No more Phil and Paul on ITV4

argyllflyer

thegibdog wrote:

I can't imagine Kirby is the top of any pecking order, he's probably just cheap and available. I think Hatch has other priorities - he does a lot of work for 5live (he's covering the Paralympics at the moment).

They're all freelancers amd will keep whatever pots they have boiling. Hatch does all sorts in all sports whereas Kirby perhaps has less of a need for that as, across the year he works 1 day in 3 for ES. Kirby is the ES first choice commentator for cycling - argue it if you want but it's fact. He has done every big race he is available for since Harmon left (Kirby was doing the Italian races for RCS rather than ES, but as of this season he is hoovering up all of the big ES gigs, Giro etc included).

takethehighroad

He didn't do Paris Roubaix, and that was the best coverage I have ever seen Eurosport do (I even emailed them to tell them so)

They were on all day and had Rob Hatch and Declan Quigley commentating, with Sean Kelly as a pundit

argyllflyer

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

He didn't do Paris Roubaix, and that was the best coverage I have ever seen Eurosport do (I even emailed them to tell them so)

They were on all day and had Rob Hatch and Declan Quigley commentating, with Sean Kelly as a pundit

Yep, heard that also and it was good. But CK had done Basque Country for the previous week - as they were on site for P-R it might have been a bit much to get to Roubaix from London in good time for the early start. I guess from a balance sheet POV - 6 days of work is better than one.

Generally ES seem to divvy the monuments among the lot of them - since Harmon left no one person has done them all. This year, Kirby did Flanders (with DQ), Hatch did Roubaix (with DQ as you note) and Liege, Stephens MSR.

There will also be a degree of keeping people sweet - those not getting all the big gigs from ES might look elsewhere without the odd nugget coming their way. Paris-Nice seems to be one Rob H gets, because Kirby used to go to Italy for RCS to do Tirreno. He didn't do Tirreno this year, yet RH kept P-N. Same with MSR, retained by Matt Stephens.

squired

Loved how on the Orica backstage pass video they included the bit where Yates did a mini-attack to get rid of Trofimov. Carlton got excited about Yates attacking to drop Talansky, whereas I hear that David Millar actually called it correctly over on ITV. I have to admit that as time goes on I'm starting to feel more and more that Sean Kelly doesn't actually add much tactical insight, other than saying anyone trying more than 5km out is going to early.

kingstongraham

squired wrote:

Loved how on the Orica backstage pass video they included the bit where Yates did a mini-attack to get rid of Trofimov. Carlton got excited about Yates attacking to drop Talansky, whereas I hear that David Millar actually called it correctly over on ITV. I have to admit that as time goes on I'm starting to feel more and more that Sean Kelly doesn't actually add much tactical insight, other than saying anyone trying more than 5km out is going to early.

I think you'll find that's actually "a number of kilometres".

RichN95.

squired wrote:

Loved how on the Orica backstage pass video they included the bit where Yates did a mini-attack to get rid of Trofimov. Carlton got excited about Yates attacking to drop Talansky, whereas I hear that David Millar actually called it correctly over on ITV. I have to admit that as time goes on I'm starting to feel more and more that Sean Kelly doesn't actually add much tactical insight, other than saying anyone trying more than 5km out is going to early.

To be fair Talansky thought Yates was trying to drop him too.

jimmythecuckoo

So... Sir Hugh on the TofB then?

Hard to be critical of a legend of the sport (who mentioned my wedding on the Rutland CiCLE classic) , but he didn't have a good time last week.

DeVlaeminck

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

So... Sir Hugh on the TofB then?

Hard to be critical of a legend of the sport (who mentioned my wedding on the Rutland CiCLE classic) , but he didn't have a good time last week.

My verdict - he's no worse than Kirby or Boulting.

chrisday

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

So... Sir Hugh on the TofB then?

Hard to be critical of a legend of the sport (who mentioned my wedding on the Rutland CiCLE classic) , but he didn't have a good time last week.

It's tinged with the same kind of sad regret as when P&P started going off the boil - an unmistakable voice from your own cycling fandom - but he really didn't do well, did he?
Brian Smith's presence helped overall, in being able to come in with actual facts, but with having the highlights of VaE and ToB back-to-back, you really notice the difference in quality. It all felt a little amateurish, and waaaay to many shoehornings of gratuitous track references. (_especially_ Team Pursuit). I get that this is what HP is most familiar with (and let's face it, he's forgotten more about track cycling than I'll ever know), and so he'll go for what he knows, but it did end up a bit ridiculous:
"And there goes Piotr Ivemadeupthisname, lighting up the afterburners in the sprint. His mother's brother once looked at a Team Pursuit bike, and you can really tell."

bobmcstuff

Daniel B wrote:

joe2008 wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

Millar and Boulting on ITV's Vuelta coverage is fantastic.

