Oh no he isn't

[Wattie]

"Only Briton since Malcom Elliott to win Giro, Tour and Vuelta stages" (see news item). Er nope! Elliot never won a Tour de France stage, nor a Giro stage. I think they should be referring to Robert Millar. Elliot is the only Briton to win the Vuelta Points Jersey (or any Grand Tour Points Jersey), maybe Cavendish's references to Elliot confused them. And for good measure the second L is missing from the spelling of Malcolm.

 

[Anonymous]

"Only Briton since Malcom Elliott to win Giro, Tour and Vuelta stages" (see news item). Er nope! Elliot never won a Tour de France stage, nor a Giro stage. I think they should be referring to Robert Millar. Elliot is the only Britain to win the Vuelta Points Jersey (or any Grand Tour Points Jersey), maybe Cavendish's references to Elliot confused them.

its ok, david harmon was on the other week that Malcolm was the only briton ever to win a jersey in a grand tour, and then rapidly backtracked when he got called out on twitter.

 

[bobbins]

David Harmon is a self-appointed cycling expert and self plugger who knows <nothing> [edited by mod] about cycling and is carried by Sean Kelly. I expect regular mistakes from that fool.

Cyclingnews should know better.

 

[Pharazon]

wow... getting carried by Sean Kelly..

now, that's embarssaing

 

[The Hitch]

its ok, david harmon was on the other week that Malcolm was the only briton ever to win a jersey in a grand tour, and then rapidly backtracked when he got called out on twitter.

As i recall Harmon said Elliot was the only rider to win a points jersey at a gt, not any jersey. But the incident you mention may have happened earlier as i only watched the last 10 minutes.

 

[The Hitch]

David Harmon is a self-appointed cycling expert and self plugger who knows ___ about cycling and is carried by Sean Kelly. I expect regular mistakes from that fool.

Cyclingnews should know better.

I would defend him usually but not after
"Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador have just thrown away the tour" At the top of his _____ lungs.

No you Stoo gatz!!!! they lost 15 seconds from their 3 minute lead !!!!!!

 

[Anonymous]

He struggled last week when sean was away, there were times i thought dementure had set in. Hes not good when left to his own devices.

As for the cyclingnews bit... nothing surprises me anymore. The forum is great, but its a long time since ive used the site to rely on news, some of the quality is appaling. I find everything i need on the forum, theres pretty little important news that is not discussed here.

 

[bobbins]

And if I hear one more plug for his tandem record attempts I'll never shop at wiggle again. Choosing some out of date tandem records, getting a tricked up aero tandem to try to beat them and then failing on the 2 occasions he's tried. The guy is a tosser.

 

[Wattie]

Got to say that for all his obvious expertise and profound knowledge of the sport, Kelly is not a good commentator: I doubt if he knows what the word succinct means. Also in fairness to Harnon commentating is done in the heat of the moment so any commentator is bound to make the odd gaffe or miss something. At least Harnon sounds interested, as opposed to Kelly who sounds as though he has just woken up from hi afternoon nap.

 

[Anonymous]

To be fair hes still more interesting to listen to than McCrossan, whos a thoroughly nice chap, just a dull commentator

I miss Duffers

 

[The Hitch]

Got to say that for all his obvious expertise and profound knowledge of the sport, Kelly is not a good commentator: I doubt if he knows what the word succinct means. Also in fairness to Harnon commentating is done in the heat of the moment so any commentator is bound to make the odd gaffe or miss something. At least Harnon sounds interested, as opposed to Kelly who sounds as though he has just woken up from hi afternoon nap.

Has Kelly ever started a sentence without the word "Yes"?

He doesnt speak without Harmonn addresing him first. Half the time that Harmonn addresses him he doenst speak anyway. The other half the time he replies "yes" and then talks.

 

[Anonymous]

Has Kelly ever started a sentence without the word "Yes"?

He doesnt speak without Harmonn addresing him first. Half the time that Harmonn addresses him he doenst speak anyway. The other half the time he replies "yes" and then talks.

He says, Certaintly, and I think, and recently hes starting saying "to be sure" a lot more.

 

[The Hitch]

I also found it annoying when Armets Txurukka crashed in Pais Vasco and Harmon was convinced that, through some voodoo perhaps, this was 100% his fault ( he had earlier said "if he doesnt crash"). The rest of the stage was spent listening to Harmonn give personalised apologies to each member of Txurrukas family. This despite the fact that they being Basque and this being Pais Vasco, it was very unlikely that they were watching British Eurosport.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I also found it annoying when Armets Txurukka crashed in Pais Vasco and Harmon was convinced that, through some voodoo perhaps, this was 100% his fault ( he had earlier said "if he doesnt crash"). The rest of the stage was spent listening to Harmonn give personalised apologies to each member of Txurrukas family. This despite the fact that they being Basque and this being Pais Vasco, it was very unlikely that they were watching British Eurosport.

