Tour de France 2020 general thread (SPOILERS GALORE)

Macy0161

Deleted User wrote: »

I caught one of the evening highlight packages on ITV 4 for the Dauphine last week and reminded me how badly Eurosport do highlights in comparison. Way too many ads for sure which is a shame as I find the commentary team and over all package to be better than Eurosport's

I would agree, all things being equal I'd watch the ITV Highlights, and probably the Live Coverage. I like Ned and Millar, and (TV's) Daniel Friebe. Last year they had some interesting guests on the live coverage too (Pippa Yorke, a few ex british pro's that had raced the Tour).

Hard to beat the handiness of eurosport for catch up though. The FireTV app just works, and no faffing with VPN's.

Melodeon

Catchup on the Eurosport Player also has been providing an 'Uninterrupted Coverage' option for their as-live coverage lately too.

With so many races coming up that will overlap each other, there's no way I'll be able to watch them all live or later as-live, so I'll be watching highlights versions of some.
I'll just have to suffer the adverts breaks for them.

About the only thing I miss from the old days of recording coverage on the Sky box, particularly the full-stage 5 hours+ marathons, was the ability to run through the coverage at high speed, stopping to view anything of note, and then watching the last hour or two as-live.
I often simply don't have the time in the evening to watch 5 or 6 hours of cycling! :rolleyes:

If the Eurosport Player or the GCN app had a high-speed-playback option, that'd be perfect!

breezy1985

Macy0161 wrote: »

Tom Dumoulin for me. Building form, without the clusterf*ck form that put pay to Thomas and Froome. I think Roglic has peaked too early, again, so my only question would be if he has to do too much work for Roglic early, if Roglic is hot from the start.

I'd love to see Pinot win it though.


It's on the GCN App/ Race Pass. Eurosport coverage, no ads.

I saw the GCN package for €20 for the rest of the year. Is it just the full Eurosport cycling package with the same commentary or is it its own thing?

As bad as they can be I've come to like the Eurosport team

Melodeon

breezy1985 wrote: »

I saw the GCN package for €20 for the rest of the year. Is it just the full Eurosport cycling package with the same commentary or is it its own thing?

As bad as they can be I've come to like the Eurosport team

It's all the same coverage, complete with Eurosport logo in the corner.

mr spuckler

breezy1985 wrote: »

I saw the GCN package for €20 for the rest of the year. Is it just the full Eurosport cycling package with the same commentary or is it its own thing?

As bad as they can be I've come to like the Eurosport team

I thought there were a lot of problems with the GCN app for some of the races a few weeks ago?

CramCycle

mr spuckler wrote: »

I thought there were a lot of problems with the GCN app for some of the races a few weeks ago?

Looks like it was a rights thing, they didn't have rights to some races in some countries but their advertising implied they had it globally. They apologised and clarified (you can look at what they cover country by country on their website now).

Also TG4 is way better than ITV4 coverage /discussion

breezy1985

CramCycle wrote: »

Looks like it was a rights thing, they didn't have rights to some races in some countries but their advertising implied they had it globally. They apologised and clarified (you can look at what they cover country by country on their website now).

Also TG4 is way better than ITV4 coverage /discussion

ITV coverage is barely more than lipservice

CramCycle

breezy1985 wrote: »

ITV coverage is barely more than lipservice

I won't lie, my Irish is poor, I understand a bit but not much but the two lads are great and you get proper full commentary, within the first week it comes back to me and I don't get everything but the stories on the food, the area, the people, brilliant for the long non interesting bits. Then when you have the interesting, the other one pips in with the right info, no messing, one knows racing, the other knows everything else and it is a well balanced mix IMO. They also pass comments on the sneaky bits if they see riders being cheeky gits, they say it, it's quite enjoyable.

If you have no Irish, then obviously it's not really much good, but still somehow better than ITV4.

eeeee

My favourite bit of the TG4 coverage is when they shorten / colloquialise the rider names. Mickey Rodgers etc. I wonder will MvdP become Matty VdP!

ratracer

Macy0161 wrote: »

It's on the GCN App/ Race Pass. Eurosport coverage, no ads.

Is there a cast option on the app? If I can definitely cast from iPhone to TV I think this is the way to go...but I can’t do it with eir sports for example.

CramCycle

I also forgot the TG4 commentators often pop in with bits of info about Irish racing, info on current and past events, which really makes it a local station. Its a nice touch, reference to any riders who have competed over here, or who raced against them abroad. Also not as shy about controversies as some of the bigger stations.

mr spuckler

ratracer wrote: »

Is there a cast option on the app? If I can definitely cast from iPhone to TV I think this is the way to go...but I can’t do it with eir sports for example.

I read something in their blurb yesterday about supporting Chromecast, not sure beyond that though.

Tim76

CramCycle wrote: »

Also TG4 is way better than ITV4 coverage /discussion

Really wish that the teachers in school had told me that I would need the cupla focail to enjoy decent cycling commentary down the line. I actually might have listened then instead of consistently taking the lanterne rouge (or solas dearg) in all my Irish exams.

Macy0161

ratracer wrote: »

Is there a cast option on the app? If I can definitely cast from iPhone to TV I think this is the way to go...but I can’t do it with eir sports for example.

