Inclusion of African Based Team in TdF

Now we have something / quite-a-lot to discuss and celebrate.
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GrumpyGit
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Joined: 31 Dec 2007, 10:31pm
Location: North London

Re: Ausies in the TdF?

Post by GrumpyGit »

[XAP]Bob wrote:
GrumpyGit wrote:I've heard that there are plans to enter an Australian team in the TdF as soon as they can work out how to fit cleats to their flip-flops! :shock:

http://blog.centurycycles.com/2012/04/n ... -flip.html

Image

:roll: :lol:


Splendid, I must get some !!! :D :D
Derek - The enlightened petrolhead ;)
Tacascarow
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Joined: 17 Jan 2012, 8:27am

Re: Inclusion of African Team in TdF

Post by Tacascarow »

mjr wrote:
Tacascarow wrote:It's an expensive sport to televise compared to stadium based sports, in equipment & manpower. & IMHO other than the occasional spills (which the cameras are nearly always late for) rather boring to watch, (other than the scenery).

It's going to get cheaper, as small drones replace the manned helicopter/plane cameras/relays. They're being used for amateur races (recorded online coverage only AFAIK) so I guess the extra power demand of the relay task might still be a problem.

Is it really expensive? Or is it just that the costs of wiring a stadium up for pictures is a pay-one/use-many deal, whereas cycling set-up costs has to be paid each event/series?

Plus you also need to address the matter of doping, which whether true or false is a stigma still firmly attached to the sport & very much to the tour?

I'm not sure that's unique to cycling. I feel there's a growing disquiet that it's not being talked about in coverage of many other sports... I hope that the recent Panorama might encourage more questions, but there's so many ex-pros involved in sports coverage that omerta will probably prevail again.

I agree drones & also onboard cameras will make televising the sport cheaper & more interesting. Although still costly in manpower. Each drone will require a pilot & cameraman & you will need many over a long days riding plus the logistics of moving them on every day.
I don't disagree with you as regards to doping & other elite sport. As long as big money & sport have mixed cheating has ocurred, (although predominately equine in the past). But that stigma is very firmly attached to competitive cycling whether we like it or not.
I think the fans are as guilty as the industry as well, look how many here on this forum wouldn't accept Lance Armstrongs guilt even when the evidence was stacked against him.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: Inclusion of African Based Team in TdF

Post by [XAP]Bob »

Not really, the drones just need to know who to follow.

A small beacon on the handlebars of the riders and bingo...
Something tracks their location and automatically gets a drone on the head of each group and the tail of the peloton.

Maybe a pilot or two for peloton crashes?

Might want a couple of people to ensure that the forests and/or mountains don't get in the way.

The relay power isn't too bad - although it might take a few drones flying relays for a whole stage...
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
Postboxer
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Re: Inclusion of African Based Team in TdF

Post by Postboxer »

Or have battery replacement drones, that will fly up and change the batteries in-flight, that would be great. Snack delivery drones, merchandise delivery drones, I mean for the spectators, not as suggested by amazon to deliver parcels to your door.
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andrew_s
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Re: Inclusion of African Based Team in TdF

Post by andrew_s »

Valbrona wrote:We might even see some of this years Tour de France on terrestrial TV on account of the inclusion of MTN-Qhubeka.

Have you not discovered ITV4 yet?
They have had the Tour on for a few years, initially just highlights, but also live coverage of (part) stages recently.
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