Back in 2015 this blog looked at the explosion of podcasts on offer, marvelling at the audio choice. Now those look like lean days, the medium has taken off and there’s more choice than ever. A few suggestions and feel free to share yours in the comments below…
This Tour always means more cycling coverage and there are only so many hours a day you can watch the Tour de France and read about it online. For the rest there’s a podcast.
This year brings an explosion in the number of podcasts to download, here are some thoughts and links to some of them.
One of the great things about the Tour de France is the amount of coverage and content available. This includes podcasts. I’m a fan of podcasts as you can listen whilst doing something else and the way they are recorded means analysis and debate of the day’s racing as opposed to live coverage.
With this in mind here’s a selection of podcasts covering the Tour de France if you want to try them.
One of the enjoyments of the Tour de France is the additional coverage given to this race. Instead of a few lines in L’Equipe there are five pages or more every day and the same is true across all of the cycling media. It’s not just the depth of news and analysis, it’s the variety with extras like podcasts. Only the Humans Invent podcast from the Tour de France has kept going after the race and now has a near-settled weekly format.
Is there another sport where history is so important? It seems no race can take part without a tribute to the past, from the extravaganza of the 100th Tour de France this July to the observations of how many times a particular mountain pass has been crossed.
History is part of the sport, this is not a branch reserved for specialists or aged fans to look back on their youth. No, the past is an essential ingredient of every major race. Maybe it’s the way cycling crosses the landscape or perhaps it’s the feats of endurance over the years. Do tennis fans get so nostalgic?
Australian broadcaster SBS covers most of cycling in Australia with the rights to the Tour de France and plenty more, including the Cycling Central website.
In recent months there’s been a regular podcast offering comment and analysis from their staff. And tagged on to this is a quick mention of a new French radio show, Radio Vélo.
One of the great things with the Tour de France is that not only do you get almost all the best riders competing in the race but you also get a depth of content that’s not available during the rest of the season.
There is a wealth of audio content out there. I’m a fan of podcasts as you can listen whilst doing something else and the way they are recorded means analysis and debate of the day’s racing as opposed to live coverage. So when André Greipel powers across the line you might turn off the TV but the race coverage continues for hours and hours.
The photo above is from Vélo magazine and I used it to illustrate a piece about Bradley Wiggins’s shrinking frame size. For all the talk of losing weight, he’s also got much lower on his bike.
My last review was of the VC Don Logan podcast. It’s infrequent but I liked the dry Scottish humour and the edgy style, the way they brought some sarcasm and wit to deal with some of the sadder elements of pro cycling. I mentioned it was a substitute to the now defunct Velocast.
But now one half of the Velocast is back, with John Galloway’s in the hot seat with Irishman Derek Troy. Galloway is superb with a warm voice, an assured broadcasting style and plenty of enthusiasm and knowledge too. Troy’s got a different style, he’s not afraid to swear, but if his radio manners aren’t as polished as Galloway, he makes up for it with tactical analysis and punditry that’s great fun and insightful.
I feel like I’m running out of Roman numerals with these reviews. There are more and more. That’s a good thing. Next is the Velo Club Don Logan podcast. I’ve written before that I was a fan of the now-defunct Velocast. When it died, the VCDL sprung up and it’s gone from strength to strength. … Read more