Pro Cycling needs an overhaul says Sir Dave !

RichN95.

ugo.santalucia wrote:

ddraver wrote:

Ugo - if you let go of the short stages thing, which seems to be occupying your mind, what do you think of the rest of the ideas?

If Bjarne had said them, would you think differently?

The radio thing? I am for abolishing them altogether... have radios on TV made Formula 1 more exciting? I don't think so... formula 1 was exciting when Ayrton Senna was on the grid... then Schmacher came and it became boring... modern robot like pilots and managed cars are not very exciting, maybe with the exclusion of Monaco. In one season of Formula one you probably see 3-4 overtakes worth bothering... in the days it was 3-4 of them per race

Yet despite these boring races it is extremely successful. And a lot of that is down to how it is packaged and broadcast. And they do that by involving the viewer in everything. It's the deluxe gold standard of TV sports broadcasting. Meanwhile cycling is TV sport's equivalent of Poundland.

ugo.santalucia

RichN95 wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

ddraver wrote:

Ugo - if you let go of the short stages thing, which seems to be occupying your mind, what do you think of the rest of the ideas?

If Bjarne had said them, would you think differently?

The radio thing? I am for abolishing them altogether... have radios on TV made Formula 1 more exciting? I don't think so... formula 1 was exciting when Ayrton Senna was on the grid... then Schmacher came and it became boring... modern robot like pilots and managed cars are not very exciting, maybe with the exclusion of Monaco. In one season of Formula one you probably see 3-4 overtakes worth bothering... in the days it was 3-4 of them per race

Yet despite these boring races it is extremely successful. And a lot of that is down to how it is packaged and broadcast. And they do that by involving the viewer in everything. It's the deluxe gold standard of TV sports broadcasting. Meanwhile cycling is TV sport's equivalent of Poundland.

The problems I have with current broadcasting are

1) The weight of advertising on ITV is excessive, off-putting

2) There isn't synchrony between what the cameras show and what the commentators talk about in most cases... that needs addressing

3) Riders should have a name on the back of the jersey, as since they introduced helmets, they all look the same

4) broadcasting in bad weather is still stuck in stone age...

bobmcstuff

My 2p:

As a relatively new cycling viewer, I actually like the long stages... But then I don't mind test cricket either... I don't think having all short stages is a good idea. Really hard, long, mountainous stages are what makes grand tours appealing in the first place.

GPS and better graphics would be really useful - like it or not a lot of people watch pro cycling in the background or tune in towards the end of the race and being able to get a good quick overview of the current state of play is really important. I'd like an app which gives you those graphics because it would make it much easier to keep up on the move than trying to piece together the race picture from live text updates. This should, technologically speaking, be really easy to do.

On-bike cameras trasnmitting live footage would be really great. Or if they couldn't do it live for technical reasons including it in the highlights e.g., for sprint finishes and attacks would be really interesting (a few people I know just watch the highlights - often the only way to keep up with a grand tour if you don't have the luxury of being able to watch Eurosport on your phone at your desk!)

As Ugo says the amount of advertising is too much on ITV and on Eurosport.

bobmcstuff

ugo.santalucia wrote:

3) Riders should have a name on the back of the jersey, as since they introduced helmets, they all look the same

That's a good idea.

DubaiNeil

While not being a Sky fanboi, one of their innovations I did like was the riders name down the side of the jersey, which has sadly demised in favour of advertising space. This was (to me) much more preferable than the idea of a permanent race number raised elsewhere.

On the topic of race radio, I would prefer them to be banned, but as the riders (& DSs) played the HSE card last time this was suggested, I understand that this may not be possible. If radios won't be banned, then allowing access to the communication for broadcast would be better than nothing. It would give of the riders a broadcast opportunity to display some personality, which (very occasionally) happens in F1.

GPS transponders per bike should have been implemented years ago.

bluemoon17

What did people make of the Tour of California and the way that was presented?

DeVlaeminck

Bluemoon17 wrote:

What did people make of the Tour of California and the way that was presented?

In what way ? There were some annoying stats scrolling across the bottom of the screen which I didn't think added anything at all. Can't remember much else that stood out.

dish_dash

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Bluemoon17 wrote:

What did people make of the Tour of California and the way that was presented?

In what way ? There were some annoying stats scrolling across the bottom of the screen which I didn't think added anything at all. Can't remember much else that stood out.

Ditto. Plus distances were in miles which was annoying...

sherer

DubaiNeil wrote:

While not being a Sky fanboi, one of their innovations I did like was the riders name down the side of the jersey, which has sadly demised in favour of advertising space. This was (to me) much more preferable than the idea of a permanent race number raised elsewhere.

This was a good concept but was used on one of the best places to put a sponsor logo so I wouldn't force that idea on other teams.

Needs to be placed somewhere visible that doesn't cost the teams money

bluemoon17

dish_dash wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Bluemoon17 wrote:

What did people make of the Tour of California and the way that was presented?

In what way ? There were some annoying stats scrolling across the bottom of the screen which I didn't think added anything at all. Can't remember much else that stood out.

Ditto. Plus distances were in miles which was annoying...

The Tour Tracker app? Seem to remember a few graphics which identified riders in the bunch as well. Always strikes me as quite a slick production, certainly compared to other similar races.

supermurph09

I think overhaul is wrong, if an overhaul takes place it would surely lose plenty of things that make it great. New innovations can be brought in, but would cameras on bike really work? Yes the after race footage has been good but live footage would probably be too problematic given the amount of signal break up we normally encounter.

One thing Sky TV do well imo, is commit to what they are showing and develop the viewing experience, OK not everything works but whether that be boxing, F1 or Golf etc, the presentation is pretty slick. Eurosport, while I like many of the commentators is an abomination in terms of the event they cover. I know much of that is down to "host broadcasters" pictures but I'd like to see the races introduced, explained, strategy discussion, in race analysis (how fast someone did a climb, how did that compare to others in previous years, maybe even live rider feedback (heart rate, power etc) and things of that nature.

If we are talking about live coverage, 4 hours or whatever, there is enough time to bring things in that don't detract from the viewing but enhance it.

ugo.santalucia

Supermurph09 wrote:

maybe even live rider feedback (heart rate, power etc) and things of that nature.
.

Believe it or not, I have seen this during the German coverage of the TfD 2005... at the time Basso, Armstrong and Vinokourov were the stars
there was a display at the bottom with heart rate and power output, not sure which rider they were following though

The_Boy

Supermurph09 wrote:

, in race analysis (how fast someone did a climb, how did that compare to others in previous years,

Are you trying to encourage The Other Place?