With Imlach in the studio and Freibe doing interviews it is pretty much perfect stage race commentary (Freibe's command of European languages for the interviews is incredible!).

The contrast between listening to that idiot Kirby's inane nonsense on the live Eurosport coverage and the ITV highlights is night and day. Flecha and Ashley House aren't great either.

It's all a matter of taste isn't it. I stick to Eurosport for two reasons - one is the amount of ads on ITV and the other is Boulting. I agree that Carlton should stick to motorsport (only because I don't watch motorsport) but for the love of God what attraction does Ned's commentary have for some of you.

In the same way that if you want to feel attractive and successful shop in Asda, if you want to feel like you could be a cycling commentator listen to Ned Boulting. His style isn't so much man of the people as random man off the street - though you'd be hard pressed to find a man on the average street that would sound so amateurish. He is the one commentator that makes you think perhaps Carlton's Smashey and Nicey approach isn't so bad after all.

Sort of getting used to Boulting.

On the other hand, I would really miss Millar's insight now, he is superb.

Imlach is the best anchor in TV sport hand's down.

2 out of 3 ain't bad, just a shame we hear more from NB than anyone else really.

It's 100% a matter of taste I agree.
I grew up listening to Paul and Phil, and was disappointed when I heard they were off, but I love Millar's commentary, as well as Boultings input, and it feels to me like they have a really good chemistry as a pairing, so I can only see them getting better as a pairing, there have been significant improvements already.

I can't really stand the eurosport chap, sounds like a dj to me.

Imlach is a perfect studio man for Cycling.

Yep IMO Boulting has improved loads, and I like the way him and Millar work together. Agree he was a bit rubbish at first.

It's fathoms better than the standard Eurosport team. To the point I stopped watching the Vuelta live and just held out for the highlights on ITV.

squired

Isn't the format supposed to be one person just commentates on the action (and asks questions) and the other provides the analysis, which is something Americans do well? A big problem with the likes of Kirby is that they start trying to do the analysis as well. So, if Yates attacks Kirby should say he has attacked and then Kelly should tell us why he has done that.

takethehighroad

bobmcstuff wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

joe2008 wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

Millar and Boulting on ITV's Vuelta coverage is fantastic.

With Imlach in the studio and Freibe doing interviews it is pretty much perfect stage race commentary (Freibe's command of European languages for the interviews is incredible!).

The contrast between listening to that idiot Kirby's inane nonsense on the live Eurosport coverage and the ITV highlights is night and day. Flecha and Ashley House aren't great either.

It's all a matter of taste isn't it. I stick to Eurosport for two reasons - one is the amount of ads on ITV and the other is Boulting. I agree that Carlton should stick to motorsport (only because I don't watch motorsport) but for the love of God what attraction does Ned's commentary have for some of you.

In the same way that if you want to feel attractive and successful shop in Asda, if you want to feel like you could be a cycling commentator listen to Ned Boulting. His style isn't so much man of the people as random man off the street - though you'd be hard pressed to find a man on the average street that would sound so amateurish. He is the one commentator that makes you think perhaps Carlton's Smashey and Nicey approach isn't so bad after all.

Sort of getting used to Boulting.

On the other hand, I would really miss Millar's insight now, he is superb.

Imlach is the best anchor in TV sport hand's down.

2 out of 3 ain't bad, just a shame we hear more from NB than anyone else really.

It's 100% a matter of taste I agree.
I grew up listening to Paul and Phil, and was disappointed when I heard they were off, but I love Millar's commentary, as well as Boultings input, and it feels to me like they have a really good chemistry as a pairing, so I can only see them getting better as a pairing, there have been significant improvements already.

I can't really stand the eurosport chap, sounds like a dj to me.

Imlach is a perfect studio man for Cycling.

Yep IMO Boulting has improved loads, and I like the way him and Millar work together. Agree he was a bit rubbish at first.

It's fathoms better than the standard Eurosport team. To the point I stopped watching the Vuelta live and just held out for the highlights on ITV.

This. I watched the Eurosport coverage when I was free to watch live, but I stopped recording it, as the ITV highlights were much better, even if you had to wait for them.

This is the only way Eurosport will take Kirby off though, if the ratings drop when he's on screen.

sherer

Joelsim wrote:

Kirby is fine 90% of the time, but he gets carried away when not much is happening, rather believing/imagining his own legend at times, cracking xenophobic gags.

If he cut down on that aspect and just chatted without trying to be funny or clever then it would be of benefit to all.

As someone who can talk, link, keep a flow he is actually very good. When listening to ToB and other races it's very apparent that Kirby is streets ahead on ability, if only he'd realise that we aren't after his favourites or making fun of Johnny Foreigner.

This annoys me about Kirby and I find him to be quite racist at times. I even sent Eurosport and CK a tweet during the Vuelta as his stupid fake Spanish accent every time he said especial was really annoying. As a professional commentator this is the sort of thing he shouldn't be doing