Commentary on TNT and other WB brands

[Potomac]

Robbie and Kirby, they go together like peanut and chocolate.

It's a good thing.

 

[Abedfo]

He's started off like a house on fire today our carlton.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

Carlton Kirby has cropped up on the Speed Skating World Championships. And I'm pleased to announce that he's still Carlton Kirby. He failed miserably to notice the jury review into the women's Team Pursuit, and didn't twig from the Dutch team arguing with the officials and Joy Beune pleading and crying that the Dutch had been disqualified until the table came up and then he was baffled; and Jordan Stolz has just scored a big upset victory in the 500m, about which Kirby's epic words were "sometimes a man just has to step into the limelight, and HE'S JUST CHANGED THE BULB!" It just feels like the most Carlton Kirby thing imaginable - blustering through a lack of knowledge, giving a genuinely excited call to a dramatic finish, and then highlighting it after the fact by talking absolute nonsense, mixing his metaphors into something that makes zero sense whatsoever.

Just top drawer Kirbyism.

I heard Hatch on BBC radio during the Winter Olympics (they'd stuck him on biathlon or something that doesn't interest many British people) and I had to do a double take as he had dropped his Lancastrian accent. I guess he lays that accent on more at Top Gear, I mean GCN, so he fits in with the lads.

 

[fmk_RoI]

I guess he lays that accent on more at Top Gear, I mean GCN, so he fits in with the lads.

Blight's accent is certainly laddish but surely not Lloyd's?

 

[fmk_RoI]

Kelly winding up the Rochinistas there by saying Roche had a bit of bad luck that day Kelly stabbed him in the back in PN.

 

[fmk_RoI]

The Col de Vence is Irish cycling's Saipan. Did Kelly stab Roche in the back? Did Roche just blow it? Whole families have been divided by it, sons never talking to fathers ever again, fathers disowning their sons, and the mammies and the sisters just sitting there wondering what the feck is going on.

Roche: "I should have won [the 1987] Paris-Nice, having had the leader's jersey, lost it, regained it only to lose it because of a puncture on the last day. There will always be an argument about what happened when I punctured. At the time we were climbing the Col de Vence and Kelly's team [Kas] was making a strong tempo because the Spanish sprinter [Alfonso] Gutierrez was dropped and Kelly wanted to make sure he did not get back on. We were close to the top when I punctured and as soon as it was known that I had to have a wheel change, the pace increased even more. There is a custom in cycling that you do not profit from the bad luck of the race leader and some said that Kelly should not have ridden at the front when I punctured. His team-mates, yes. But not Kelly himself. I never blamed Sean. He was riding at the front when I punctured and was entitled to continue doing so."

Kelly: "We were criticised for attacking when Stephen, the race leader, punctured on the Col de Vence. At the time of the puncture we were at the front, making the race fast, and all that we did was to go a little faster when Stephen punctured. What do you do in a situation like that? I felt we were entitled to act as we did."

Roche: "Without mistakes on my own part, there would not have been a problem. After getting a wheel change I set out after the leaders, convinced that I would catch up before they crossed the summit of the hill. Consequently I took things too easily on the climb. At the top we had not got to them, so I panicked and went down the descent like a madman. Which might have been OK if I had caught them but I didn't. Instead I only succeeded in losing two of my team-mates. After the descent only [Bruno] Leali was still with me and even though we got to within one hundred yards of the leaders, we could not get across to them."

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[Kaptain Kool]

Good job to Rob Hatch with the hyperbole today in P-N. He's in the form of his life. Apparently, we've never seen GT contenders do well as well in early season races before this year. And current gaps in the going into the final stage of P-N are "almost unheard of." A guess it's true if you ignore that the gaps in the GC Top 10 are almost exactly the same as last year. ohboyohboyohboy.

 

[ashhutch1997]

Good job to Rob Hatch with the hyperbole today in P-N. He's in the form of his life. Apparently, we've never seen GT contenders do well as well in early season races before this year. And current gaps in the going into the final stage of P-N are "almost unheard of." A guess it's true if you ignore that the gaps in the GC Top 10 are almost exactly the same as last year. ohboyohboyohboy.

