Tour De France

[Cobra9777]

DW watches every minute of every stage. Then she follows a couple podcasts for more in-depth discussion. I usually watch 15-20 minutes of each stage, plus the ending. Mostly, I enjoy the scenery and the aerial photography, which is beautiful.

 

[cooch96]

Phil is having trouble remembering names and identifying riders, but his enthusiasm for the sport and the riders is so genuine. I think some of the issue is probably due to age and some may be due to broadcasting remotely. I believe he's in England again this year while Bob Roll and the others are in Connecticut, and I think it's probably just easier when they can sit next to each other in their little portable studio in France. Hopefully next year they'll be back on site. (I've also noticed the last couple of years that baseball broadcasts are much better when the announcers are at the event rather than remote.)

I also liked Paul Sherwen, but I think Bob Roll does a pretty good job with the commentary. If you ever have a chance to hear him give a speech, he's fun to listen to and is quite engaging in person. I also find Adam Blythe, the British guy who joined them on the moto last year, quite funny and think he's been a good addition to the team.

+1 to everything you said. But I miss Jens Voigt and the younger Bob Roll when he was less professional and more colorful. I wonder if Bob cleaned up his act because he's just more mature or if it's because of going from OLN to the bigger network.

 

[cooch96]

A small, guilty part of me misses the old days of rampant doping, EPO, and other performance enhancers. Watching Lance or Jan Ullrich sprint up French mountains and still having enough breath to chat on their radios was unreal and ever amazed me.

Carapaz and those two Slovenians are still very impressive, but a fully-juiced Armstrong would thrash today's elite.

I also don't mind the crashes. I like collision and combat sports like hockey and boxing, and the big crashes bring the same excitement for me. It's a bummer when fan favorites like Sagan crash out and it's tragic what happened to Froome a couple years, but the danger is part of the draw. Also, a crashed rider who dusts himself off and finishes the stage in tattered and bloody glory makes a great story.

 

[GravitySucks]

Loved Phil in his prime. You can tell he's a bit off his game but still like that voice.
Bob Roll is no Paul Sherwin but has a great sense of humor though I agree he was funnier a few years back.

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[tulak]

Another great stage. Pogacar won and now has the polka dot jersey (KOM). Odds are good he’ll have three more jerseys to add to his collection on Sunday.

As for commentary, I’ve heard that EuroSport coverage is much better. Harder for us to get in the US, but maybe possible with a VPN.

As for me, I don’t mind the commentary and the highlights on the NBC app work well enough. And as someone else mentioned, part of the fun of watching the tour are the views. Can’t wait to visit France again!

 

[triangle]

I have watched very little in recent years, after giving up cable TV subscription. But I do enjoy the race, the spectators, mountain scenery, motorbikes, etc. Watching the final few km and sprint when finishing in town and the daily podium awards.

I did see part of a stage last week. Took notice the dual front wheel motorcycle and discovered that it was "Yamaha Niken". The added traction should provide a big benefit with chasing down the mountain. I was always fearful that one of the motorbikes was going to crash when trying to chase on a descent, either because of a loss of traction or spectator interference.

 

[GravitySucks]

It may be a weaker field this year but Pogacar's win yesterday was still one to remember. Back to back wins in the high peaks is quite the feat.
Cavendish made it through the mountains and now has a good chance to break Eddy's record.

 

[donheff]

It may be a weaker field this year but Pogacar's win yesterday was still one to remember. Back to back wins in the high peaks is quite the feat.
Cavendish made it through the mountains and now has a good chance to break Eddy's record.

Sepp Kuss, the American who won a stage earlier, pulled his leader to within a couple of seconds of the win yesterday. If Seth's team had been pulling him, he might have had the legs to win a second stage.

 

[DireWolf]

I find Pogacar’s performance this tour and especially in the final time trial last year a little too good to be true. I used to give riders more benefit of the doubt when they pulled off something so amazing, but time always proved they were doping. Armstrong, Landis, Contador, etc.

I watch about every race I can, men and women’s. Just totally addicted to the sport right now. The GCN app was great for much of the year (for instance, they had Cavendish’s breakthrough wins in Turkey). I’m thrilled to see Kuss finally giving us an American we can root for.

This Tour has been a bit boring to me because of how Pogacar has dominated from so early. Looking forward to seeing MvdP in the Olympics. Such an exciting rider to watch.

 

[audreyh1]

I really enjoyed watching this stage video up the mountains. Great scenery, great aerial views. Those French villages look so delightfully quaint.

 

[GravitySucks]

Well that was a nice 3 weeks.
Onto the Vuelta!

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[aaronc879]

Well that was a nice 3 weeks.
Onto the Vuelta!

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Do you think Pogacar is beatable?

 

[cathy63]

Well that was a nice 3 weeks.
Onto the Vuelta!

Olympics first! Looks like the Mens and Womens events will start during prime time (PDT) on 7/23, 7/24 and 7/27, but we'll be watching the finishes on the TiVo the next morning since no bike race is enthralling enough to keep me awake until 2:00 AM.

Here's the schedule: https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/oly...cycling-road/olympic-schedule-and-results.htm Tokyo is 16 hrs ahead of PDT, 13 hrs ahead of EDT.