New to this

Gizmodo

I'd like to get into watching the pro road races but I don't know where to start. I was reading about Cav, CJ and the Sky team and I understand about leading out your final sprinter, but I have no idea on the rest of team tactics such as KOM, sprints etc.

Any suggestions for reading/watching to get to grips with team tactics and who's who in the pro world?

Also I don't currently have Sky TV, just Freeview, Freesat and a good Internet connection. Where can I watch races or do I need to get Sky TV?

Finally, when's the next race that I can watch and what channel/stream is it on?

Thanks guys, looking forward to getting into this.

rick_chasey

Eurosport will cover all your pro-race needs.

Best way to learn is to watch. It's rare the commentator won't explain it, especially if it is english.

Tweeting a question @spokesmen will normally get you a small explanation.

greasedscotsman

Check out cyclingfans if you don't have Sky. They will have links to whatever race is going on at the moment. The only problem is most of the streams will not be in English, although they do sometimes link to Eurosport.

http://cyclingfans.com/

afx237vi

If you don't mind watching on a computer, or can connect your computer to a TV, you could get Eurosport Player, which is £3.99 a month, and you can cancel between November and February when there isn't any cycling on.

Rick is right in saying the best way to learn is just by watching.

Gizmodo

Thanks guys, it looks like Eurosport player on my iPad might be ideal - SWMBO can be watching her cr@p on the TV whilst I get all sorts of sport on my own personal player! Winner.

rick_chasey

Feel free to ask more specific questions on here. You'll inevitably get 30 responses and a good debate going.

TMR

I realise I'll get shot down in flames for this, but when I started, I watched the Versus TdF coverage with Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin. They are the Murray Walker of cycling commentators, but if you are new to the sport then I think they explain things quite well.

If you know how to use BitTorrent, then create an account at cycletorrents.nl and download a few of the 2011 TdF stages.

Turfle

It's amazing how quickly you'll pick things up just by watching. Along with cyclingfans.com there is steephill.tv. Between the two you'll find links to streams of just about every race that's being televised anywhere in the world.

cqranking.com is a great resource to find out about riders, teams, races etc.

rick_chasey

The tour is definitely the best place to start.

Commentators assume they have a lot of casual viewers for that one.

Turfle

And the next race on Eurosport is the Montepaschi Strade Bianche on Saturday. A good, hard, gravelly, one-day hilly race.

Then on Sunday starts Paris-Nice, one of the premier stage races on the calendar. 8 days including a bit of everything: time trials, sprints, and hills/mountains.

ddraver

WARNING! Cycling fandom may lead to many wasted hours on sofas and RSIs from violent disagreements on cycling forums! Care must be taken to avoid topics on doping, are team sky boring, is Andy Schleck ever going to win a GT, and anything to do with Lance Armstrong.

Personally I like to set myself up on a Sunday afternoon, after the morning club run, with a beer, and a sausage/salami of the relevant country/region and try and wind Leicester Lad up about the Schlecks

RichN95.

ddraver wrote:

is Andy Schleck ever going to win a GT,

I think you may have missed a memo.

josame

Turfle wrote:

Then on Sunday starts Paris-Nice, one of the premier stage races on the calendar. 8 days including a bit of everything: time trials, sprints, and hills/mountains.

you just failed to add ...

'and a win for Bradley Wiggins'

Gizmodo

Thanks for the links and advice, I've signed up for Eurosport player on my iPad so I'm looking forward to being able to join in the Leicester Lad windup whilst being mindful to avoid RSI. If I have more questions then I'll happily start a good 30 page debate. 8) if it starts to eat up too much time I'll just blame Wiggle.

LeicesterLad

ddraver wrote:

WARNING! Cycling fandom may lead to many wasted hours on sofas and RSIs from violent disagreements on cycling forums! Care must be taken to avoid topics on doping, are team sky boring, is Andy Schleck ever going to win a GT, and anything to do with Lance Armstrong.

Personally I like to set myself up on a Sunday afternoon, after the morning club run, with a beer, and a sausage/salami of the relevant country/region and try and wind Leicester Lad up about the Schlecks

That snivveling little turd is a TDF winner now...'oo Frank look, I won the big French race, i love you Franky'.

takethehighroad

It says a lot about this forum, and cycling in general, that you've had double digit replies so far.

