I have been trying to follow the Tour de France (as I try to every year) but I am positively appalled by the coverage on television. I no longer have cable, so I can’t see the ESPN coverage (which was always skimpy at best anyway). All I am left with is the pathetic local news channels for highlights. I read the internet coverage yesterday so I know that Lance Armstrong killed 'em in the mountains, building a four minute lead over his rivals and firmly establishing himsefl as the man to beat again this year. So all I wanted to see was some highlights…nothing much, mind you, Lord knows I certainly don’t expect much. But it would be nice if during the single most important event in all of Cycling, the news stations could at least pretend the race is going on. Sheesh.
Anyway, go Lance! I know at least a few Americans out there are following you. Are any of you Dopers?
Have you seen the play-by-play where he dropped from 10 1/2 minutes out to less than a minute behind the leader, in just over a half-hour?!?!! Even reading it online was exciting!
I’m MTB, not roadie, but Lance is too awesome to ignore. (Besides, he kicks butt on MTB too, for a roadie. ;~)
I’ve no cable, so I’ve only seen a few minutes here & there on network TV. You’d think they could at least cover an incredible half-hour sprint.
I fully agree. I’ve always tried to follow the TDF, but am unusually busy this year anyway. The lack of coverage is definitely appalling.
I read some stuff where some of the other riders were just in awe of the move he made yesterday, moving from 6 minutes back of the lead to over 4 minutes in front of the pack. And he increased his lead some today. He excels in the mountains, and unless somebody makes a move soon, it looks like he’s got a great shot at repeating.
You know what the worst part is? Not only does ESPN provide crappy coverage, but I suspect they made a deal so that they’re the only ones allowed to provide TV coverage in the States. I say that because the Outdoor Life Network had kickass coverage of the Giro d’Italia last month, and they have NOTHING about the Tour de France. IIRC, OLN had something like 2 hours in the morning and 2 in the evenings dedicated to the Giro d’Italia. ESPN has what… about an hour a day? And bad commentary as well. Yuk!
Yep, first thing I do in the morning (PDT) is go to the VeloNews tour site, scroll immediately to the bottom of the page, and work my way up. Just reading Stage 10 had me gaping in awe. I guess I’ll have to wait for the video to come out.
Am I misremembering, will OLN be doing the Tour next year, or do I have that confused with the Giro coverage?
Yes, the coverage sure does suck ass. I was in Antwerp during the tour last summer and I turned on the hotel TV my first day there and there was live coverage on 4, count them, FOUR channels, in various languages. The only thing I can find on 4 channels in my town is religious programming.
Results of the latest stage. Lance basically held his entire lead through this stage, though he came in second for the stage.
Just to keep this mundane and pointless… umm… ever wonder why none of the Tour de France bikers ever put playing cards in their spokes? I mean, at least it’d liven things up a bit when they make those suck-the-air-outta-your-lungs climbs, right?
Great idea, 'Hoops. It might make things even more interesting if they had to utilize the suggetions in the Pee-Wee’s Bicycle thread. Sure, it might slow down the action, but it just might finally get American news organizations to pay attention.
