Wishlist for better TV coverage of bike races

[mutschi]

As much I enjoy watching bike races I think TV coverage can be hugely improved to make it even more enjoyable and open it up to a bigger audience. Let's create a wish list for better tv coverage:

1. Names on all riders that can be read from all sides (especially from the front). I am tired to print out start lists and refer to them while watching
2. A rolling list of riders with their time gaps as they pass important key points in the race (e.g. top of a hill) They did it at the Worlds in Florence and I loved it. Why not at all races?
3. Have more cameras - for god sakes. At the Ronde we only saw the top 4 for the last 20 min. No idea what happened behind them. Where on earth did Kristoff come from? Why can't we have three or four screens parallel to keep track of of Group 1 to Group 4. Have cameras on bikes. Or stay with group one, record the action in the other groups and then replay it.
4. Translate team car talk. Nice to have the team cars now but useless at the same time as they talk in five different languages and the Eurosport moderators only seem to understand English. Why not record them, translate them and subtitle them?
5. Data from the bike computers e.g Heart rate, power, cadence, speed. How cool would it be to see average power over last 5 min from Greg compared with Fabian when he was chasing him down?
6. Microphones in the peloton so we can hear the riders talking.


What else?

All the above is done in other sports (leading is imo Biathlon, America's Cup Sailing) - why can't we have it in cycling?

 

[Jspear]

I would love to see some of those things implemented, but do you think that the teams would show their power meter stats?

 

[karlboss]

I think cycling like few other sports is asking for online interactive coverage. Choose your camera to look at the group or inside the car you want. An easy menu which can tell where different groups are on the ground and in relation to each other.

 

[jeffoffline]

I definitely agree with the names on the jersey's... identifying the riders can definitely be difficult especially if you are not a huge cycling fan. Along those lines and i find this really odd... at least on euro sport when they list the riders in a breakaway or other group they show their nationality not their team. So basically you have a list of names, the camera on the riders, but unless you already know who they are you have no way to match the name to the rider.

 

[gunara]

As much I enjoy watching bike races I think TV coverage can be hugely improved to make it even more enjoyable and open it up to a bigger audience. Let's create a wish list for better tv coverage:

1. Names on all riders that can be read from all sides (especially from the front). I am tired to print out start lists and refer to them while watching
2. A rolling list of riders with their time gaps as they pass important key points in the race (e.g. top of a hill) They did it at the Worlds in Florence and I loved it. Why not at all races?
3. Have more cameras - for god sakes. At the Ronde we only saw the top 4 for the last 20 min. No idea what happened behind them. Where on earth did Kristoff come from? Why can't we have three or four screens parallel to keep track of of Group 1 to Group 4. Have cameras on bikes. Or stay with group one, record the action in the other groups and then replay it.
4. Translate team car talk. Nice to have the team cars now but useless at the same time as they talk in five different languages and the Eurosport moderators only seem to understand English. Why not record them, translate them and subtitle them?
5. Data from the bike computers e.g Heart rate, power, cadence, speed. How cool would it be to see average power over last 5 min from Greg compared with Fabian when he was chasing him down?
6. Microphones in the peloton so we can hear the riders talking.


What else?

All the above is done in other sports (leading is imo Biathlon, America's Cup Sailing) - why can't we have it in cycling?

I agree with 1,2,3, and I don't know why it's so hard to do
4. and all the expletives...
5. It would be nice, but I doubt it would happen
6. Personally, I don't really like it. I don't even 100%ly enjoy the car shot when it comes to strategy (I like the reaction shot, though). For me one of the beauty of cycling is guessing teams plans and riders' thoughts. I'd love to know some parts but not too much.

 

[hfer07]

Anyone can get extremely confused identifying riders.. specially when Carlton Kirby fvcks up with their names while commentating

 

[Pantani_lives]

As much I enjoy watching bike races I think TV coverage can be hugely improved to make it even more enjoyable and open it up to a bigger audience. Let's create a wish list for better tv coverage:

1. Names on all riders that can be read from all sides (especially from the front). I am tired to print out start lists and refer to them while watching
2. A rolling list of riders with their time gaps as they pass important key points in the race (e.g. top of a hill) They did it at the Worlds in Florence and I loved it. Why not at all races?

2 is a good idea, but 1: where would you put the name of the sponsor, the co-sponsor and the co-co-sponsor?

 

[RedheadDane]

I remember when watching on of the US races a while back that they did this really smart thing when bringing up info of a rider.
Normally they just put up a Little info-sign and then it's up to the viewer to find said rider simply by looking at the back number. Here they had an arrow that locked onto the rider.

Did that make sense?

 

[theyoungest]

Can't we go back to analogue transmission? Images were occasionally a bit snowy and vague back then, but these days if there's bad reception the footage is just unwatchable.

 

[DirtyWorks]

2. A rolling list of riders with their time gaps as they pass important key points in the race (e.g. top of a hill) They did it at the Worlds in Florence and I loved it. Why not at all races?

Because it involves setting up timing arches over the road. The arches themselves are not cheap. The whole thing is made triply complicated and expensive by needing a way to transmit the transponder data very long distances. In this way WC's are much easier to set up than a point-to-point.

It takes me, personally, too long to figure out how many of OPQS, BMC, etc. are in any given group. IMHO, instead of posting the rider's country in the lower banner, I want their team. Or, maybe both.

