ITV TdeF coverage; any good?

[Brucey]

For the most part I give it a big thumbs up, what say you folks?

BTW I particularly enjoyed the montage of aerial shots they showed at the end of the highlights show yesterday; it reminded me of why it is that I like going places on my bike.

The song they played over that montage was 'my silver lining' by a group called 'first aid kit'. You can see the lyrics here;

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/firstaidkit/mysilverlining.html

cheers

[Mark1978]

I think the highlights can stand some improvement since the commentary is disjointed as it's taken directly from the live coverage. The commentary you do for a full live stage isn't the same as you do for highlights.

I am liking this year that the rest day coverage is interesting. Previous years it's just been highlights of previous stages.

I do this Chris Boardman and Ned Boulting make a good pair presenting and giving some insight.

(currrently watching the ITV4 live coverage)

[mjr]

I looked that song up as well. It's a right earworm.

Overall the coverage is OK. Phil and Paul are rather "same procedure as every year" (search if you don't know that phrase) and many feel they discredited themselves being a bit too pro-Lance, but they do an often-difficult job fairly well, balancing live and highlights-as-live commentary for multiple networks who probably take adverts at different times (itv, NBC and SBS at least I think) which I think is part of the reason they repeat themselves and/or each other. If you want to discover how difficult this balancing act can be, look for Vuelta coverage I think in 2011 where poor Matt Keenan was trying to do the English-language singlehanded and was repeatedly completely tripped up by the pictures director, probably unintentionally. I agree with Mark1978 that the as-live commentary on the highlights can be disjointed, but I prefer it to the just-for-the-highlights commentary that itv uses on some other races - most recently, Hugh Porter on the Women's Tour I think: sometimes it gives the twist away before it appears in-picture, other times it papers over jumps/cuts in the pictures.

And yes, the adverts are the biggest drawback: there too many little breaks and often something interesting happens during them. Balancing the race with the regulations on advertising isn't easy and something itv have harder than Eurosport or France 2/3, I think.

But counterbalancing that, Gary Imlach's pieces to camera are often works of art and the Chris Boardman Neducational films are fast heading that way, while Chris is also a pretty sound pundit with some great humour, Ned is also a decent reporter (and asks more questions recently) and Matt Rendell is amazingly knowledgeable and versatile. The occasional extra people like Jill Douglas and David Millar are usually pretty good, more successful than the more hit-and-miss of itv Vuelta guests. And itv often stays around for the presentation ceremonies, which Eurosport rarely does, sometimes even cutting short so they can start early on recorded coverage of something rather dull.

So that's got too long. In short, if I'm watching live, I watch itv and flip to Eurosport or France 2/3 during badly-timed ad breaks. If I'm watching highlights, itv's better packaging and consistent timing always beats Eurosport's randomly-rescheduled replay of usually just the last hour. itv's podcast is also the best available. The main thing not to like is the confusing itv website.

[Mark1978]

For years I've been looking for the music ITV use for the advert breaks. If only because it annoys my wife!

[Vorpal]

I have always liked Chris Boardman's commentary and analysis. I have to admit that I miss ITV4 coverage. I only get Eurosport, now. While there are more choices, the main choice for English is Greg LeMond https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/cyc ... --spt.html

His analysis and commentary is mostly adequate, and his delivery is pretty good, but he has nowhere near the capability to respond to and comment intelligently on situations, as they develop, that Phil Liggett or Chris Boardman have.

[mark a.]

I've never seen the Eurosport equivalent so I've only got the ITV4 coverage (non-HD, too, sadly). I've been happy with it so far. Gary is a comic genius, and the Chris / Ned double-act is often hilarious too. I'd watch it just for those.

The "24 years of age" and "month of May" mannerisms really get on my nerves now. Otherwise the commentary is decent enough and many of the flaws are down to having to keep talking for hours and hours and hours where making mistakes, misjudging a move or looking at the wrong screen at the wrong time are inevitable.

I've recorded yesterday's off-day highlights. The previous one was good (what with the conclusion of the David Millar interview and all that) so I'm looking forward to watching it later.

Overall: thumbs up.

[Si]

I don't really get on with Liggett's commentary. Don't know why because he doesn't get it wrong any more than David Duffield used to and I love Duffers, but Liggett doesn't have the same charm. However, he's certainly better than nothing.

