Carlton Kirby

m.r.m.

Rob Hatch called Pogacar, Remco and Vingegaard (4 GT's + 6 Monuments) the new young pretenders on the scene during one of his countless re-introductions of Ayuso during stage 5. So, there that...

I get that they are paid to talk to casual audiences, but maybe some moments of silence won't kill the moment if it avoids you spouting verbal diarrhea from just constant talking.

RichN95.

m.r.m. said:

Rob Hatch called Pogacar, Remco and Vingegaard (4 GT's + 6 Monuments) the new young pretenders on the scene .

I will defend him here

There is no clear successor to the GT throne due to Vingegaard beating Pogacar last year.

The succession goes Bobet-Anquetil-Merckx-Hinault-LeMond-Indurain-Armstrong-Contador-Froome. Yes it goes on the Tour. It's the biggest race.

Notice that Thevenet and Fignon are not there. No-one has established that this is their era yet.

m.r.m.

Fine, but how can you call riders with their kind of palmares at their age pretenders? I don't see it. Shouldn't the word be contenders?

pinno

In terms of pronunciation, Sherwin was diametrically opposite to Hatch.

'Guyseppy Gerini' (stage 10, '99 TdF), Pronounce that with hard G's.

takethehighroad

daniel_b said:

takethehighroad said:

Hannah Walker made what I believe is her debut over the weekend on the Belgian chippers.

She was particularly impressive calling the sprint of the Elfstedenronde. Rider identification was on point and added the right amount of excitement to it

Was it Hannah who was on the ground in the Giro, like at the finish of stages etc?
I thought she was excellent in the main, still growing into that role - would like to hear her commentary.

Not a big fan of either of the Dani's commentary I must admit.
Ambivalent is probably a better word - doesn't reduce the enjoyment like ck, but doesn't seem to add much.

Yeah she was the one who would be about 40 k ahead of the race giving updates on weather etc

pinno

RichN95. said:

m.r.m. said:

Rob Hatch called Pogacar, Remco and Vingegaard (4 GT's + 6 Monuments) the new young pretenders on the scene .

I will defend him here

There is no clear successor to the GT throne due to Vingegaard beating Pogacar last year.

The succession goes Bobet-Anquetil-Merckx-Hinault-LeMond-Indurain-Armstrong-Contador-Froome. Yes it goes on the Tour. It's the biggest race.

Notice that Thevenet and Fignon are not there. No-one has established that this is their era yet.

JV Rasmussen is 26. Does that count as 'young'?
We do not know the long term effects of these riders hitting the dizzy heights of GT wins at such a young age.
Remco has been decidedly off colour at the Tour de Suisse and it's not really registered much with Hatch.
You see, if you shower them with endless superlatives and then they start to malfunction, it negates the hyperbole somewhat and then you end up looking silly. So mention them little.
However, he can deliver the negative hyperbole as much as the positive sometimes.
'disaster' is oft used.

Pross

m.r.m. said:

Fine, but how can you call riders with their kind of palmares at their age pretenders? I don't see it. Shouldn't the word be contenders?

Means aspirant or claimant so pretty much the same as contender?

kingstongraham

Kirby said that Christian Prudhomme was riding in Occitanie yesterday, so the young pretenders still have some way to go.

m.r.m.

Pross said:

m.r.m. said:

Fine, but how can you call riders with their kind of palmares at their age pretenders? I don't see it. Shouldn't the word be contenders?

Means aspirant or claimant so pretty much the same as contender?

I guess my understanding of it is different. To me pretender has a clear negative connotation and I've only ever heard it used that way. If I were Pogacar for example, I'd find it offensive to be called a pretender.

And honestly, do you guys see no difference in someone calling you a contender for something or a pretender?

TheBigBean

m.r.m. said:

Pross said:

m.r.m. said:

Fine, but how can you call riders with their kind of palmares at their age pretenders? I don't see it. Shouldn't the word be contenders?

Means aspirant or claimant so pretty much the same as contender?

I guess my understanding of it is different. To me pretender has a clear negative connotation and I've only ever heard it used that way. If I were Pogacar for example, I'd find it offensive to be called a pretender.

And honestly, do you guys see no difference in someone calling you a contender for something or a pretender?

pre·tend·er (prĭ-tĕn′dər)
n.
1. One who simulates, pretends, or alleges falsely; a hypocrite or dissembler.
2. One who sets forth a claim, especially a claimant to a throne.

No_Ta_Doctor

To me, The Pretenders were all about Chrissie Hynde, but I guess I'm old.

Lanterne_Rogue

No_Ta_Doctor said:

To me, The Pretenders were all about Chrissie Hynde, but I guess I'm old.

Don't worry - she says she'll stand by you

No_Ta_Doctor

Lanterne_Rogue said:

No_Ta_Doctor said:

To me, The Pretenders were all about Chrissie Hynde, but I guess I'm old.

Don't worry - she says she'll stand by you

Gonna use my, my, my, imagination

Lanterne_Rogue

Going back on topic, Hannah Walker has been done over twice in a row now by a late camera change at the Tour of Slovenia revealing the line is only about ten metres away. Not her fault - just a reminder that some of the problems commentators have aren't always of their own making.

takethehighroad

No_Ta_Doctor said:

To me, The Pretenders were all about Chrissie Hynde, but I guess I'm old.

I always thought it was a song by the Foo Fighters, but maybe that shows my age

takethehighroad

Lanterne_Rogue said:

Going back on topic, Hannah Walker has been done over twice in a row now by a late camera change at the Tour of Slovenia revealing the line is only about ten metres away. Not her fault - just a reminder that some of the problems commentators have aren't always of their own making.

