Why I hate the Tour Down Under

[Spsta]

First of all, I love the Tour Down Under. I live in Victor Harbor and have stood on the side of the road each year and have followed since the race started many years ago. But I have no F’ing idea what is going on and the commentators and Tour organisers do nothing to make the sport accessible and understandable by people who have not previously raced. I also watch the French and Italian Tours. I want to love this sport. For example, nothing is explained about team strategies and how they work. I tried to work out who is wearing the ochre jersey so that I can find them on the screen. The Tour website shows there are 75 riders with numbers 1-75 but the riders on screen have numbers in the 100’s. How the F is anyone able to follow who the F they are watching???? The commentators don’t take a moment to explain anything about the sport and expect the only people that watch are former riders who will know these things. I am becoming convinced that it is an elitist sport that doesn’t actually want people without a cycling background to watch. In every other sport the commentators take the time to explain everything- take cricket for example. They do an amazing job. Cycling commentators don’t explain anything yet they have days and days of commentary time that they could. They clearly have no idea about how to promote the sport.

 

[Potomac]

 

[Spsta]

Potomac, I take it from your lack of comment that you also don’t understand the sport?

I just mean to give honest feedback to a sport that I have been trying to follow. If you know people who give tv commentary, please ask them to explain, to make the sport accessible.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

100%

 

[RedheadDane]

The bit about the website showing 75 riders with numbers 1-75 makes no sense, considering that there are 126 riders left in the race (out of 140 starters)

 

[Spsta]

It doesn’t make sense to me (the rider numbers - which was my original point), which is why I posted. It is so hard for an outsider to understand the sport, or go further, because the sport isn’t explained. I know it is easy to roll eyes and dismiss, but the future of your sport relies on people understanding it. So far, from this forum, no one has tried to help.

 

[RedheadDane]

One team has the 1-7 (that's the team of last year's winner, so Narvaez the defending champion had number 1)
The next has 11-17
Then 21-27
And so forth, until you reach the final team which has 191-197

And your bit about 75 riders with number 1-75 doesn't make sense, because it literally can't have been what what was written on the website. The only explanation I can come up with is that you were actually looking at the results for stage 2, but before all the riders had finished.

Here's the startlist provided by the organisation:

Men's Start List | Santos Tour Down Under

Every year, UCI WorldTeams travel to South Australia to race in Australia's greatest cycling race, the Santos Tour Down Under. View the men's team and riders who are racing in the 2026 Santos Tour Down Under.

tourdownunder.com.au

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

It doesn’t make sense to me (the rider numbers - which was my original point), which is why I posted. It is so hard for an outsider to understand the sport, or go further, because the sport isn’t explained. I know it is easy to roll eyes and dismiss, but the future of your sport relies on people understanding it. So far, from this forum, no one has tried to help.

You haven't asked any questions. If you want to know which rider is with which nunber, go to this site: https://www.procyclingstats.com/

Every major race has a listing of riders who will ride, and details about the race or stages.

I'm trusting you can navigate a website. It will give you tons of information.

If you want to begin understanding the sport, study the dynamics of wind resistance, how weight affects vertical gain, and how genetics can create a human capable of stomping the bottom out of the planet.

 

[Spsta]

Thanks RedheadDane and ChewbaccaDefense for providing some helpful information. I took a screenshot of the tour down under website that shows the riders. Weirdly, sometimes it loads up to 75 rider and other times it loads more. So my confusion could be somewhat related to the website issues. I will review the website you suggested and try to learn more. I don’t know if any of you have contacts with the commentary team? But I would like to provide feedback to the wider sport that there are people that want to engage and understand but the commentary doesn’t explain the basic tactics of the sport. I don’t mean to offend, it’s just how the sport is currently presented.

 

[CPT. Z]

When TV cycling commentators spend time explaining cycling basics to the uninitiated masses, the members of this forum have this reaction:

 

[ingsve]

Thanks RedheadDane and ChewbaccaDefense for providing some helpful information. I took a screenshot of the tour down under website that shows the riders. Weirdly, sometimes it loads up to 75 rider and other times it loads more. So my confusion could be somewhat related to the website issues. I will review the website you suggested and try to learn more. I don’t know if any of you have contacts with the commentary team? But I would like to provide feedback to the wider sport that there are people that want to engage and understand but the commentary doesn’t explain the basic tactics of the sport. I don’t mean to offend, it’s just how the sport is currently presented.

I'm guessing it's the commentators for Australian TV you are talking about. All I can say really is that commentators come in all levels of quality. The good ones knows to be clear enough so that also new viewers can follow what is going on but that is unfortunately not the instinct that all commentators have. I'm not really sure there are any solutions since we are often stuck with the commentators for whatever service provides the coverage. I'm not sure what options you have in Australia but if it's like most places you have what you have. Other people from Australia might know more if this is a regular thing or if you have various commentators on your broadcasts and perhaps others are better at it.

 

[yaco]

Please the commentators include Robbie McEwan and Matt Keenan.