Your wish list for next year's Tour (race&broadcast)

[Climb01742]

If someone gave you three wishes, what changes would you like to see in next year's Tour that would, for you, make the race and broadcast better?

1. Sky drops its funding for Team Sky. Its riders find contracts with many other teams. And we can see how good they really are. Maybe it wasn't 'marginal gains'. Or maybe it was. It would be cool to find out, and have a more open race, to boot.

2. NBCSN really shakes up their broadcast team. In basketball, I really like Jeff Van Gundy as an analyst. As an ex-coach, he knows his Xs and Os and gives us good coach's POV insights. And he's honest. He's willing to say what we're watching ain't great if it isn't. How about keep Paul and pair him with a recently retired DS? Hopefully a DS who was a racer, too. European (as they almost all would be anyway). Give us insights from inside the team car, as it were. Or poach a broadcaster from a European channel. Just shake up the Phil and Paul dynamic. And give us more than banal descriptions of what our eyes can see already. What I like about Jens on the broadcast is that he tells us what a rider or DS might be thinking or trying to do. And he's more unguarded. Sadly, he'd wear on us, I think, with more airtime, but there has to be a cycling insider who could gives us what Jeff Van Gundy gives us in hoops.

3. The Tour organizers continue to experiment with stages. Maybe this year's cobbled stage was_too_many cobbles, but it was great theatre and added a good challenge to the race. While Wednesday's flat stage was kinda boring, having it between the three last mountain stages made yesterday's stage better, I think. So, please, keep rolling the dice and making each year a different set of challenges.

Those are mine. Yours?

[oldpotatoe]

If someone gave you three wishes, what changes would you like to see in next year's Tour that would, for you, make the race and broadcast better?

1. Sky drops its funding for Team Sky. Its riders find contracts with many other teams. And we can see how good they really are. Maybe it wasn't 'marginal gains'. Or maybe it was. It would be cool to find out, and have a more open race, to boot.

2. NBCSN really shakes up their broadcast team. In basketball, I really like Jeff Van Gundy as an analyst. As an ex-coach, he knows his Xs and Os and gives us good coach's POV insights. And he's honest. He's willing to say what we're watching ain't great if it isn't. How about keep Paul and pair him with a recently retired DS? Hopefully a DS who was a racer, too. European (as they almost all would be anyway). Give us insights from inside the team car, as it were. Or poach a broadcaster from a European channel. Just shake up the Phil and Paul dynamic. And give us more than banal descriptions of what our eyes can see already. What I like about Jens on the broadcast is that he tells us what a rider or DS might be thinking or trying to do. And he's more unguarded. Sadly, he'd wear on us, I think, with more airtime, but there has to be a cycling insider who could gives us what Jeff Van Gundy gives is in hoops.

3. The Tour organizers continue to experiment with stages. Maybe this year's cobbled stage was_too_many cobbles, but it was great theatre and added a good challenge to the race. While Wednesday's flat stage was kinda boring, having it between the three last mountain stages made yesterday's stage better, I think. So, please, keep rolling the dice and making each year a different set of challenges.

Those are mine. Yours?

Don't really care about number 1 or 2..would like to see the BEST Grand Tour on NBC/Gold(that would be the Giro..duh)
BUT stage 17 was very exciting(altho the LeMans start, complete with lights and a grid was dumm) as was the cobbles stage..I think shorter, more intense, BAN RADIOS...
Transfers will be a problem as will the $ that is paid by finishing towns but these 200km+, flat..a break, 10 minutes, brought back..sprint..yawn.

[DfCas]

More shorter stages. More explosive and interesting, also easier to watch. Those 120 miles sprint stages are only good for 10 seconds.

[charliedid]

No radios and no GC race for individuals. Start and finish as a team.

Race bikes.

[weiwentg]

I would like to see Dave Brailsford out of the Tour. Lance Armstrong is an asshole, and we all know he is an asshole. Brailsford, on the other hand, charms people with pious proclamations about transparency and yet does nothing different. Brailsford is a serpent.

[flydhest]

Agree that the shorter, all climbing all the time stage was good. The descent on the Aubisque was fantastic. We don’t need as many summit finishes if mountain stages can be like that.

I like a few flat sprinter stages.

I don’t much care about the commentators as long as the on screen stats with the gaps and such is accurate and refreshed often.

I kinda like the history lessons and up close and personal with French towns I am slightly sad to admit.

[Climb01742]

I kinda like the history lessons and up close and personal with French towns I am slightly sad to admit.

Me, too. Love the details of chateaus originally built in the 11th century. The Tour broadcast is the best travel advertising France could do. But doesn't it say something that that's what we value Phil and especially Paul for?;)

[false_Aest]

That's easy:

1. Don't have the Giro Rosa at the same time as the tour (and give the ladies legitimate coverage).

2. Get rid of podium girls one and for all and instead let kids (or mayors, or the head of tourism for each small town) present.

3. More cobbles -- especially after the climbing stages.

4. More short stages.

5. TTT on the penultimate stage.

6. more pepper spray.