I use it with Chromecast, but that's with an Android phone. My only Apple product is AppleTV for zwift!

Tim76

Tim76 wrote: »

Really wish that the teachers in school had told me that I would need the cupla focail to enjoy decent cycling commentary down the line. I actually might have listened then instead of consistently taking the lanterne rouge (or solas dearg) in all my Irish exams.

lmao at ''solas dearg"

I feel the need to get that put on a jersey.

Melodeon

mr spuckler wrote: »

I read something in their blurb yesterday about supporting Chromecast, not sure beyond that though.

It works superbly on my Chromecast from my Android phone.

Casting directly to my oldish (not so) smart TV results in the navigation/title bars for the app permanently displayed top and bottom over the footage. I can't find any way to get rid of them from there, so they obscure the time/distance ticker at the top and much of the graphics occasionally displayed at the bottom.

Through the Chromecast, to the same TV, it's perfect.

letape

odyssey06 wrote: »

Yep.
Kelly has TDF and Vuelta stage wins.
Stephen Roche has TDF and Giro stage wins.
I thought Nico might have had a Vuelta and Giro but it's 2 Vuelta stage wins.

Don’t forget Dan Martin
- two Tour de France stage wins and one Vuelta one

retalivity

Roglic still a doubt for the start line on saturday

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/primoz-roglics-tour-de-france-remains-in-doubt-despite-return-to-training/

MojoMaker

Kruiswijk confirmed out as well. Ineos must be rubbing their hands.

Dumoulin leads I assume? Would love to see him do some damage.

at1withmyself

MojoMaker wrote: »

Kruiswijk confirmed out as well. Ineos must be rubbing their hands.

Dumoulin leads I assume? Would love to see him do some damage.

After all the big deal being made about 3 leaders on each time, its kinda funny now how it could end up being big Tom against Bernal! I think Tom could have the better of him if that's the case but a lot couold come down to the support from the team.

Either way can't wait as stage 2 looks tough and could cause some gaps if a team decides to go hard.

odyssey06

at1withmyself wrote: »

After all the big deal being made about 3 leaders on each time, its kinda funny now how it could end up being big Tom against Bernal! I think Tom could have the better of him if that's the case but a lot couold come down to the support from the team.
Either way can't wait as stage 2 looks tough and could cause some gaps if a team decides to go hard.

Is Nico Roche down for Sunweb as support?

For Tom to win he'd need to be taking time on the TT's you would think but there is only one TT this year I think up planche de belles filles.

at1withmyself

odyssey06 wrote: »

Is Nico Roche down for Sunweb as support?

Nico is down for Sunweb alright but not sure on their strategy, probably sprints for Michael Mathews?

at1withmyself

at1withmyself wrote: »

Nico is down for Sunweb alright but not sure on their strategy, probably sprints for Michael Mathews?

Matthews isn't riding the Tour, he's down for the Giro and Tirreno-Adriatico

cunavalos

at1withmyself wrote: »

Nico is down for Sunweb alright but not sure on their strategy, probably sprints for Michael Mathews?

Michael Matthews is not in the TDF which opens a lot of opportunities for Nico. I would hope to see him chasing a stage win rather than hanging off the back of the group of leaders getting dropped from position 20-30.
Its a very inexperienced Sunweb squad (In TDF Terms), there are only 18 TDF starts among all riders and Nico has 9 of them

Their Giro squad looks more like a Tour one for sure with, Matthews, Kelderman and Oomen and Matthews can hang on over some of the lumps.

dastardly00

I *think* I read somewhere that Sunweb don't have any GC ambitions and they will be hunting stage wins

dastardly00

retalivity wrote: »

Roglic still a doubt for the start line on saturday

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/primoz-roglics-tour-de-france-remains-in-doubt-despite-return-to-training/

It'll be a huge shame if he can't compete

velo.2010

dastardly00 wrote: »

It'll be a huge shame if he can't compete

Seems there may be mixed messages from the team and Roglic's partner. If he doesn't go, I'd back Dumoulin over Bernal. However, the parcours is set up to favour someone not necessarily from a well supported team... someone like Pinot or Pogacar, perhaps.

Imagine Pinot is in yellow going into the final week and covid is on the rise again. The right thing to do is cancel the race, but would organisers pull the plug on the first French victory in donkeys years?

at1withmyself

Nice summary of bike brands at this years tiur:

Bianchi (Jumbo-Visma)
BMC (NTT Pro Cycling)
Cannondale (EF Pro Cycling)
Canyon (Movistar; Team Arkea-Samsic)
Cervélo (Team Sunweb)
Colnago (UAE Team Emirates)
De Rosa (Cofidis)
Eddy Merckx (AG2R La Mondiale)
Factor (Israel Start-Up Nation)
Giant (CCC)
KTM (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept p/b KTM)
Lapierre (Groupama-FDJ)
Merida (Bahrain-McLaren)
Pinarello (Ineos Grenadiers)
Specialized (Bora-Hansgrohe; Deceuninck-QuickStep)
Ridley (Lotto-Soudal)
Scott (Mitchelton-Scott)
Trek (Trek-Segafredo)
Wilier (Astana; Total Direct Energie)

More details on finishing kits etc:
https://www.bikeradar.com/features/pro-bike/tour-de-france-bikes/