Apparently Liggett and Sherwen never worked for ITV but for a third party who would sell-on the commentary package. In that sense, it's just a case of them bringing the commentary in-house. Apparently L&S were still there as usual and although we never heard them viewers in Australia and America did.
Yeah I heard that they were working for NBC (I think on one of the earlier pages of this thread)
As I said at the time, hopefully it was just ITV cost cutting for the year because of the Euros
I got really pissed off with Sherwen toward the end (IMHO, Liggett has been a liability for the past ten years, misses loads of stuff, fucks up on things like rider names and teams far too often). The last couple of years, Sherwen has got duller and duller. Millar could do with shutting up a little bit more, but his genuine insights into what's going on in the peloton are great - and I find Boulting just an absolute delight to listen to. Such a shame about Chris Boardman's mum - him and Boulting together are brilliant.
If anybody wants to hear REALLY bad commentary, give Eurosport a try when Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly are on. Kelly is the most miserable bastard on Earth, and listening to Kirby talk about cycling is the aural equivalent of a Rohrshach test. Why they persist with that clown when Rob Hatch is available I'll never know.
I got really pissed off with Sherwen toward the end (IMHO, Liggett has been a liability for the past ten years, misses loads of stuff, fucks up on things like rider names and teams far too often). The last couple of years, Sherwen has got duller and duller. Millar could do with shutting up a little bit more, but his genuine insights into what's going on in the peloton are great - and I find Boulting just an absolute delight to listen to. Such a shame about Chris Boardman's mum - him and Boulting together are brilliant.
If anybody wants to hear REALLY bad commentary, give Eurosport a try when Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly are on. Kelly is the most miserable bastard on Earth, and listening to Kirby talk about cycling is the aural equivalent of a Rohrshach test. Why they persist with that clown when Rob Hatch is available I'll never know.
Really like Boulting and find Millar interesting too, especially as I'm someone who is new to watching the sport.
Was round my folks for my dad's birthday on Saturday and had to endure that Eurosport commentary. Made my teeth itch.
With regards to Millar, he mentioned last week that he was done for drugs. Didn't seem to make any excuses for himself other than saying it was a time when everyone was at it. Was wondering how he was/is perceived in the wider cycling community?
He's widely regarded pretty highly after coming clean, publishing a book about it and very publicly talking about drug abuse in the peloton.
Some people don't like his proselytising, but personally, I enjoy the insight, and appreciate that he has been on the 'bad side' and can talk candidly about the pressures.
I got really pissed off with Sherwen toward the end (IMHO, Liggett has been a liability for the past ten years, misses loads of stuff, fucks up on things like rider names and teams far too often). The last couple of years, Sherwen has got duller and duller. Millar could do with shutting up a little bit more, but his genuine insights into what's going on in the peloton are great - and I find Boulting just an absolute delight to listen to. Such a shame about Chris Boardman's mum - him and Boulting together are brilliant.
If anybody wants to hear REALLY bad commentary, give Eurosport a try when Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly are on. Kelly is the most miserable bastard on Earth, and listening to Kirby talk about cycling is the aural equivalent of a Rohrshach test. Why they persist with that clown when Rob Hatch is available I'll never know.
Can't argue with any of that. I guess what I miss is actually nothing to do with cycling, I used to like the little historical/geographical interludes. I felt like I was on a sightseeing tour at times.
I got really pissed off with Sherwen toward the end (IMHO, Liggett has been a liability for the past ten years, misses loads of stuff, fucks up on things like rider names and teams far too often). The last couple of years, Sherwen has got duller and duller. Millar could do with shutting up a little bit more, but his genuine insights into what's going on in the peloton are great - and I find Boulting just an absolute delight to listen to. Such a shame about Chris Boardman's mum - him and Boulting together are brilliant.
If anybody wants to hear REALLY bad commentary, give Eurosport a try when Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly are on. Kelly is the most miserable bastard on Earth, and listening to Kirby talk about cycling is the aural equivalent of a Rohrshach test. Why they persist with that clown when Rob Hatch is available I'll never know.
Can't argue with any of that. I guess what I miss is actually nothing to do with cycling, I used to like the little historical/geographical interludes. I felt like I was on a sightseeing tour at times.
