Eurosport commentary

[T-Nielsen]

I did laugh when Kirby discussed Ben Swift amongst the potential winners of the race.

He didn't do that... TELL ME he didn't do that.

I feel so sorry for you guys. I had to sets of danish commentators to chose between and both really good.

 

[argyllflyer]

A week of Turkish Kirbyisms coming up before he heads off the Eurosport screens until the Dauphine.

 

[argyllflyer]

On Andrei Greipel: "cruciate ligament damage to the collarbone - worse than breaking it they say!"

Only took a minute for the first Kirbyism of the week.

 

[argyllflyer]

Sean Kelly cracks a joke - is it a month of sundays?

 

[argyllflyer]

The updated British Eurosport commentary pairings so far in 2014:

Dubai: Quigley & Smith
Oman: Kirby (solo)
Andalucia: Hatch & Stephens
K-B-K: Hatch & Stephens
Le Samyn: Kirby & Smith
Langkawi: Hatch (first week) / Quigley (last few stages) (both solo)
Strade Bianche: Hatch & Smith
Roma Maxima: Quigley & Smith
Paris-Nice: Hatch & Kelly
Tirreno-Adriatico: Quigley & Stephens
Milan-Sanremo: Quigley & Kelly
Catalunia: Kirby & Backstedt
E3 Harelbeke: Quigley & Stephens
Criterium International: Quigley & Stephens
Three Days of De Panne: Kirby & Smith
Tour of Flanders: Kirby & Kelly
Vuelta al Pais Vasco: Kirby & Stephens
Paris-Roubaix: Kirby & Stephens
GP de Denain: Kirby & Lloyd
Tour of the Reservoir: McCrossan & Stephens
Amstel Gold Race: Kirby & Kelly
Fleche Wallonne: Kirby & Lloyd
Tour of Turkey: Kirby & Smith
Liege-Bastogne-Liege: Hatch & Kelly

Coming Up (from @carltonkirby, @RealStephens, @robhatchtv, @BriSmithy):

4 Days of Dunkirk: tbc
Tour of Azerbaijan: tbc
Tour of California: Stephens (someone said he's doing main comms??) & ??
Criterium du Dauphine: Kirby & Stephens
Giro d'Italia: Hatch & Kelly
Tour de France: Kirby & Kelly
Vuelta a Espana: Kirby & Kelly

 

[ILovecycling]

Are you kidding me?
Kirby is doing Tour,omg...thank god my local tv will broadcast it.and Giro thats all Rai

 

[argyllflyer]

Are you kidding me?
Kirby is doing Tour,omg...thank god my local tv will broadcast it.and Giro thats all Rai

He did it last year also.

 

[oldcrank]

Congratulations in advance to whichever CN forum member
wins the VIP Tour de France Experience prize.

http://road.cc/content/news/117766-...ort-competition-will-see-someone-win-vip-trip

 

[manafana]

Congratulations in advance to whichever CN forum member
wins the VIP Tour de France Experience prize.

http://road.cc/content/news/117766-...ort-competition-will-see-someone-win-vip-trip

ha brillant still easier when u can make notes and take 2 than doing it live

 

[Pricey_sky]

ha brillant still easier when u can make notes and take 2 than doing it live

Yeah surely now if you want to enter you just watch the final hour from PR, Froome's Ventoux climb and the last few k's from Paris over and over again!

 

[argyllflyer]

The updated British Eurosport commentary pairings so far in 2014:

Dubai: Quigley & Smith
Oman: Kirby (solo)
Andalucia: Hatch & Stephens
K-B-K: Hatch & Stephens
Le Samyn: Kirby & Smith
Langkawi: Hatch (first week) / Quigley (last few stages) (both solo)
Strade Bianche: Hatch & Smith
Roma Maxima: Quigley & Smith
Paris-Nice: Hatch & Kelly
Tirreno-Adriatico: Quigley & Stephens
Milan-Sanremo: Quigley & Kelly
Catalunia: Kirby & Backstedt
E3 Harelbeke: Quigley & Stephens
Criterium International: Quigley & Stephens
Three Days of De Panne: Kirby & Smith
Tour of Flanders: Kirby & Kelly
Vuelta al Pais Vasco: Kirby & Stephens
Paris-Roubaix: Kirby & Stephens
GP de Denain: Kirby & Lloyd
Tour of the Reservoir: McCrossan & Stephens
Amstel Gold Race: Kirby & Kelly
Fleche Wallonne: Kirby & Lloyd
Tour of Turkey: Kirby & Smith
Liege-Bastogne-Liege: Hatch & Kelly
4 Days of Dunkirk: Quigley & Backstedt
Tour of Azerbaijan: Hatch (solo, stage 1) / Quigley (solo, stage 2->)
Women's Tour of Britain: Porter & Smith (syndicated - also on ITV4)