At least he only dwelled on the crash that happend for 58 minutes rather than his usual 1 hour..

 

[Abedfo]

Shout out to Jose Been for carrying the Ronde Van Drenthe solo, really enjoyed the coverage. A couple of nice ascents up the Vamberg !

 

[tobydawq]

The Col de Vence is Irish cycling's Saipan. Did Kelly stab Roche in the back? Did Roche just blow it? Whole families have been divided by it, sons never talking to fathers ever again, fathers disowning their sons, and the mammies and the sisters just sitting there wondering what the feck is going on.







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Poor Roche. Such a mediocre season he had there.

 

[Wyndbrook]

Shout out to Jose Been for carrying the Ronde Van Drenthe solo, really enjoyed the coverage. A couple of nice ascents up the Vamberg !

Yes and a cracking win by Hagnses

 

[davidsonduke]

Good job to Rob Hatch with the hyperbole today in P-N. He's in the form of his life. Apparently, we've never seen GT contenders do well as well in early season races before this year. And current gaps in the going into the final stage of P-N are "almost unheard of." A guess it's true if you ignore that the gaps in the GC Top 10 are almost exactly the same as last year. ohboyohboyohboy.

The final gap was the largest in a decade.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

The final gap was the largest in a decade.

Hatch was talking about differences from 1st through 10th after the penultimate stage. But if you extend out through Stage 8, the gap between 1st and 10th this year ended up being over minute less than 2022.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

Hatch was talking about differences from 1st through 10th after the penultimate stage. But if you extend out through Stage 8, the gap between 1st and 10th this year ended up being over minute less than 2022.

Hard to tell what he's on about sometimes; the man has more waffles than Belgium.

 

[movingtarget]

Kelly winding up the Rochinistas there by saying Roche had a bit of bad luck that day Kelly stabbed him in the back in PN.

Don't ask Visentini about Roche............

 

[RedheadDane]

I would like to draw everyone's attention to this horrible quote from Thomas Bay:

"Despite aging guys, like Pinot and Demare, they're one of the youngest teams on the WT."

Excuse me! Those two are not aging. Now, if he'd said "Like Ladagnous and Konovalovas", it would have been a different matter.

 

[argyllflyer]

British Eurosport /GCN commentary pairings season 2023 (men's elite):

(WT=World Tour; PS=Pro Series, ET=Europe Tour, AT=Asia Tour)

