espana-vuelta-broadcast-times.html
However, stages 9, 16 and 20 are getting 3 hours live.

Stage 15 is worst hit, but Bola gets half of the above.

Saturday, September 18, 15:30-16:45: Stage 20, LIVE, British Eurosport

 

[The Hitch]

i have noticed that the vuelta collides with us open tennis as the giro did with the french open

i wonder if eurosport will do their usual tactic of delaying or cutting short coverage so they can watch some muppets no-one has heard of playing in the first round. hope not but as the zoncolan stage was cut for 1st round tennis i remain cynical.

although as i speak the team time trial stage coverage has been put back by half an hour because of the tennis overunning and having to put on rallying highlights that were also on eurosport 2 - ominous start to be honest

Thats strange. british eurosport only have rights to the US open for the secondary matches -matches on Armstrong (no not that one) arena rather than Arthur Ashe court. Since all matches become first tier matches after the first week they will no longer even have US open coverage. Besides Us Open starts about 5 pm British Time and even those are the lesser matches. It heats up more towards 11pm. So i dont see why the vuelta would clash with the US Open.

 

[Anonymous]

Thats strange. british eurosport only have rights to the US open for the secondary matches -matches on Armstrong (no not that one) arena rather than Arthur Ashe court. Since all matches become first tier matches after the first week they will no longer even have US open coverage. Besides Us Open starts about 5 pm British Time and even those are the lesser matches. It heats up more towards 11pm. So i dont see why the vuelta would clash with the US Open.

Its not the US open, its the canadian open lumberjack championshipts and the pan-asia tiddlywinks invitational that take precedent in september

 

[El Imbatido]

Its not the US open, its the canadian open lumberjack championshipts and the pan-asia tiddlywinks invitational that take precedent in september

Oh and don't forget about the International Blindfolded Chess Champioships

But seriously the US open has interfered with the Vuelta for years. It has always been like that. Also regrading the Giro and their not showing the Zoncolan. They showed it live for over 2 hours on EurosportHD

 

[hrotha]

Maybe it's not that they're morons but rather that cycling is not that popular and more people watch tennis or biathlon or extreme curling or whatever.

 

[therealtimshady]

Also regrading the Giro and their not showing the Zoncolan. They showed it live for over 2 hours on EurosportHD

if you are like me and only have non HD eurosport it left me fuming as all the other stages were on non HD eurosport.

oh well at least the tennis will throw up the usual suprise results. i.e the williams sisters and nadal and federer dominating

 

[craig1985]

Maybe it's not that they're morons but rather that cycling is not that popular and more people watch tennis or biathlon or extreme curling or whatever.

So why have such extensive cycling coverage to begin with?

 

[valentius borealis]

There was a stage of the Giro this year which had an hour replaced by filler on Eurosport World because British Eurosport was still showing the tennis.

 

[osborn99]

The us open matches start at 5pm when the cycling will be finished.

Eurosport coverage has been excellent this year, can't beleive people who slate it. The simple fact is more people watch tennis than cycling so if it does clash cycling will be on eurosport 2 which you should have, ok?

 

[Mellow Velo]

So why have such extensive cycling coverage to begin with?

Over here, it makes an excellent mid-week, mid-afternoon "filler". Often the tennis is from further afield, so takes place in the evenings.
Come the weekend and anything with an engine takes presidence over "push" bikes.

In short, Eurosport look at cycling as an extended ad break, filling in for the sports of choice.

 

[Elverde]

i have noticed that the vuelta collides with us open tennis as the giro did with the french open

i wonder if eurosport will do their usual tactic of delaying or cutting short coverage so they can watch some muppets no-one has heard of playing in the first round. hope not but as the zoncolan stage was cut for 1st round tennis i remain cynical.

although as i speak the team time trial stage coverage has been put back by half an hour because of the tennis overunning and having to put on rallying highlights that were also on eurosport 2 - ominous start to be honest

I am lucky, I live in Spain, although Eurosport is my first choice for watching cycle racing, I am lucky that I can also watch a Spanish channel, TdD. The commentary is in Spanish but sometimes that is a bonus after listening to Harmon and Kelly. I refuse to watch ITV4 with the sound on when Pinky & Perky are BSing.