Coming Up (from @carltonkirby, @RealStephens, @robhatchtv, @BriSmithy):

Tour of California: Stephens (someone said he's doing main comms??) & ??
Criterium du Dauphine: Kirby & Stephens
Giro d'Italia: Hatch & Kelly
Tour de France: Kirby & Kelly
Vuelta a Espana: Kirby & Kelly

 

[Pricey_sky]

I put on Sky sports hour long recap of the Tour of Turkey this morning and they had some young guy commentating on it who made everyone else sound like a saint. He was completely awful. Does anyone else know who it was?

 

[barmaher]

I thought he grew into the role, but he wasn't the best. Not sure who he is.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Commentating solo is super hard though. I remember many thought Matt Keenan was a good commentator until he crashed and burned when one network (I forget who) had him doing the Vuelta on his own, I think it was in 2009, and it drew a lot of complaints. I've hardly heard anything of him since to know whether it was just an environment he was set up to fail in, though. Harmon struggled his most when Kelly was least talkative as well. You can get away with a solo commentator in a short highlights package, but when they're trying to do whole sections of the race it gets very difficult.

I remember stumbling across a feed of the 2010 Tour of Turkey with I believe it was Marty McDonald commentating solo, and I recall that being the best solo commentating I've heard on cycling in a long long time. But I've no idea whether that was a one-off, and whether he's any good the rest of the time.

 

[argyllflyer]

I put on Sky sports hour long recap of the Tour of Turkey this morning and they had some young guy commentating on it who made everyone else sound like a saint. He was completely awful. Does anyone else know who it was?

Marty MacDonald. He did the worldwide commentary for host broadcaster. I caught a few mins yesterday.

 

[argyllflyer]

Commentating solo is super hard though. I remember many thought Matt Keenan was a good commentator until he crashed and burned when one network (I forget who) had him doing the Vuelta on his own, I think it was in 2009, and it drew a lot of complaints. I've hardly heard anything of him since to know whether it was just an environment he was set up to fail in, though. Harmon struggled his most when Kelly was least talkative as well. You can get away with a solo commentator in a short highlights package, but when they're trying to do whole sections of the race it gets very difficult.

I remember stumbling across a feed of the 2010 Tour of Turkey with I believe it was Marty McDonald commentating solo, and I recall that being the best solo commentating I've heard on cycling in a long long time. But I've no idea whether that was a one-off, and whether he's any good the rest of the time.

One of the toughest shifts I've heard was Jonathan Harris-Bass doing one of the German one-dayers for cycling.tv alone. It seemed that absolutely nothing happened until the last 5km and he was on for maybe 2/3 hrs with no commercial break.

I actually like Marty's commentary usually but I only heard a minute or two yesterday.

 

[argyllflyer]

The updated British Eurosport commentary pairings so far in 2014:

Dubai: Quigley & Smith
Oman: Kirby (solo)
Andalucia: Hatch & Stephens
K-B-K: Hatch & Stephens
Le Samyn: Kirby & Smith
Langkawi: Hatch (first week) / Quigley (last few stages) (both solo)
Strade Bianche: Hatch & Smith
Roma Maxima: Quigley & Smith
Paris-Nice: Hatch & Kelly
Tirreno-Adriatico: Quigley & Stephens
Milan-Sanremo: Quigley & Kelly
Catalunia: Kirby & Backstedt
E3 Harelbeke: Quigley & Stephens
Criterium International: Quigley & Stephens
Three Days of De Panne: Kirby & Smith
Tour of Flanders: Kirby & Kelly
Vuelta al Pais Vasco: Kirby & Stephens
Paris-Roubaix: Kirby & Stephens
GP de Denain: Kirby & Lloyd
Tour of the Reservoir: McCrossan & Stephens
Amstel Gold Race: Kirby & Kelly
Fleche Wallonne: Kirby & Lloyd
Tour of Turkey: Kirby & Smith
Liege-Bastogne-Liege: Hatch & Kelly
4 Days of Dunkirk: Quigley & Backstedt
Tour of Azerbaijan: Hatch (solo, stage 1) / Quigley (solo, stage 2) / Harris-Bass (solo, stages 3-4) / Harris-Bass & Gibb (stage 5)
Women's Tour of Britain: Porter & Smith (syndicated - also on ITV4)
Giro d'Italia: Hatch & Kelly (with intro from Harris-Bass stage 1 and Andy Smith stages 2&3)
Wiltshire Grand Prix: McCrossan & Stephens

Coming Up (from @carltonkirby, @RealStephens, @robhatchtv, @BriSmithy):

Tour of California: Stephens (someone said he's doing main comms??) & ??
Criterium du Dauphine: Kirby & Stephens
Tour de France: Kirby & Kelly
Vuelta a Espana: Kirby & Kelly

 

[luckyboy]

Does anyone know what exactly happened to Harmon? I read he had depression at one point and just assumed he would return but that was like a year ago.

