This is a Spanish TV sports documentary from Canal+. The Informe Robinson show is a slick production with tight editing and sharp photography. Much of the audio is in English so if you’re don’t speak Spanish, be patient.
TV
From Milan to Turin in 136 Years
Today sees the return of Milano-Torino, the one day Italian race. The term “classic” gets abused these days, races with no history appropriate the label, for example the World Ports Classic whose inaugural edition took place a few weeks ago. But Milano-Torino was first run in 1876, making it the oldest race on the Italian calendar and one of the oldest races in the world.
Today’s race, tomorrow’s Gran Piemonte and Saturday’s Il Lombardia all have deep roots in the past but they are also a guide to the future.
Vuelta Verdict
Having looked at the racing and Alberto Contador’s victory yesterday, time to look at the race itself. It’s been a successful tour with big TV audiences, as you’ll see below. Were 10 summit finishes necessary? Was there a big contest for the points and mountains jersey? What can the Tour de France organisers ASO learn from this race?
Tour TV Audiences Down as British Bike Sales Rise
Ok, the headline exaggerates wildly but that’s half the point of the story below. TV audiences in France fell for the Tour de France, in part because there was no big battle for the yellow jersey throughout the race. Meanwhile Bradley Wiggins’ Tour triumph is claimed to have boosted bike sales in the UK. Are both stories true?
Is The Tour de France Boring?
The last few stages of the Tour de France have not been the most exciting. Cyclesport’s Lionel Birnie has a good piece on the topic. The stage starts, the gears clunk and a few riders are given a day ticket to escape the bunch on the condition they return, like residents of an open prison who must return before nightfall.
Things only come alive in the race in the final minutes. Four hours of racing for four minutes of action. L’Equipe today describes yesterday’s stage with tales of broken alarm clocks, hammocks, snoozing, snoring and says the riders “only fell out of bed with three kilometres to go”. Is the Tour de France boring?
Pirate Video Streams
In race previews I’ve mentioned one way to watch the sport is via “pirate video feeds”. A couple of readers have since been in touch to point out these sources are illegal. So here’s a small piece about the subject and why I link to them.
Tour de France TV Schedule
France Télévisions have announced the TV schedule of the 2012 Tour de France. As the production crew behind the TV images, they produce the video for domestic broadcasts in France but also the international feed which means their schedule is your schedule wherever you live.
Ivan Basso’s National Appeal
I’m Ivan Basso. I’m looking for real men who don’t worry about being tired, who are ready to ride many kilometres on the road with the desire to finish first.
No, he’s not looking for new riders. Instead this is a radio advert with Ivan Basso promoting French car maker Citroen’s utility vehicles for small businesses and he wants “traders, artisans, entrepreneurs for Citroen’s commercial vehicles“. The full audio clip is here on youtube:
It’s of minor interest because it is rare these days to see a cyclist in a national advertising campaign. It’s happened in the past but today’s riders are more likely to fry their cycling shoes or even lend their image to sell beach towels but here we have Basso’s voice as central to mixing the idea of riding across Italy with selling vans.
Cycling Fans Versus The Mass Market Audience
You’re probably male and aged between 25 and 45. No, this blog doesn’t have some high-tech way to monitor readership, it’s more that men in this age group are the biggest followers of cycling in the US, UK and Australia and other English speaking countries so there’s a good chance you fit into this category as you’re reading an English-language niche cycling blog.
Regardless of your age, gender or location, I’m pretty certain you’re a big fan of cycle sport. A casual fan might visit cyclingnews.com from time to time, a blog like this one is more specialist. But in both cases we’re talking about some actively seeking news, results and more. And this is quite different from the vast majority of those who watch races. When it comes to watching bike races, cycling fans are a minority.
Bringing Le Tour to your TV
You probably haven’t heard of Jean-Maurice Ooghe. But the man in the striped shirt above is responsible for the TV images of the Tour de France and several other races, including the Tour of California.
Whilst the cycling world might be thinking about the upcoming Giro d’Italia, Ooghe is currently doing his own Tour de France ahead of the race in July, visiting all the stage towns en route. Last week he was in the Pyrenees and on Sunday morning he was in Brive, the finish of Stage 18.