 

[The Hitch]

Over here, it makes an excellent mid-week, mid-afternoon "filler". Often the tennis is from further afield, so takes place in the evenings.
Come the weekend and anything with an engine takes presidence over "push" bikes.

In short, Eurosport look at cycling as an extended ad break, filling in for the sports of choice.

I disagree. For eurosport the tour de france is their flagship event. They have Harmonn and Kelly riding around commentating with the broadcasters, that translator, luis goya peres i think his name is, with the team cars, Carlotn Kirby, live from Paris, and then a panel including Stephen Roche and a few others taking turns, live from London. During July the whole channel is based around cycling. Repeats, reaction, whole stages etc.
Then look at the classics. they show things like Milan San Remo from 90k out. Even though we all know nothing is going to happen till the last km, they are determined to show the whole classic, on a saturday.
They show Flanders, Paris ROubaix, Amstel Gold and Liege Bastogne Liege, on Sundays, again from 90k out, again for about 3 hours. This makes up their entire peak time viewing. All dedicated to cycling. And the worlds. They show that start to finish the whole 6 hours.
That every now and again they show something else when the cycling clashes is a shame, but doesnt indicate how they feel about cycling. They showed Rolland Garros because that is their second most important event of the year (behind the tour) and takes prescedence over the giro, which is getting shown every other day anyway. They sometimes choose moto gp over cycling but again, moto gp is only on some weekends, and it is another big event they have rights to.

But our thing still gets far more time on eurosport during peak time than any other sport.

 

[Four Winds]

Last night they arrived late but still managed to get the first team away without any build-up. Fair enough I suppose.

But at the end (according to my TV guide) they left 15 mins early before the presentation. You'd have thought British Eurosport would be interested in Cav getting his jerseys?

 

[The Hitch]

Last night they arrived late but still managed to get the first team away without any build-up. Fair enough I suppose.

But at the end (according to my TV guide) they left 15 mins early before the presentation. You'd have thought British Eurosport would be interested in Cav getting his jerseys?

I dont know if Harmon had the voice or the sanity to talk to himself for another 15 minutes, with nothing going on.

 

[salixcycling]

But our thing still gets far more time on eurosport during peak time than any other sport.

Agreed - the amount of cycling they show is genuinely impressive. I have also noticed people here slating how long it takes Eurosport to start showing a stage (eg, in the Giro), only to find out that they actually started as soon as they could - if there simply isn't a stream coming through from the host broadcaster, there is nothing Eurosport can do about that.

Plus the pretty low frequency of advertising breaks and the way they so often time them so they can show the last hour of a mountain stage uninterrupted, puts them a peg above the other English language broadcasts.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Undoubtedly, UK Eurosport have played a blinder this year. There can be few reasons to complain, but, for me, the GT weekend crucial stages remain a bone of contention.
Other Eurosport viewers have not fared as well.
As for the classics, only last year, UKES gave us just 15kms of live Paris-Roubaix.

Let's hope that this year's policy change, remains in vogue.

 

[The Hitch]

Undoubtedly, UK Eurosport have played a blinder this year. There can be few reasons to complain, but, for me, the GT weekend crucial stages remain a bone of contention.
Other Eurosport viewers have not fared as well.
As for the classics, only last year, UKES gave us just 15kms of live Paris-Roubaix.

Let's hope that this year's policy change, remains in vogue.

I think it will.
Carlotn said that eurosport keep expanding their cycling coverage (they bought the tdu for next year) because the fan base keeps expanding. He siad the tdf ratings went up 15% this year from 09.

Then again, since its coming from Carlton Kirby, we might have to take it with a pinch of salt. He isnt to be trusted in what he sais during cycling coverage. Its possible the viewership has gone down and he misread it.

 

[Ferminal]

The only thing that really inteferes with the coverage on Eurosport here (Aus) is the WTA, luckily they don't have the rights for ATP and other major sporting events.

 

[Spaniard]

If you don't mind watching La vuelta in Spanish you can try rtve:

http://www.rtve.es/deportes/ciclismo/directo/

Delgado amazed me as a comentator, he is always making jokes or saying funny things about his cycling years.