Further on this, an infographic banner along the bottom telling me that the lead group is 1 BMC, 1 OMPQS, 1 Trek and group 2 is 2x BMC, 0 Trek, 5 OMPQS, 1 Cannondale (sagan) is what's missing for me. It's a team sport after all!

Hein Verbruggen recently gave a very detailed interview on cycling and their media issues. The link is in The Clinic's thread on Verbruggen. Also, the IOC's new head honcho is very interested in taking Olympic sports year-round with an IOC-owned channel. Cookson has talked about improving media production too. The UCI is listening very carefully to the IOC.

 

[Potomac]

I remember when watching on of the US races a while back that they did this really smart thing when bringing up info of a rider.
Normally they just put up a Little info-sign and then it's up to the viewer to find said rider simply by looking at the back number. Here they had an arrow that locked onto the rider.

Did that make sense?

I've seen this for NASCAR, the bikes would have to have a transponder that the tv production crews can fix on. I don't what the tech barriers are that are preventing it in cycling, but it sounds maybe now they can do it according to you, RHD

 

[Libertine Seguros]

2. A rolling list of riders with their time gaps as they pass important key points in the race (e.g. top of a hill) They did it at the Worlds in Florence and I loved it. Why not at all races?

As has been mentioned, cost prohibits this but we do see it at World Championships races (I've seen it at every Worlds since Mendrisio), generally because having a few transponder timing markers can be done on a circuit (as is seen in cross-country skiing and biathlon as you note) whereas on a point-to-point race you would need to have a large number to make it worthwhile, and that would be costly. Certainly a few key races with circuits or unchanging routes could benefit from it (say at the end of the Trouée d'Arenberg, Orchies and Carrefour de l'Arbre, or at the top of Koppenberg, Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg since the latter are climbed multiple times), and definitely DEFINITELY finishing lines. The Vuelta a Castilla y León back in 2011-12 and the Vuelta al País Vasco used to do this by transmitting the transponder signal straight to the TV broadcast so the result would come up in real time just as it does in biathlon and XC skiing - invaluable in calling the sprint.

I'd ask for more relevant highlight packages from RTPA and ETB for the minor one-day races; they seem to show a lot of the action from the break of the day, but then they'll very quickly cut to "and then the key move was made" and then show like 2 seconds of a Movistar guy off the front, then the finish.

With a lot of racing, it's just about making it look professional. The Volta a Portugal is a perfect example of how to make a comparatively provincial race feel like a big deal, and a lot of races could learn from that. Graphics that look like somebody spent more than a couple of minutes on them (graphics at all in some broadcasters' cases), the animated jerseys for each team to help you identify who's who, and so on. Helicams in women's races. Live broadcasts of women's races - it's great that we get the highlights packages now, and obviously the women are doing something right as the Giro Donne highlights have quadrupled in length over the last five years... but the coverage, even RAI's - and they are about the most supportive broadcaster - lag behind that for the men.

The ¡¡¡RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRadio Popularrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr de San Luíííííííííííííííssssss!!! guys on commentary for, like, every race.

Paolo Savoldelli chasing the race on a motorbike with a microphone at all times.

Climb profile graphics like they have in the Vlaamse Ardennen... but for the bigger mountain ranges too. La Vuelta has that great feature where they measure the gradient in real time and display it on the screen. More of that, please - especially in the Ardennes and the Itzulia.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

2. A rolling list of riders with their time gaps as they pass important key points in the race (e.g. top of a hill) They did it at the Worlds in Florence and I loved it. Why not at all races?

Yes, but such transponders to be carried by riders, not in the bikes. Riders change, and sometimes swap, bikes during a race: they very rarely do that with their jerseys.

 

[Peccio89]

I think an international feed for a motorbike commentator would be great, they can observe what is happening much better than what we can see on tv.
Normally i watch races on Eurosport Italy, but during RCS races i watch on RAI just because they have commentators on motorbikes.

wonder what happens in other countries, i imagine Sporza and the french tv already have them in home races.

 

[Roude Leiw]

I think an international feed for a motorbike commentator would be great, they can observe what is happening much better than what we can see on tv.
Normally i watch races on Eurosport Italy, but during RCS races i watch on RAI just because they have commentators on motorbikes.

wonder what happens in other countries, i imagine Sporza and the french tv already have them in home races.

French TV has commentators on motorbikes for years now, only reason i watch TdF there and not with my usual belgian TV. Still prefer belgians for cobbles like PR.

Put transponers on the bikes which are caught and fed in real time, would much help, even if the occasional bike changes messes with this somehow.

Names on jerseys would be great, Sky started this when Adidas was there provider, would be interesting to know if they sold better than the ones without the name on it?

 

[Oldman]

I've seen this for NASCAR, the bikes would have to have a transponder that the tv production crews can fix on. I don't what the tech barriers are that are preventing it in cycling, but it sounds maybe now they can do it according to you, RHD

I like this suggestion and a running pulse/wattage meter box with an arrow to the rider. What would be really interesting would be a accumulative wattage expensed shown with a rider tag. Fans could actually know if someone still had some gas left and would pass the time when watching really long breakaways. You'd have to block out that data from the teams to make it fair to the rider but fans would finally know how hard the sport can be.