Its the thing though, the Tour de France isnt just a bike race it is a three week sightseeing trip through the country.
I got really pissed off with Sherwen toward the end (IMHO, Liggett has been a liability for the past ten years, misses loads of stuff, fucks up on things like rider names and teams far too often). The last couple of years, Sherwen has got duller and duller. Millar could do with shutting up a little bit more, but his genuine insights into what's going on in the peloton are great - and I find Boulting just an absolute delight to listen to. Such a shame about Chris Boardman's mum - him and Boulting together are brilliant.
If anybody wants to hear REALLY bad commentary, give Eurosport a try when Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly are on. Kelly is the most miserable bastard on Earth, and listening to Kirby talk about cycling is the aural equivalent of a Rohrshach test. Why they persist with that clown when Rob Hatch is available I'll never know.
Can't argue with any of that. I guess what I miss is actually nothing to do with cycling, I used to like the little historical/geographical interludes. I felt like I was on a sightseeing tour at times.
Its the thing though, the Tour de France isnt just a bike race it is a three week sightseeing trip through the country.
As with all 3 tours, the opportunity is not missed to promote tourism.
I got really pissed off with Sherwen toward the end (IMHO, Liggett has been a liability for the past ten years, misses loads of stuff, fucks up on things like rider names and teams far too often). The last couple of years, Sherwen has got duller and duller. Millar could do with shutting up a little bit more, but his genuine insights into what's going on in the peloton are great - and I find Boulting just an absolute delight to listen to. Such a shame about Chris Boardman's mum - him and Boulting together are brilliant.
If anybody wants to hear REALLY bad commentary, give Eurosport a try when Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly are on. Kelly is the most miserable bastard on Earth, and listening to Kirby talk about cycling is the aural equivalent of a Rohrshach test. Why they persist with that clown when Rob Hatch is available I'll never know.
Cannot disagree about Boulting, he's moulded into the TDF slot so naturally. I never used to like Boardman as a racer always found him a bit sharp, but over the years he too, is quite a natural commentator and like Millar, has an immense wealth of information.
Millar's book is worth a read if you get the chance. Racing Through The Dark - The Rise and Fall of David Millar
I got really pissed off with Sherwen toward the end (IMHO, Liggett has been a liability for the past ten years, misses loads of stuff, fucks up on things like rider names and teams far too often). The last couple of years, Sherwen has got duller and duller. Millar could do with shutting up a little bit more, but his genuine insights into what's going on in the peloton are great - and I find Boulting just an absolute delight to listen to. Such a shame about Chris Boardman's mum - him and Boulting together are brilliant.
If anybody wants to hear REALLY bad commentary, give Eurosport a try when Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly are on. Kelly is the most miserable bastard on Earth, and listening to Kirby talk about cycling is the aural equivalent of a Rohrshach test. Why they persist with that clown when Rob Hatch is available I'll never know.
Can't argue with any of that. I guess what I miss is actually nothing to do with cycling, I used to like the little historical/geographical interludes. I felt like I was on a sightseeing tour at times.
Its the thing though, the Tour de France isnt just a bike race it is a three week sightseeing trip through the country.
As with all 3 tours, the opportunity is not missed to promote tourism.
I think its the same with any of the Tours...
Yet the Tour de France is seen as the Champions League of Cycling almost whereas the other two seem to get the Europa League treatment from the Media over here, I do need to start watching the other events though.
I love the euro sport coverage, I like hearing about the towns, historic buildings, recipes etc. Kelly gets on my nuts a little but the Lemond bits are good.
I got really pissed off with Sherwen toward the end (IMHO, Liggett has been a liability for the past ten years, misses loads of stuff, fucks up on things like rider names and teams far too often). The last couple of years, Sherwen has got duller and duller. Millar could do with shutting up a little bit more, but his genuine insights into what's going on in the peloton are great - and I find Boulting just an absolute delight to listen to. Such a shame about Chris Boardman's mum - him and Boulting together are brilliant.
If anybody wants to hear REALLY bad commentary, give Eurosport a try when Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly are on. Kelly is the most miserable bastard on Earth, and listening to Kirby talk about cycling is the aural equivalent of a Rohrshach test. Why they persist with that clown when Rob Hatch is available I'll never know.