WT: Tour Down Under (live from 17/1): Cox & Blythe
PS: Vuelta a San Juan (live from 22/1): Kirby & Smith
ET: Challenge Mallorca: Trofeo Calvia (live on 25/1): Hatch & Blythe
ET: Challenge Mallorca: Trofeo Port D'Alcudia (live on 26/1): Hatch & Blythe
ET: Challenge Mallorca: Trofeo Port D'Andratz (live on 27/1): Hatch & Blythe
ET: Challenge Mallorca: Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana (live on 28/1): Hatch & Smith
WT: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (live on 29/1): Keenan, McEwen & Liggett (Host Broadcaster package)
ET: Challenge Mallorca: Trofeo Palma (live on 29/1): Hatch & Smith
ET: Grand Prix Cycliste La Marseillaise (live on 29/1): Been & Stephens
AT: Saudi Tour (live from 30/1): Cox & McEwen
PS: Volta a La Comunitat Valenciana (live from 1/2): Hatch & Smith
ET: Vuelta Ciclista Murcia (live on 11/2): Been & Smith
ET: Figuera Champions Classic (live on 12/2): Cox & Ian Field
PS: Clasica de Almeria (live on 12/2): Been & Smith
ET: Clasica Jaen Paraiso Interior (live on 13/2): Been & Smith
PS: Volta ao Algarve (live from 15/2): Hatch & Stephens (stages 1-3), Blyth (stages 4-5)
PS: Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol (live from 15/2): Cox & Smith
ET: Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var (live from 17/2): Been & Backstedt
WT: UAE Tour (live from 20/2): Kirby & Smith
ET: Gran Camino (live from 23/2): Cox & Stephens (stages 1-2, 4), Field (stage 3)
ET: Faun-Ardeche Classic (live on 25/2): Been & Walker
WT: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (live on 25/2): Stephens, Lloyd & Blythe
PS: Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (live on 26/2): Hatch & Blythe
ET: Faun Drome Classic (live on 26/2): Been & Walker
ET: Le Samyn (live on 28/2): Been & Walker
WT: Strade Bianche (live on 4/3): Hatch, Lloyd & Blythe
ET: Grote Prijs Jean-Pierre Monsere (live on 5/3): Cox & Backstedt
WT: Paris-Nice (live from 5/3): Hatch & Kelly
WT: Tirreno-Adriatico (live from 6/3) : Kirby & McEwen
ET: Albert Achterhes Profronde van Drenthe (live from 12/3): Been (solo)
PS: Danilith Nokere Koerse (live on 15/3): Been & Christmas
PS: Milano-Torino (live on 15/3): Hatch & Smith
PS: Grand Prix de Denain - Porte du Hainaut (live on 16/3): Been & Smith
ET: Bredene Koksidje Classic (live on 18/3): Been & Smith
WT: Milano-Sanremo (live on 18/3): Hatch, Kirby, McEwen, Lloyd & Blythe
ET: Cholet Pays De La Loire (live on 19/3): tbc
WT: Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (live from 20/3): Kirby & Smith
WT: Classic Brugge-De Panne (live on 22/3): Cox & McEwen
WT: E3 Saxo Classic (live on 24/3): Hatch & Blythe
WT: Gent-Wevelgem (live on 26/3): Cox & Blythe
ET: La Roue Tourangelle (live on 26/3): Been & Stephens
WT: Dwars Door Vlaanderen (live on 29/3): Stephens & Lloyd
ET: Volta Limburg Classic (live on 1/4): Been & Stephens
PS: Gran Premio Miguel Indurain (live on 1/4): Walker & Field
WT: Ronde Van Vlaanderen (live on 2/4): Kirby, Lloyd, Kelly & Blythe
WT: Itzulia Basque Country (live from 3/4): Kirby & Smith
PS: Scheldeprijs (live on 5/4): Cox & McEwen
WT: Paris-Roubaix (live on 9/4): Hatch, Lloyd, McEwen & Blyth
ET: Giro di Sicilia (live from 11/4): Been & Smith
PS: De Brabantse Pijl (live on 12/4): tbc
ET: Classic Grand Besancon Doubs (live on 14/4): tbc
ET: Tour du Jura Cycliste (live on 15/4): tbc
WT: Amstel Gold Race (live on 16/4): tbc
PS: Tour of the Alps (live from 17/4): tbc
WT: La Fleche Wallone (live on 19/4): tbc
WT: Liege-Bastogne-Liege (live on 23/4): tbc
WT: Tour de Romandie (live from 25/4): tbc

 

[HelloDolly]

Adam Blythe ......aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Trout tickling has been brought up twice now today...

 

[tobydawq]

Very cool that GCN now has the Danish Eurosport broadcast with its studio as shown on Discovery Plus.

Now the whole world can see Bastian Emil (albeit probably not understand him).

 

[perico]

So is Kelly basically just doing the GTs again this year?

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

So is Kelly basically just doing the GTs again this year?

"Mr Paris-Nice" did Paris-Nice when he was able to get a word in with the excitable pseudo-linguist.

 

[Abedfo]

Trout tickling has been brought up twice now today...

Why am in not surprised.

 

[Potomac]

They need a fashion editor in the studio show.
If somebody is on camera, don't let them wear repellant clothing.

 

[Potomac]

Trout tickling has been brought up twice now today...

Sounds like a good thing to bring it up once.