Being a relative newcomer to cycle racing, my thoughts on the various commentators have changed now I sort of understand what it entails and what they have to contend with. I began with cyclocross and have now become a big road race fan - again due to having been educated and would be interested in any feed back on this. First, whenever I click onto a race I always have a tense moment until the voice comes on and that sets me up for whether I watch most of the race or the last bit. Marty McD comes across as a knowledgeable and nice guy but he lets himself down in a couple of ways. He has a tendency to set off on a rambling monologue about a rider before he has actually formulated the question, meaning a string of verbal crutches, including the inevitable 'as wells', which crop up every few seconds which drive me insane. If he allowed his co-coms more voice room and cut out the rambles and 'as wells', he would be far easier on the ear. Personally, I enjoy Carlton Kirby as he is an entertainer, although he too has a verbal crutch which is 'indeed' which makes regular appearances. He is fluent and appears to identify riders and teams with little fuss and his end of race comms are always exciting. My personal favourite is Rob Hatch, whose knowledge and ability to impart it, is superb in my opinion and I personally don't care about accents. Jose Been always seems to be given the races where there is very little in the way of graphics and possibly fewer camera bikes which makes identification very difficult to the point where some races end with us not knowing who the winner is, It is a shame as she is also fluent, despite English being her second language, at least. Jez Cox is also very knowledgeable and when paired with the right co-com can be good - when not getting too excited occasionally. I also enjoy Matt Stephens and Dan Lloyd who are both immensely well versed and both can keep a comm going for hours if need be. As for the co-comms, Brian Smith needs to lighten up when with Jose as he struggles to contain his obvious distain for her - ditto Cox. Sean Kelly is methodical in that he regurgitates the previous question before answering it, another form of a verbal crutch, but knows what he is talking about and Jeremy Power has slowed down a little and is also very sharp. Pippa York needs her mic turned on as she whispers all the time, which comes across as being unsure of herself but she may have adapted that tone during her transitioning. We don't hear enough of Jo Rowsell, who is excellent on track work and both Danis' and Luke Rowe add to occasions positively. In my opinion, general coverage of road racing and cyclocross has deteriorated in the last year or so due to various reasons, few connected to commentating. The less important CX races are at the mercy of programme directors who often kill them at birth by ignoring all but the top handful of riders and if one or more go off the front then it is tedium all round with no graphics and no idea who is doing what. I confess I found much of last CX season formulaic and for a while, this road season was going the same way as I lost interest in the Giro in the first week. Would love some reaction to this Marty Mc style ramble!