Make sure to watch Eurosport on Saturday, one of the more picturesque races of the year.

They featured a stage on similar roads in the Giro (Tour of Italy) a couple of years ago and it led to shots like this:



Even if it's not rainy it's still impressive

ddraver

@Rich and LL

5 and a half hours later and I just got that...

I guess even the Schleck fans don't even consider it a win!

LeicesterLad

ddraver wrote:

@Rich and LL

5 and a half hours later and I just got that...

I guess even the Schleck fans don't even consider it a win!

You fair weather fan you...

Tusher

Welcome!

These links may also be useful-

http://racejunkie.blogspot.com/

http://inrng.com/

http://www.atwistedspoke.com/

http://gerard.cc/

and the podcast-

http://veloclubdonlogan.co.uk/



Sprinting is the best part of pro-racing, btw, no matter what Iainf72 may say

trekker12

Also ITV4 show live coverage of the TDF and they are quite beginner friendly as they recognise many of their watchers might be newbies.

They do also cover some of the other big races with highlight shows - I'm sure I saw they had coverage of the tour of California (or did I dream that)

frenchfighter

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

It says a lot about this forum, and cycling in general, that you've had double digit replies so far.

Make sure to watch Eurosport on Saturday, one of the more picturesque races of the year.

They featured a stage on similar roads in the Giro (Tour of Italy) a couple of years ago and it led to shots like this:



Even if it's not rainy it's still impressive

Never seen that shot. Do you have a hi-res?

Ron Stuart

Try This.... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tour-France-Dum ... _se_shvl19

Click to look inside and check out the table of contents, should be enough there to help your viewing and no offence with the title mate

takethehighroad

frenchfighter wrote:

Never seen that shot. Do you have a hi-res?

Try this website

http://www.procycling.no/article2914502.ece

frenchfighter

Excellent. Thanks a lot.

skylla

ddraver wrote:

@Rich and LL

5 and a half hours later and I just got that...

I guess even the Schleck fans don't even consider it a win!

In that case will he turn up for:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-sc ... nce-winner

rick_chasey

skylla wrote:

ddraver wrote:

@Rich and LL

5 and a half hours later and I just got that...

I guess even the Schleck fans don't even consider it a win!

In that case will he turn up for:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-sc ... nce-winner

Woah, some kind of thread resurrection.

We have a sticky now which deals with all your pro-race watching needs (within the UK).

skylla

Rick Chasey wrote:

skylla wrote:

ddraver wrote:

@Rich and LL

5 and a half hours later and I just got that...

I guess even the Schleck fans don't even consider it a win!

In that case will he turn up for:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-sc ... nce-winner

Woah, some kind of thread resurrection.

We have a sticky now which deals with all your pro-race watching needs (within the UK).

such as endless BBC style reruns of the 2010 TdF. Possibly with a small disclaimer saying 'Mileage may vary. Results might change in due course".

LeicesterLad

skylla wrote:

ddraver wrote:

@Rich and LL

5 and a half hours later and I just got that...

I guess even the Schleck fans don't even consider it a win!

In that case will he turn up for:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-sc ... nce-winner

I think turning up for that would be quite degrading for Andy Schleck.

mfin

LeicesterLad wrote:

skylla wrote:

ddraver wrote:

@Rich and LL

5 and a half hours later and I just got that...

I guess even the Schleck fans don't even consider it a win!

In that case will he turn up for:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/andy-sc ... nce-winner

I think turning up for that would be quite degrading for Andy Schleck.

It probably will be. But to be fair, cycling's done a lot for him, he's made a lot of money out of it so far, so he should see it as positive for cycling, because, at the end of the day (to quote David Beckham), the guy who won was proven to have a banned substance in him.

I see it as AS having to do his bit towards anti-doping, and its a good thing.

dougzz

mfin wrote:

It probably will be. But to be fair, cycling's done a lot for him, he's made a lot of money out of it so far, so he should see it as positive for cycling, because, at the end of the day (to quote David Beckham), the guy who won was proven to have a banned substance in him.
I see it as AS having to do his bit towards anti-doping, and its a good thing.

Did you have your tongue in cheek when you wrote above

LeicesterLad

Andy Schleck? Anti-Doping? You mean to say that he rides well only for 3 weeks of the year because of his training regime?*












*runs away and hides