Can't argue with any of that. I guess what I miss is actually nothing to do with cycling, I used to like the little historical/geographical interludes. I felt like I was on a sightseeing tour at times.
Its the thing though, the Tour de France isnt just a bike race it is a three week sightseeing trip through the country.
As with all 3 tours, the opportunity is not missed to promote tourism.
I think its the same with any of the Tours...
Yet the Tour de France is seen as the Champions League of Cycling almost whereas the other two seem to get the Europa League treatment from the Media over here, I do need to start watching the other events though.
The Criterium Du Dauphine is always good too watch, and as it's the last race before the TDF, the skills are being honed and all the fine tuning takes place on this one. The scenery is pretty good too as it's mostly in Switzerland and France.
CriteriUM, but yeah, it's a cracking race. Paris-Nice is always worth a watch as well - those two are seen as the barometer for early-season and pre-tour form. Personally I love the Giro. It has the best bits of the tour (cracking stages, beautiful scenery, the Italian media hyping it up) and the Vuelta (the chaos of pretty amateur organisation, absolutely horrendous climbs). The Vuelta is too ridiculous to take seriously - witness the prologue last year which pretty much took place on a beach, and the often flat-out dangerous sprint stages - and has suffered from being shoved to the end of the season.
My favourite races are the classics. The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are bike racing at its absolute best. Having ridden PR this year, I have even more respect (if that were possible) for the pros doing it - it's like nothing else on Earth
Apparently Liggett and Sherwen never worked for ITV but for a third party who would sell-on the commentary package. In that sense, it's just a case of them bringing the commentary in-house. Apparently L&S were still there as usual and although we never heard them viewers in Australia and America did.
Yeah I heard that they were working for NBC (I think on one of the earlier pages of this thread)
As I said at the time, hopefully it was just ITV cost cutting for the year because of the Euros
Yep, we had them on NBC, although as others have said, it's getting a bit stale. Log get is getting worse at identifying riders. Much better coverage from the analysts - Christian van de Velde and Jens Voight offer way more insight into the tactics. Jens is spectacular when it comes to the breakaways chances, analyzing who is in the break and for what reason.
I know a lot cycling have crazy man love for Peter Sagan, I don't, but I did notice he is not doing the Olympic Road race as he reckons it doesn't suit him, instead he is competing in the Mountain Bike instead. I believe he was Junior World champ in MB, but still it is some feat to go back into that now.
I'm in the 'man love' camp when it comes to Sagan. I love the way he's clearly been given media training, but equally clearly ignores it a lot of the time. The fact that he is absolutely fucking awesome on a bike helps obviously. Watching him when the worlds last year was almost as good as watching Cav win it. He's also put the 'curse of the rainbow' firmly to bed - he's had a brilliant year.
I'm in the 'man love' camp when it comes to Sagan. I love the way he's clearly been given media training, but equally clearly ignores it a lot of the time. The fact that he is absolutely fucking awesome on a bike helps obviously. Watching him when the worlds last year was almost as good as watching Cav win it. He's also put the 'curse of the rainbow' firmly to bed - he's had a brilliant year.
I have to admit that I'm a huge Sagan fan (sadly, both literally and figuratively).
The thing to remember about him is that he seems to win the points classifications almost by himself.
All the big sprinters rely on their teammates to bring them to the winning position. While Sagan is now in a good team, he does not have the kind of support that others might have.
Even this year, when Tinkoff had no real expectation of success in the general classification, he rode as a super domestique for Roman Kreuziger, to help improve his placing.
I dunno... Cav this year didnt really use his team-mates to win any of his Sprints and Renshaw quit the Tour quite early and when he did win his sprints he simply used Kittel as his lead out man
I dunno... Cav this year didnt really use his team-mates to win any of his Sprints and Renshaw quit the Tour quite early and when he did win his sprints he simply used Kittel as his lead out man
Except that Cavendish, brilliant though he is, will have been helped to the sprint finish, even if he lacks a lead out man, by domestiques working for him - notably, not on mountain stages.
Look at how often Sagan pushes (admittedly, to get the intermediate points) on stages where the pure sprinters are way behind. He richly deserved the most aggressive rider award.
