Commentary on TNT and other WB brands

[SKSemtex]

English commentary is much better then Czech one. Today he called 5 times Valverdeś wheelsucking of Hesjedal "perfect riding".

 

[kingjr]

Best British ESP commentating duo i've ever heard is the one from Milan-San Remo. Backstedt and the other guy I dont know his name anymore.

 

[Cyivel]

Declan Quigley IIRC

 

[kingjr]

Declan Quigley IIRC

Thank you

 

[argyllflyer]

Really enjoyed Hatch / Gibb today. Both very knowledgable and entertaining. I don't recall them as a pairing before, Tony's so rarely on.

 

[argyllflyer]

For all the slating of Carlton & Harmon, just watching Phil Liggett just now from the ITV highlights. On the final major climb, he didn't recognise Betancur so I assume he wasn't watching Pais Vasco as he and Henao went head-to-head on one of the climbs. He's pretty distinctive to look at. He then informed viewers Henao was 3rd at Fleche.

Surely high profile rider recognition and factual accuracy are prerequisites?

Long live DH and CK!

 

[Pricey_sky]

I will miss Harmon being there for the Giro. I like him and Kelly doing there long 3 week stints for the grand tours, It almost becomes a ritual and I like how they go from one day to the next and make the race and story of it flow. I'm glad he will be back for the Tour.

 

[taiwan]

I understand the hating on CK because he's just not a compotent commentator.Harmon, on the other hand, does a professional job: keeps talking, gets animated, basically knows what's going on. I don't see what the problem is wirh him.

 

[L'arriviste]

RTBF (Belgian francophone broadcaster) just brought in an excellent new commentator this season. So take heart, folks, it seems you don't always have to wait until they're carried out in a box.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

dutch commentary has also imrpvoed with berkhout and zonneveld nowadays

 

[Leadbelly]

In case you missed it on the Tour of Turkey coverage, Harmon says that it will be Quigley and Kelly on duty at the Giro.

 

[barmaher]

I like that combination.

Interesting setup here in the Sky Sports presentation for Tour of Romandie. They are introducing the show with a look back at the classic season (they didn't show P-R or LBL amongst others but hey ho).

And they have a nice analysis of the GC contenders and the potential prologue winners.

 

[argyllflyer]

I like that combination.

Interesting setup here in the Sky Sports presentation for Tour of Romandie. They are introducing the show with a look back at the classic season (they didn't show P-R or LBL amongst others but hey ho).

And they have a nice analysis of the GC contenders and the potential prologue winners.

The Sky coverage today absolutely destroyed Eurosport's to be honest.

 

[Cycle Chic]

Sky - at last

The Sky coverage today absolutely destroyed Eurosport's to be honest.

I agree - it was well good I don't support Sky but their presentation knocks Eurosport out the park. Fantastic camera work as well - Bri Smith did a good commentary with Hatch as well.

Arrrr we are finally getting there aren't we

 

[jens_attacks]

ads galore even in the last half an hour. it's crrap compared to eurosport,maybe it's better than british eurosport but that doesn't say much.

 

[Pharazon]

ads galore even in the last half an hour. it's crrap compared to eurosport,maybe it's better than british eurosport but that doesn't say much.

well, it was a TT stage...

i'll reserve judgement on the ads till we get a road stage

 

[Leadbelly]

Maybe I'm missing something, but other than the two talking heads in the studio (Albasini a contender for the GC?) and the little piece on Froome at the start, wasn't the coverage exactly the same as Eurosport might have given? Hatch and Smith both work for Eurosport too, the video feed would have been exactly the same.

I agree Eurosport need a kick up the pants sometimes, but I don't think Sky did anything radically different from what Eurosport do normally apart from some guys chatting in the studio.

 

[asdfgh101]

A leaderboard would have been nice; had to wait a long time.

 

[argyllflyer]

Maybe I'm missing something, but other than the two talking heads in the studio (Albasini a contender for the GC?) and the little piece on Froome at the start, wasn't the coverage exactly the same as Eurosport might have given? Hatch and Smith both work for Eurosport too, the video feed would have been exactly the same.

I agree Eurosport need a kick up the pants sometimes, but I don't think Sky did anything radically different from what Eurosport do normally apart from some guys chatting in the studio.

IMO... the stage preview was welcome and something Eurosport don't do unless it's the Tour de France. Sky used their own graphics to highlight what the placings were coming back in from ad breaks. Eurosport rely entirely on the host broadcasters DOGs.

