Phil is horrible.
Cavendish isn’t so much an ass as he just has no filter between his brain and his mouth. He’s usually generous with praise for both teammates and opponents. But he gets frustrated and emotional when he catches bad breaks, and is always sure to let you know it. I used to think him an ass, but I’ve come to see him as a pretty decent guy with virtually no tact. Makes me laugh.
The only mistakes I’ve heard Phill Liggett make are when he can’t see the number on the cyclist, as they aren’t on their chests it does make it challenging. All cyclists in a Movistar uniform and orange sunglasses all look alike.
That’s not quite the impression I got. One of the earlier stages had a sprint finish, and Cavendish did not win. The NBCSN reporter said he went into the team bus and she could hear shouting and things being thrown around. It seems to me like he was tactful enough to have his tantrum in private.
On stage 3 (I think) there were two riders very close at the finish, but on different sides of the road. I don’t think Liggett saw the guy on the right. He called the winner as the crossed they line, but you could tell from the camera shot (from a helicopter) that it was at least close. And as it turned out, he was wrong.
Liggett is way, way past his sell-by-date. I like the timbre of his voice but other than that he’s just an error-prone cliche-machine nowadays. One of those commentators who used to be good, then became charmingly gaffe-prone, and is now intolerable. Don’t rate Paul Sherwen either, although I appreciate he’s got a tough job to do correcting Phil’s mistakes all afternoon. He dishes out the cliche’s himself left right and centre - Rider X, with his mountain-biking background, will be relishing this descent - a chance to put his superior bike-handling skills to the test. being a particularly persistent one.
The guy’s we have presenting the show on UK TV are brilliant IMO - Gary Imlach and Chris Boardman, if they could do the actual race commentary that would be a major upgrade. How one crowbars Liggett and Sherwen out of the commentary booth I have no idea. Maybe no one knows.
Should be a good stage today - Alberto looks in good nick and will be looking to make a race of it.
Oh noes. Shoot the guy.
I’m not a fan of Liggett but if this is the best you can do…
David Harmon on Eurosport is an excellent and entertaining commentator, if you have that option. He always has good stories of meeting the riders the night before etc… and the capers he and the gang get up to. They only seem to do the full stage coverage though, rather than a highlights show, so you need a lot of time on your hands to watch it all.
Today should be a corker - twice up Alpe D’huez! Who’s betting le autobus gets lapped by a breakaway? 
(probably not, but would be interesting)
I think Froome was saying a little of both - Contador was ‘going to fast for his own good’, and it was also rather dangerous; if he goes down by himself, fine, but crashing could cause the people behind him to crash as well. Froome seemed to back off a bit the next day, so I take his comments somewhat as coming from ‘the heat of battle’ right after the stage.
Cavendish does heap praise on his team when he wins. A bit of a prima donna, true, but not a bad bloke. I enjoy watching him ride (must be confessed, he won so often in recent years it’s nice to see others giving him a real battle).
I used to be a Liggett fan - very knowledgable and a great set of pipes - but sadly I can no longer stand to watch him anymore. He’s almost a parody of himself. Only time I hear him now is to hear him call the winner of the race on the ITV podcast. Reminds me of John Madden in his later years.
I usually end up watching the Eurosport coverage, mainly because David Harmon is excellent. Actually I should say ‘only because’ of Harmon, because *hate *Sean Kelly as a commentator. A frustratingly low, hard-to-hear, dull, monotone voice, and despite his pedigree he rarely offers anything particularly insightful or interesting.
Today’s stage is going to be fantastic
He misidentified the winner of a stage when even a newbie watching back in the states could see it was someone else. What would you consider to be a significant error?
Possibly not, since it could depend on where he was sitting/standing; he may or may not have had the same view you were getting on your TV.
He’s a shadow of his former self, but the above ain’t a knock against him.
Phil is just often incorrect about what is going on in the race. A glaring example was one of last year’s alpine stages. Nibali was trying to attack and cut into Wiggo’s lead, and so Cannondale sent Sagan up the road about midway through the stage. Later when Nibali attacked, he bridged up to Sagan who proceeded to blow himself up pulling both of them to help Nibali. This is bog-standard team racing, and yet Liggett was going on about how Sagan was trying to win the stage when there were major climbs yet to come. Well no he bloody well isn’t. Sagan is an amazing all-rounder, but he’s not going to win a mountain stage on a solo break and the team strategy was just blatantly obvious the whole time. Only after Sagan dropped did Liggett say something like, “You know I think Sagan might have been working for Nibali.”
I can’t stand by and listen to a bunch of meanies badmouthing poor Phil. To me, he is the voice of the tour. His voice in the background sooths me in a strange way. Yes, I’ve noticed a lot of mistakes this year (like calling Sagan for the win when it was obvious he was second.) I assumed that I was learning to understand the sport better and so minor mistakes stood out more, or maybe the new technologies are more than Phil can handle.
Anyway, I’ll take the mistakes over anyone else I’ve heard. I can only take so much Paul “on a day like today” Sherwin before I’m screaming at the TV.
The American commentators I’ve heard over the years are all terrible. I’ve wondered if they are selected to be bad. Bob Roll is fun, no question there, but who wants to listen to him for 4 hours a day?
According to race organizers (velonews.com article) it was kosher - they changed the limit during the race.
This tour is so interesting, we are using this thread to debate the merits of the commentators.
Heroic ride from Riblon yesterday, pour La France!
Froome’s sly gel was pretty cynical I thought, like making a professional foul in football. Especially in light of his dissembling comments afterward. Does anyone know the precedent for penalising this sort of thing - is 20 secs standard or do the commisaires have total lattitude to do what they want?
Nice description from The Guardian on Froome sending Porte back to take the food - ‘a cunning plan Baldrickian in its transparency’
Well, to be fair, IIRC, you’re not allowed to get food from the car ‘on climbs, descents, or the last 20km’ - do I have that right? I mean, that practically wipes out the entire last 50k, and if the car did indeed have a mechanical issue at the start of the climb…
I wonder as well if 20 seconds is ‘standard’ or was that given in light of surrounding circumstances.
Glad to see a French rider get a day of glory. A great ride, although I was hoping TJ would hold on for the stage win.
Contador is a shadow of his former self. So is Andy.
I’m already looking forward to next year - Wiggins, Froome, and Quintana fighting it out?
The crowds on the road were very annoying, a big bunch of screaming rednecks. It seemed to me that them only allowing a narrow channel, the cyclists couldn’t easily attempt overtaking during those parts.
Has Schleck made any sort of public statement about doping? Because it’s just blatant in his performance decline - I guess he deserves some credit for getting off the gear if nothing else.
Can’t really see Wiggins coming back and contesting a GT. Seems like he would have a long and hard road back - Went to pieces, mentally, in the Giro this year, and Sutton (the coach) indicated that he needed a complete re-think for his motivation after such a massive year (2012). Add in his age (v family-orientated guy as well), and Froome being clearly the top man at Sky now - I’d reckon we might have seen the last of Wiggins as a serious GC rider.
Hurrah, Nairo Quintana!
Best poker face in the peloton. I’m looking forward to seeing him compete in future Tours.