Sherwin doesn't do a bad job IMHO, and at least you can hear what he says unlike Roche and his mellow Irish accent. Preferred Kelly though.

As has been said, Ned and Boardman are very good.

The live pics are the same I believe on both ITV4 and ES so not much to choose....although ITV4 doesn't have the strange foreign adverts.

Haven't seen the highlights.

But the UCI have spoiled TV coverage by making them wear helmets - much harder to see who is who now, and the riders have lost some personality.


...all in my humble opinion of course.

[goatwarden]

Overall it is very good, although it has no competition in our house as we don't pay for anything not covered by the TV tax fee.

I likeGary Imlach, Ned Boulting, Matt Rendel and Chris Boardman and what they have to say is interesting.

Phil and Paul are simply a pair of mutually reinforcing buffoons. They seem to think the most important thing is to keep noise coming out, so don’t have any time to think. It is deeply annoying to know what they are saying is wrong just from looking at what is being shown when they must have additional views available so should be able to see more, not less, than I can in front of my telly.

When ITV4 covered the Vuelta at very short notice, when Brad didn’t win, they clearly couldn’t get the Buffoon pair and had a single Australian doing the commentary. He was intelligent and insightful but most notably wasn’t afraid to say nothing when there was nothing to say.

[mjr]

The live pics are the same I believe on both ITV4 and ES so not much to choose....although ITV4 doesn't have the strange foreign adverts.

Strange doesn't quite do them justice. In recent years, we've enjoyed: Bike shoe stir fry! Aerodynamic Rui Costa! Focus - Bikes Made In Germany (but advertised in English, even on Eurosport Germany). That Garmin rider failing to advertise sunglasses by riding straight off his drive and almost straight under a car!

But the UCI have spoiled TV coverage by making them wear helmets - much harder to see who is who now, and the riders have lost some personality.

At the risk of getting sent to the subforum, has anyone else noticed this year's increase on riders (mis-)wearing helmets at jaunty angles or with the straps dangling so loose that they're not going to stay put in a crash? And what's happened with head injuries in the classics and grand tours and similar before and after each helmet rule change?

[Mark1978]

Duffers on Eurosport was always worth a listen. No idea of what was happening in the race but you knew exactly the food selections from the night before.

[Si]

The was a chap on BikeMagic many years ago who used to maintain a list of Duffieldisms. We worked out what most of them meant, although "He's going up and down like a ragman's trumpet" took some research!

[thirdcrank]

... ITV4 doesn't have the strange foreign adverts. ...

They do have plenty of lengthy ad breaks whose timing seems to be decided elsewhere. Some of this is predictable, such as during mountain descents, but this year, after the coming climb of Cragg Vale had been ikn the local news for months and the "world record" length of bunting had been draped there, there was an ad break during the climb, although coverage did resume to show the crowds at the top. And while I'm on, Paul Sherwen got several places on the route completely wrong. eg IIRC he was in Heptonstall when the footage showed Oxenhope.

[Spinners]

For those of us who work and need to catch up I think it's perfect and on at an ideal time too. There's noubt wrong with Eurosport either and when I watch on a weekend I'll merrily flick between the two when prompted by an ad break although it's surprising how often the ad breaks are in synch!

[mjr]

Oh well, try France 2/3. Their ad breaks are monumentally long but infrequent.

[thirdcrank]

The was a chap on BikeMagic many years ago who used to maintain a list of Duffieldisms. We worked out what most of them meant, although "He's going up and down like a ragman's trumpet" took some research!

It wasn't just his turn of phrase but the way he sometimes revealed an apparent boredom with the racing. Referring to spectators picnicking at the roadside during an individual time trial stage he once remarked along the lines "Look at these poor people here - they'll be stuck here all day." Er, quite.

I once emailed him to point out that passing under the flame rouge, with Eric Decker about to win a stage after a long lone breakaway, with the bunch closing in fast and David Millar somewhere in the gap, the audience at home wasn't very interested in a discussion about the possibility of the TdeF returning to the UK. If Russell Williams hadn't intervened, he'd have missed the finish completely. A couple of days later, he stopped a similar mistimed waffle himself with a comment that people didn't like that sort of thing near the end of the race. Well, it is supposed to be one of the more interesting bits, Dave.