Commentary on TNT and other WB brands

[Wyndbrook]

Cox needs to watch the screen more when he is commentating. Too often he misses important race information because he is rambling on about a subject.

Perhaps he learnt his technique from David Duffield, no one could, or ever will , ramble like he could and constantly did.

 

[fmk_RoI]

They spend
most of the race virtue signaling or giving their political views

Must be listening to a different feed. Or maybe I'm as 'woke' as GCN and just don't spot it. I need to get more un-woke (asleep?), I guess.

 

[tao bleeding heart]

Rob Hatch today asking if cycling is too dangerous....... I'm starting to think that cycling might not be the sport for him. He literally spends the rest of the race dwelling on the crash. And it's never nice to see a nasty crash like today, but unfortunately its part of the sport and there will always be crashes.

Safety Hatch is such a wet lettuce & virtue signaller.
Cyclist falls off bike, scuffs his knee & lies on ground... Hatch is like 'dear oh dear oh dear. I really don't think we need to be seeing these pictures. Apologies, but we don't have control over what is being broadcast'

 

[lemon cheese cake]

What's this virtue signalling and political views that is being referred to? I've never heard anything about politics mentioned during bike races.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

Hatch does exaggerate with the "Dear oh Dears" but I don't think it has anything to virtual signaling or politics. He does this whether it's a crash or a flat or just a domestique getting dropped.
He's trying to add a sense of excitement or interest when none exists in the race. The safety talk is along the lines of forced cycling "talking points."

Hatch doesn't go into to Carlton Kirby mode of talking about unrelated topics during dull times, which IMHO is why CK is better for races with coverage that includes long periods of non-action. I also think that Hatch became more annoying the last 3 years+, so my guess is that it is at least partly a directive with the advent of GCN.

 

[fmk_RoI]

Could somebody please send Brian Smith some cough syrup, his constant throat clearing is getting on my wick.

 

[christopherrowe]

In the States, where we have to use FloBikes for the Flanders Classics/Cyclocross World Cups, I wish I had someone who's up to to Hatch's standards, whatever you think of them. And don't even get me started with NBC Peacock's coverage. (And I can't use VPN, so no use suggesting that.)

 

[hayneplane]

Hatch does exaggerate with the "Dear oh Dears" but I don't think it has anything to virtual signaling or politics. He does this whether it's a crash or a flat or just a domestique getting dropped.
He's trying to add a sense of excitement or interest when none exists in the race. The safety talk is along the lines of forced cycling "talking points."

Hatch doesn't go into to Carlton Kirby mode of talking about unrelated topics during dull times, which IMHO is why CK is better for races with coverage that includes long periods of non-action. I also think that Hatch became more annoying the last 3 years+, so my guess is that it is at least partly a directive with the advent of GCN.

Fully agree with this. The only worthwhile use for Kirby is to fill the void with anecdotes and food stories etc on week 1 tour stages where the breakaway has formed within 2km of the flag drop and 3 wildcard riders are out there as sacrificial lambs.

He is horrible on the uphill starts in the 2nd half of a Grand Tour when the race is being reshaped every few hundred metres and his attention span is too short to tell whether a rider is getting caught or attacking.

 

[ashhutch1997]

Safety Hatch is such a wet lettuce & virtue signaller.
Cyclist falls off bike, scuffs his knee & lies on ground... Hatch is like 'dear oh dear oh dear. I really don't think we need to be seeing these pictures. Apologies, but we don't have control over what is being broadcast'

Couldn't of put it better myself lol. The most annoying thing is that 5 years or so ago, he was my favorite commentator, but he's totally changed in the last few years. It's like he's got way to comfortable and confident at Eurosport, its a shame because he was such a great commentator when he first joined Eurosport.

 

[ashhutch1997]

What's this virtue signalling and political views that is being referred to? I've never heard anything about politics mentioned during bike races.

Unfortunately I pretty much know all of his political views, I'm not saying he does it all the time, but I've heard him make his views slip several times over the years.
It's not me saying I agree or disagree with his opinions, it's just totally unacceptable. I like to watch sport so I can get away from all of that, but these days it isn't possible.
I don't want to talk about political stuff on here as it's a forum talking about cycling, so I'll leave it here..

 

[ashhutch1997]

I also wish GCN would stop trying to push this narrative thar cycling is more dangerous than ever. I literally grew up watching riders go down decents at 100kph, and racing through the Arenbourg trench in the wet without helmets on 19mm tires!!!! Are you seriously trying to tell me thats not more dangerous?! There will always be crashes in cycling, unfortunately it's part of the sport, people seem to think there's more crashes these days because there is so much more coverage than there was before. 20 years ago you would be lucky to 50km of action in most races, now we get full coverage in all the big races, so you will see way more.

The reason this really frustrates me is that we work really hard at my local races to get kids into cycling. If a kid is watching cycling and they hear Hatch going on about 'how dangerous the sport now is', its going to potentially put kids off, which given how much the sport of cycling had grown in the UK would be such a shame.

I promise I'll stop ranting lol!

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Cox needs to watch the screen more when he is commentating. Too often he misses important race information because he is rambling on about a subject.

Same can be said for MacDonald.

 

[CyclistAbi]

I support the commentators in raising awareness in regards to crashes. Kids undertaking cycling should be aware of this issues. As likely they are the generation that will improve safety in the peloton. Best then to not hide the reality from them. On how dangerous this sport really is. As reality will struck one way or another.