This is because the Gods take hexing The Great Amets very seriously, and penitence is demanded from those who even suggest the possibility of Amets being injured. This is to be paid in tears of blood.

Oh, and on Kelly's ways of starting a sentence, my favourite moment of Harmon/Kelly chemistry was this gem, on why Cunego hasn't been able to regain his 2004 form. Harmon asked about it, and Kelly answered "it was a different era of cycling then". Harmon then tried to press Kelly for more detail, what he meant etc., and Kelly just cut him off mid-sentence and repeated, much more firmly, "it was a different era of cycling then".

Other times Harmon can be downright hilarious. The bit where they were talking about something to do with the breakaway and the status of the race in the 2009 Tour, and they showed the péloton crossing the border into Italy, and Harmon just broke up discussion to say "isn't it a shame Alejandro Valverde isn't here to participate in the Tour", before continuing the conversation he'd been having prior to that.

 

[theswordsman]

I like the guy, and the announcing team. I wish Sean spoke more, but a couple of years ago, I listened to them for all three grand tours, and learned a lot. Last week people wondered why a certain team was putting in so much work at the front, and Sean suggested the DS might be punishing them a bit for not getting someone in the break.

David has the responsibility of keeping the commentary going spontaneously while watching the TV feed of the race. It's not always clear which cam is on view, so they have to also use race radio, and if possible the Internet, to keep track of who is where in relation to other riders. And they're not sat in some fancy studio, they're in whatever conditions exist near the finish line.

I think in Contador's Giro, I ended up having to watch feeds from like nine different countries, as Sporza figured out people in America was watching and shut us down, and I had to go day by day to feeds in languages I don't speak. But I always had Eurosport UK audio available, and I'm grateful.

I've boycotted Phil & Paul and all things Versus, but when they weren't going on about Armstrong, they were a professional broadcasting team who could finish each other;s sentences. But Phil makes a lot of mistakes these days, which Paul has to correct, and a lot of Paul talking is reading the touristy stuff straight from the race book.

I hope to never hear Carlton Kirby's voice again, though.

 

[roundabout]

I don't think Harmon is that bad, at least i found him to be an improvemeent compared to the later day Duffield who seemingly always talked about local food (cheese primarily) and everything else unrelated to cycling.

 

[Anonymous]

I hope to never hear Carlton Kirby's voice again, though.

Ditto x 100000

 

[Descender]

Has Kelly ever started a sentence without the word "Yes"?

He doesnt speak without Harmonn addresing him first. Half the time that Harmonn addresses him he doenst speak anyway. The other half the time he replies "yes" and then talks.

haha so true.

Well actually, it's "yes 'n...".

 

[hiero2]

. . .
Oh, and on Kelly's ways of starting a sentence, my favourite moment of Harmon/Kelly chemistry was this gem, on why Cunego hasn't been able to regain his 2004 form. Harmon asked about it, and Kelly answered "it was a different era of cycling then". Harmon then tried to press Kelly for more detail, what he meant etc., and Kelly just cut him off mid-sentence and repeated, much more firmly, "it was a different era of cycling then".
. . .

ROFLMAO! O my heavens and stars -------------------

 

[Martin318is]

He struggled last week when sean was away, there were times i thought dementure had set in.

Dim, its "Dementia" I know you are getting old and everything but...

 

[luckyboy]

I like Harmon, but it gets on my nerves a bit when Kelly keeps talking and talking and quite often carries on when something interesting happens.

Duffield was nice, but I got tired of him messing things up.

 

[Anonymous]

Dim, its "Dementia" I know you are getting old and everything but...

Youre a mod, not the grammar police you should know by now i cant smell.

 

[El Imbatido]

What is with all the ragging on Harmon and now Kirby? They are way better than the two numpties from Versus. I quite like them both. But of course i prefer Harmon & Kelly. But i quite enjoyed listening to Kirby & Backstead at Eneco, Criterium du dauphine, Tirreno, Criterium International etc. I actually like the chemistry that he and Backstead have. I don't particularly know why but i think it works.

 

[luckyboy]

Oh yeah, Backstedt was good at the Tour of Turkey & some other race I can't remember.

I remember some Scottish guy commentating at some point this season, all I remember was I didn't really like him.

I know a few people think otherwise, but I really like James Richardson (TdF bald studio guy). One of my favourite sports-TV (and podcast) guys. It'd be really great if other races had studio coverage before and after as well, though that isn't too likely.

 

[Spare Tyre]

He says, Certaintly, and I think, and recently hes starting saying "to be sure" a lot more.

To be sure, to be sure.