I also felt the tone taken by Sky Sports for the Little/Hammond spots was interesting - very much taking into consideration that not everyone watching would be an expert. As a contrast, Eurosport today. Me personally, I am a fan of watching racing and riding my own bike around and about when the weather's fair. I have barely missed a TV race. I am not however a tech head or a racer. Harmon's chat with Magnus was well above my knowledge of the technical side of the sport, and I don't feel I learned much. It may as well have been their mobile phone number they were talking about.

While Sky cannot control what an international feed contains, they did at least make the effort to not assume everyone watching is an expert. They explained the concept of time trials, prologues, different bikes, and how all that might or might not be relevant to an uphill TT. Today, they highlighted the likelihood of the sprint finish not being contested by the bigger sprint names.

Sink or swim is no bad thing, but I do feel with Eurosport it's that alone. With the international language of the sport being French, I personally feel certain things do need explained more. Not to me, but to people who might be watching for the first time. DH is good at doing that at the Tour, but the rest of the year I feel they're complacent about their audience.

 

[Leadbelly]

I'll admit when they start talking about gearing they completely lose me.

However I did enjoy their (Harmon and Backstedt) chat about sprinting the other day, and Big Maggie riding the course in the morning and being able to give exact info about it is a nice addition (think Dan Lloyd does that as well sometimes).

 

[argyllflyer]

I'll admit when they start talking about gearing they completely lose me.

However I did enjoy their (Harmon and Backstedt) chat about sprinting the other day, and Big Maggie riding the course in the morning and being able to give exact info about it is a nice addition (think Dan Lloyd does that as well sometimes).

Agree with what you say, Magnus' input to riding the course has been great.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

IMO... the stage preview was welcome and something Eurosport don't do unless it's the Tour de France. Sky used their own graphics to highlight what the placings were coming back in from ad breaks. Eurosport rely entirely on the host broadcasters DOGs.

I also felt the tone taken by Sky Sports for the Little/Hammond spots was interesting - very much taking into consideration that not everyone watching would be an expert. As a contrast, Eurosport today. Me personally, I am a fan of watching racing and riding my own bike around and about when the weather's fair. I have barely missed a TV race. I am not however a tech head or a racer. Harmon's chat with Magnus was well above my knowledge of the technical side of the sport, and I don't feel I learned much. It may as well have been their mobile phone number they were talking about.

While Sky cannot control what an international feed contains, they did at least make the effort to not assume everyone watching is an expert. They explained the concept of time trials, prologues, different bikes, and how all that might or might not be relevant to an uphill TT. Today, they highlighted the likelihood of the sprint finish not being contested by the bigger sprint names.

Sink or swim is no bad thing, but I do feel with Eurosport it's that alone. With the international language of the sport being French, I personally feel certain things do need explained more. Not to me, but to people who might be watching for the first time. DH is good at doing that at the Tour, but the rest of the year I feel they're complacent about their audience.

Of course, acknowledging that not everyone watching is an expert is good for generating an audience, as long as they allow the audience's knowledge to improve with the increased showing and don't continually do this. I know I'd sure rather watch Harmon and Kelly rattle on about cranks while the bunch is doing nothing chasing a break consisting of some unheralded Frenchman who once won a stage of the Trophée des Granitiers, a guy who once served a doping suspension on an Italian ProConti team, a Lotto domestique who hit the top 5 in a sprint in a small 2.1 race a couple of times, and Mikhail Ignatiev, than Phil and Paul's dumbed down coverage that treats every single race like one where the viewers have never seen a bike race before, telling us about little petrol engines and big diesel engines for the eight millionth time and rating every climb on the face of the planet in terms of Alpe d'Huez. The Koppenberg "is a lot like a mini-Alpe d'Huez, much shorter of course but the surface makes it feel longer and the high sides are very similar to the walls of fans you get on the Alpe d'Huez; fewer Dutchmen of course but more Belgians"; Monte Zoncolán "is a lot like Alpe d'Huez, slightly shorter of course but the gradient makes it feel longer and the Italian fans are very similar to the fans you get on Alpe d'Huez; fewer Dutchmen of course but more Italians".

 

[The Hitch]

You give ligget way too much credit. No way in hell he knows what the zoncolan is.

And koppenberg, well he might think it's a beer.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

I like cycling glossary on sky today.. attack.

 

[Mogwai_]

Since i'm Belgian I listen to the Dutch commentary. Well I can change it into English but not on the Eurosport HD channel.

All of you non speaking Dutch boys/girls be glad you don't need to listen to José Been. The only thing she can talk about is Blanco, Argos, Vacansoleil and any other Dutch rider that rides in another team.