Cycling Podcast Reviews Part XIII, Tour de France Specials

This isn’t so much a new review, more a heads up that you can get a daily dose of audio analysis via podcasts. There are three to consider:

The Velocast

The two Scots are giving a daily post race analysis. It’s a good chat but they are limited by their presence in Scotland, this is not bringing insight from the race village or interviews recorded on the steps of a team bus. But given this, what you get is a decent analysis each day that is comprehensive and easy to follow.

Cyclingnews.com
I enjoyed this one last year for the wrong reasons. Whilst these are paid journalists embedded with the Tour, a lot of the time seems to be spent venting petty frustrations between the participants. You get a sense of what it’s like to cover the tour: the cabin fever effect of being stuck in a car for hours, the stuffy press rooms, lunching at a service station instead of enjoying France’s fine food. Richard Moore’s dry humour seems to wind up his companions and already I sense rising tensions within the camp.

As well as the soap opera of inter-hack rivalry, you do get plenty of analysis and comment. It’s required listening for this alone but the bickering and not-so-funny jokes do detract from the cycling. Like the normal cyclingnews.com podcast it’s informative but let down by weak broadcasting skills, a pity since it’s fronted by a media company.

ITV

Fronted by Matt Rendell of Real Peloton fame, this is probably my favourite. You get a wide range of discussion in a very slick package. Contributors include Chris Boardman plus there’s some brief race audio from Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen. Ned Boulting of Real Peloton will joining once the soccer World Cup is over. There’s interviews, analysis and punditry, all with a bit of humour and a relaxed style.

ITV is a British broadcaster and so the coverage is slanted towards the Brits, although since ITV is a rival to Sky, this means there’s a balance.

See http://www.itv.com/sport/tourdefrance/podcast/