No, they're of Eurosport's making by making them commentate from a box in Bath rather than on site

It's understandable, but I do feel part of it is lost from commentating down the tube

ITV still going to France for the Tour is pretty much the only time the commentators are on site

jdee84

takethehighroad said:

Lanterne_Rogue said:

Going back on topic, Hannah Walker has been done over twice in a row now by a late camera change at the Tour of Slovenia revealing the line is only about ten metres away. Not her fault - just a reminder that some of the problems commentators have aren't always of their own making.

No, they're of Eurosport's making by making them commentate from a box in Bath rather than on site

It's understandable, but I do feel part of it is lost from commentating down the tube

ITV still going to France for the Tour is pretty much the only time the commentators are on site

They had Hannah walker on the road at various points during the giro. She kept saying ashfelt for asphalt over a few days.

Lanterne_Rogue

takethehighroad said:

Lanterne_Rogue said:

Going back on topic, Hannah Walker has been done over twice in a row now by a late camera change at the Tour of Slovenia revealing the line is only about ten metres away. Not her fault - just a reminder that some of the problems commentators have aren't always of their own making.

No, they're of Eurosport's making by making them commentate from a box in Bath rather than on site

It's understandable, but I do feel part of it is lost from commentating down the tube

ITV still going to France for the Tour is pretty much the only time the commentators are on site

I'm not sure I'm going to hold that against Eurosport - it's only a chipper. It did throw into relief how the convention about when to change camera angles helps both commentators and viewers alike though.

orraloon

I just watched a bit, at the start and the finish, of the TdS stage today, and thank F it was Hatch and not Wittermouth on comms. Well done Rob.

m.r.m.

Yes, since I have been critical of him, praise where it's due. Rob Hatch did an excellent job of getting through the day. I didn't really feel like watching too much, but his tone was perfect and he managed to get all the viewers through it in a respectful and somber manner. There is nothing good anyone can say about any of it. Just sucks.

pinno

orraloon said:

I just watched a bit, at the start and the finish, of the TdS stage today, and thank F it was Hatch and not Wittermouth on comms. Well done Rob.

You do not know how Kirby would have handled it so that is not exactly fair.

So, Hatch kept it respectful in the light of what happened but that does not compare with his abilities a race commentator.

sherer

jdee84 said:

takethehighroad said:

Lanterne_Rogue said:

Going back on topic, Hannah Walker has been done over twice in a row now by a late camera change at the Tour of Slovenia revealing the line is only about ten metres away. Not her fault - just a reminder that some of the problems commentators have aren't always of their own making.

No, they're of Eurosport's making by making them commentate from a box in Bath rather than on site

It's understandable, but I do feel part of it is lost from commentating down the tube

ITV still going to France for the Tour is pretty much the only time the commentators are on site

They had Hannah walker on the road at various points during the giro. She kept saying ashfelt for asphalt over a few days.

Think you mean tarmac

redvision

jdee84 said:

takethehighroad said:

Lanterne_Rogue said:

Going back on topic, Hannah Walker has been done over twice in a row now by a late camera change at the Tour of Slovenia revealing the line is only about ten metres away. Not her fault - just a reminder that some of the problems commentators have aren't always of their own making.

No, they're of Eurosport's making by making them commentate from a box in Bath rather than on site

It's understandable, but I do feel part of it is lost from commentating down the tube

ITV still going to France for the Tour is pretty much the only time the commentators are on site

They had Hannah walker on the road at various points during the giro. She kept saying ashfelt for asphalt over a few days.

I find her the worst of all the eurosport commentators. She is clearly knowledgeable and well informed but her delivery is awful. The constant stopping half way through a sentence and then repeating herself etc gets very wearing quickly.

CK gets a bad rep on here but I've never once muted a race he's been commentating on whereas this afternoon I got so annoyed with walker during the nationals that I've turned the commentary off.

pinno

On the subject of HW, on Sunday in the British RR with the 3 up the road and cat and mousing she said "...psychologically and mentally...".

Uh? and repeats a lot of what Jez Cox said.

Lanterne_Rogue

The Nat Champs goes on for ages AND it's a circuit race, so you can't even talk about the latest landmarks. And with just two people to cover something like eight hours of racing, it's never going to make their showreel.

(I'll defend "pscyhological and mental" though - the psychological toll is on your morale, the mental toll is on your ability to think at all. It's not clear that she didn't mean physiological, but if she was thinking purely about the head game it seems valid - tautologies are rife in English phrases)

Pross

Lanterne_Rogue said:

The Nat Champs goes on for ages AND it's a circuit race, so you can't even talk about the latest landmarks. And with just two people to cover something like eight hours of racing, it's never going to make their showreel.

(I'll defend "pscyhological and mental" though - the psychological toll is on your morale, the mental toll is on your ability to think at all. It's not clear that she didn't mean physiological, but if she was thinking purely about the head game it seems valid - tautologies are rife in English phrases)

Not to mention the lack of any kind of information being made available to them on things like time gaps. The coverage was absolutely dire as so often seems the case with UK domestic races and that is no fault of GCN/ES.

redvision

The time on air doesn't make a difference, she makes such comments and repetitions throughout all her commentaries and even when she does her GT 'stage insights' (or whatever they call them).

andyp

Just going to put this here.

https://twitter.com/RealStephens/status/1673441050029957125?s=20

Pross

This team bus thing is a bit gimicky. The analysis is good but the role playing is a bit cringy.

takethehighroad

Had to turn him off today at about 15k to go as he said "roundabouts" about 5 times in 1 sentence