Not keen on Rob Hatch.

 

[argyllflyer]

Jonathan Harris-Bass pops up for the first time this year in the Carlton Kirby/Mike Smith TdF 'dungeon' role ahead of the race.

 

[argyllflyer]

Does anyone know what exactly happened to Harmon? I read he had depression at one point and just assumed he would return but that was like a year ago.

Not keen on Rob Hatch.

He is no longer used by Eurosport.

 

[movingtarget]

Lemond was a great rider but I am waiting for him to say something interesting. His commentary is dull which I suppose is normal for Eurosport most of the time.

 

[Ferminal]

Jonathan Harris-Bass

Sounded pretty good...

Though no Quigley comedy in May this year

Guess it will be Kirby for me anyway.

 

[argyllflyer]

Sounded pretty good...

Though no Quigley comedy in May this year

Guess it will be Kirby for me anyway.

Quiggers is having fun with Maggie B doing 4 Days this time around.

 

[argyllflyer]

The updated British Eurosport commentary pairings so far in 2014:

Commentators used for .1, .HC & .WT: Declan Quigley, Carlton Kirby, Rob Hatch, Jonathan Harris-Bass, Matt Stephens
Summarisers used for.1, .HC & .WT: Brian Smith, Matt Stephens, Sean Kelly, Magnus Backstedt, Dan Lloyd, Tony Gibb

Dubai: Quigley & Smith
Oman: Kirby (solo)
Andalucia: Hatch & Stephens
K-B-K: Hatch & Stephens
Le Samyn: Kirby & Smith
Langkawi: Hatch (first week) / Quigley (last few stages) (both solo)
Strade Bianche: Hatch & Smith
Roma Maxima: Quigley & Smith
Paris-Nice: Hatch & Kelly
Tirreno-Adriatico: Quigley & Stephens
Milan-Sanremo: Quigley & Kelly
Catalunia: Kirby & Backstedt
E3 Harelbeke: Quigley & Stephens
Criterium International: Quigley & Stephens
Three Days of De Panne: Kirby & Smith
Tour of Flanders: Kirby & Kelly
Vuelta al Pais Vasco: Kirby & Stephens
Paris-Roubaix: Kirby & Stephens
GP de Denain: Kirby & Lloyd
Tour of the Reservoir: McCrossan & Stephens
Amstel Gold Race: Kirby & Kelly
Fleche Wallonne: Kirby & Lloyd
Tour of Turkey: Kirby & Smith
Liege-Bastogne-Liege: Hatch & Kelly
4 Days of Dunkirk: Quigley & Backstedt
Tour of Azerbaijan: Hatch (solo, stage 1) / Quigley (solo, stage 2) / Harris-Bass (solo, stages 3-4) / Harris-Bass & Gibb (stage 5)
Women's Tour of Britain: Porter & Smith (syndicated - also on ITV4)
Giro d'Italia: Hatch & Kelly (with intro from Harris-Bass stage 1 and Andy Smith stages 2&3)
Wiltshire Grand Prix: McCrossan & Stephens
Tour of California: Stephens & Smith
Tour Series R1 (Stoke): Porter & Smith (syndicated - also on ITV4)
Tour Series R2 (Barrow-in-Furness): Porter & Smith (syndicated - also on ITV4)

Coming Up (from @carltonkirby, @RealStephens, @robhatchtv, @BriSmithy):

Lincoln GP: tbc
Tour of Norway: tbc
World Ports Classic: tbc
Tour des Fjords: tbc
Criterium du Dauphine: Kirby & Stephens
Tour de France: Kirby & Kelly
Vuelta a Espana: Kirby & Kelly

I enjoyed Matt Stephens doing the lead commentary but a shame the bunch sprint needed a photo finish.

 

[BigMac]

Luis Piçarra and Co. saying Bari does frontier with Germany and that's the reason lots of German players are in football teams of that region.