Love the Giro, and love the Vuelta. Can't get to see the Giro too much anymore, but will set aside as much time as possible to see the Vuelta. Always great to see loads of Hispanics climbing like mad with the help of a completely errant cycling organisation lack of testing etc. I think it was 2011 when the ramp for the prologue was built too steeply with a poor fit to the road, loads of people rolled off and got a puncture in the first few yards. But the mountain stages are awesome and it makes it a completely different race to the other GTs. Which also means loads of sprinters don't go, so somebody like Cummings was able to get confident and do his first amazing breakaway in a GT: also different sprinters emerge.
As for Kelly commentating he's turgid to listen to, but actually way more informative than Millar, he just sees things so quickly. I like listening to Boulting but he also misses loads in the race.... I can't see how you wouldn't when some of the detail is so minute.
Can't disagree with any of that. The Vuelta is fun - but it's like the cycling equivalent of T20 for me
When you think about how far Boulting has come since his first Tour, when he knew absolutely nothing about cycling, it's pretty amazing. His books are really, really enjoyable too - How I Won The Yellow Jumper, about his first experiences with the TdF, On The Road Bike, which is a collection of articles about cycling loosely tied in with his experiences riding a bike, and 101 Damnations, which focuses in-depth on the 2014 Tour are, at equal turns funny, insightful and poignant
Finally watching the run in to the champs ellyses.
Froome clearly quality and doff my cap to his efforts but I get nothing from him. I don't particulry like the pretend mod like Bradley, but he was engaging,
I love the TDF and I'm disappointed that I'm not happier with froome winning again.
Comments
As I said at the time, hopefully it was just ITV cost cutting for the year because of the Euros
If anybody wants to hear REALLY bad commentary, give Eurosport a try when Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly are on. Kelly is the most miserable bastard on Earth, and listening to Kirby talk about cycling is the aural equivalent of a Rohrshach test. Why they persist with that clown when Rob Hatch is available I'll never know.
Was round my folks for my dad's birthday on Saturday and had to endure that Eurosport commentary. Made my teeth itch.
With regards to Millar, he mentioned last week that he was done for drugs. Didn't seem to make any excuses for himself other than saying it was a time when everyone was at it. Was wondering how he was/is perceived in the wider cycling community?
Some people don't like his proselytising, but personally, I enjoy the insight, and appreciate that he has been on the 'bad side' and can talk candidly about the pressures.
Millar's book is worth a read if you get the chance. Racing Through The Dark - The Rise and Fall of David Millar
ISBN 13 - 9781409120384
Yet the Tour de France is seen as the Champions League of Cycling almost whereas the other two seem to get the Europa League treatment from the Media over here, I do need to start watching the other events though.
My favourite races are the classics. The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are bike racing at its absolute best. Having ridden PR this year, I have even more respect (if that were possible) for the pros doing it - it's like nothing else on Earth
Enjoy
The thing to remember about him is that he seems to win the points classifications almost by himself.
All the big sprinters rely on their teammates to bring them to the winning position. While Sagan is now in a good team, he does not have the kind of support that others might have.
Even this year, when Tinkoff had no real expectation of success in the general classification, he rode as a super domestique for Roman Kreuziger, to help improve his placing.
Look at how often Sagan pushes (admittedly, to get the intermediate points) on stages where the pure sprinters are way behind. He richly deserved the most aggressive rider award.
As for Kelly commentating he's turgid to listen to, but actually way more informative than Millar, he just sees things so quickly. I like listening to Boulting but he also misses loads in the race.... I can't see how you wouldn't when some of the detail is so minute.
When you think about how far Boulting has come since his first Tour, when he knew absolutely nothing about cycling, it's pretty amazing. His books are really, really enjoyable too - How I Won The Yellow Jumper, about his first experiences with the TdF, On The Road Bike, which is a collection of articles about cycling loosely tied in with his experiences riding a bike, and 101 Damnations, which focuses in-depth on the 2014 Tour are, at equal turns funny, insightful and poignant
Froome clearly quality and doff my cap to his efforts but I get nothing from him. I don't particulry like the pretend mod like Bradley, but he was engaging,
I love the TDF and I'm disappointed that I'm not happier with froome winning again.
A bit meh, hence just watching the run in now.
I know what it is now - he's boring as fuck.