 

[RedheadDane]

I support the commentators in raising awareness in regards to crashes. Kids undertaking cycling should be aware of this issues. As likely they are the generation that will improve safety in the peloton. Best then to not hide the reality from them. On how dangerous this sport really is. As reality will struck one way or another.

Of course there are still dangers. However, saying it's "more dangerous than ever" would be ignoring all the progress that has been made.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Of course there are still dangers. However, saying it's "more dangerous than ever" would be ignoring all the progress that has been made.

I didn't actually watch the mentioned stage. And hence best if i ask directly. Was that really said? That cycling is more dangerous then ever? Or is this instead an interpretation of what was supposedly said. Interpretation made by someone in this thread?

 

[RedheadDane]

I didn't actually watch the mentioned stage. And hence best if i ask directly. Was that really said? That cycling is more dangerous then ever? Or is this instead an interpretation of what was supposedly said. Interpretation made by someone in this thread?

There's a documentary on GCN+ asking if cycling is more dangerous than ever, so I don't think it was a one-time thing, but rather a general theme.
I don't usually watch races in English, only if that's the language the feed defaults to when I start watching.

 

[CyclistAbi]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfgXeSHBD14


Will watch latter today to see what they discuss and conclude.

 

[RedheadDane]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfgXeSHBD14


Will watch latter today to see what they discuss and conclude.

Pretty sure the one I'm talking about is a new one.

 

[CyclistAbi]

A found a trailer from 3 days back:

51.520 Aufrufe · 403 Reaktionen | Is Cycling More Dangerous Than Ever? | Is cycling more dangerous than ever? 🤔 Are there more crashes, has technology pushed speed to unsustainable levels, and is training hampering riders’... | By Global Cycling Net

Is cycling more dangerous than ever? 🤔 Are there more crashes, has technology pushed speed to unsustainable levels, and is training hampering riders’...

www.facebook.com

I assume this is not publicly available for now. But this video is around a month old:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP8lgcqkzBc


I am sure that things didn't change much in the last month. Hence i will watch all three to hear their opinion on the subject. To see if something is being exaggerated or not. Will share my thoughts about it in an hour or two.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Adam Blythe was rewriting history yesterday, claiming Pidcock was a Tour de l'Avenir winner.
Also Adam Blythe does a mean Alan Carr impersonation.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

Pretty sure the one I'm talking about is a new one.

Wow! It looks like cycling is more dangerous than each and every time! Luckily the racing is also more exciting than it has ever been each and every new season to counterbalance.

 

[CyclistAbi]

OK as for the two videos and the trailer. There is about 5 minutes of talk about this area in each. In that older one. The claim to start with is. Cycling is as dangerous as ever. And then a question is made if cycling is more dangerous then ever? A point is made that cycling could be considered more dangerous then ever. Considering in today's cycling there is much more professionalism involved. That comes down to more pressure to perform, gain results and more sprinters involved in the sprint, more GC cyclists involved in the sprint, more road furniture ... On a much more races than in the past. That is today more or less all races are full on racing. Compared to the past when this was not always the case. A question of respect was brought up. On how there is sometimes more of it in the peloton and sometimes less of it. In the second video the debate is more about cycling in general. Not about pro peloton. And based on some study and some stats. There is not all that much difference in stats in the last couple of decades. For countries such as USA, UK and Australia. A point was made that the emergence of social media and with it a raise in awareness is likely contributing to the fact some feel today cycling is less safe then it was before.

All in all i don't see any extreme views from GCN team so far.

 

[tobydawq]

OK as for the two videos and the trailer. There is about 5 minutes of talk about this area in each. In that older one. The claim to start with is. Cycling is as dangerous as ever. And then a question is made if cycling is more dangerous then ever? A point is made that cycling could be considered more dangerous then ever. Considering in today's cycling there is much more professionalism involved. That comes down to more pressure to perform, gain results and more sprinters involved in the sprint, more GC cyclists involved in the sprint, more road furniture ... On a much more races than in the past. That is today more or less all races are full on racing. Compared to the past when this was not always the case. A question of respect was brought up. On how there is sometimes more of it in the peloton and sometimes less of it. In the second video the debate is more about cycling in general. Not about pro peloton. And based on some study and some stats. There is not all that much difference in stats in the last couple of decades. For countries such as USA, UK and Australia. A point was made that the emergence of social media and with it a raise in awareness is likely contributing to the fact some feel today cycling is less safe then it was before.

All in all i don't see any extreme views from GCN team so far.

This is the only true point on the matter.

I would advise you to watch the first week of the 2012 Tour. There were massive crashes each day near the sprint. These days, we very rarely see that but when it happens, some people act as though that never happened before.

 

[RedheadDane]

This is the only true point on the matter.

I would advise you to watch the first week of the 2012 Tour. There were massive crashes each day near the sprint. These days, we very rarely see that but when it happens, some people act as though that never happened before.

But how many collarbones were broken?

 

[CyclistAbi]

@tobydawq

Reading this thread i was under the impression GCN commentators exaggerate. But so far i don't see it. As for your point. You agreeing there is more awareness today. I don't see that as a bad thing. As if we ever want to move from "as dangerous as ever" to "less dangerous as ever". Well, first you have to be aware of the problems involved. And acknowledge. Without that it would be naive to expect for things to improve by themself.

@RedheadDane

I am sure that nobody will complain. When number of collarbone injuries will drop substantially. Just as nobody did in other sports. Where appropriate apparel was already introduced.