[merckx]

Abolish radios.

[Bob Ross]

More cobbles -- especially after the climbing stages.

More cobbles during the climbing stages!!!

I wanna see 50+mph descents with off-camber hairpins and gnarly cobblestones and sharks that shoot laser beams out of their eyeballs.
:banana:

[Macadamia]

team sky balkanizing would be great, what if you had this year's tour but Thomas, Froome, and Bernal were on different teams

alternatively next year they could just show reruns of the giro or the previous year's vuelta so we aren't bored to tears

[eddief]

I want to know how fast they are going all the time. Combine it with grade %. And wind direction and mph. Should be easy no?

Look at how announcing ball exit speed has made baseball exciting again :).

[unterhausen]

1) Phil should get a shock every time he says something obviously stupidly wrong. Might get him to retire. Paul can be somewhat repetitious, but what can you do when you have to talk about boring stages for 5 hours. I like Sean Kelly, probably because I can't understand what he's saying most of the time.

2) do something, anything to break up the Sky train. I thought the lemans start was supposed to do that, but it turned out that the sky train was formed up very quickly. There was one day this week when I turned on the tv mid-race, and the first thing I saw was 6 sky riders on the front of the peloton, and a wave of revulsion swept over me. Too bad we can't have 4 man teams.

[Red Tornado]

I really enjoy listening to Sean Kelly commentating. He usually has legit, useful info & love the Irish accent.

[jr59]

I just want to be able to watch it on the tv, and make comments on racing bikes, like I know something about them.
Well....at least it’s a simple wish anyways

[vladoo]

I wish more time to watch it. Tour writes lots of stories every day.

[Mikej]

Mountain bike stage - bam!

[MattTuck]

ok, a few things I think would be fun to see.

1. Start up in Germany, and do a team (or individual) time trial on the Porsche test track.

2. Do a team time trial in dense city, such that they'd be better off using regular bikes.

3. Head north into Belgium and do the paterberg / kwaremont double. or do the old finale to Flanders, with the Kapelmuur. Alternatively, head south east, and into Italy, and put a stage finish at the top of the Poggio.

4. I'd like to finally see this new rider Phil was mentioning Allaphilippe Gilbert.

5. I would also like to see a more thoughtful approach to injuries and especially head trauma. Not sure what this would look like, but possibly something like this. If you crash and suspect injury, go directly to hospital. You are allowed to start the next day if docs OK you, but you are DQ'd from GC competition, and you cannot get any placings/bonuses/etc. for the following 2 days. Fine tune it how you like, but a nod towards rider health would be welcome.

6. Give time bonuses of 10, 5, 2 seconds for the first,second third riders on each lap of the finale stage on the champs.

Ok, just some ideas.

[bikinchris]

I would like to have seen longer time trials.

I miss the true sprinters. Watching slow people sprint is BORING. To expect 200 pound sprinters to climb with 120 pound climbers and avoid elimination is as stupid as expecting the little climbers to sprint and throwing them out if they don't get a top 20. Find a way to keep the sprinters.

They should have put Jens on a motorcycle from the beginning. He can also speak to the DS in their native language. That's an advantage.

I think Phil and Paul are nice people, but retire already. Both need to go.

Take Craig of the motorcycle and pair him with a retired DS who speaks good English.

[Mr. Pink]

No Talor Phinney interviews or segments. None. Please.

[mcteague]

Abolish radios.

And power meters!

Tim

[mcteague]

No Talor Phinney interviews or segments. None. Please.

I used to like TP but find his slightly stoned, hipster doofus act increasingly tiresome. Maybe not an act, more’s the pity.

Tim

[Cloozoe]

All Sky riders finish off the podium

[ThasFACE]

No Talor Phinney interviews or segments. None. Please.

This. The single most distracting part of this year's coverage.

[Seramount]

wonder if anyone has watched an entire Tour on NBC without using a DVR and mute/fast forward...

must be like having an electronic lobotomy.

[Climb01742]

wonder if anyone has watched an entire Tour on NBC without using a DVR and mute/fast forward...

must be like having an electronic lobotomy.

Impossible without super FF on DVR!!!;)

[Matthew]

I watched the tour that way. I enjoyed it. It's cycling on T.V. I don't care who's announcing.

[choke]

1. Don't have the Giro Rosa at the same time as the tour (and give the ladies legitimate coverage).I can't agree. For starters, where would you move it to on the calendar? There are already conflicts on the WWT calendar and moving a 10 day race would just make matters worse.

The Giro Rosa, like the men's Giro, is primarily an Italian race. Though they may get coverage outside of Italy and of course non-Italian teams participate they are aimed at the Italian market. The Giro Rosa is positioned where it is, i.e. at the same time as the TdF, for a reason; short highlights are shown on Italian TV during the TdF coverage along with a longer show immediately after the TdF highlights show which means the GR piggybacks on the TdF audience and gets viewers that it might not otherwise. If the GR is moved it would likely lose viewership in Italy and thus make it less attractive to sponsors.

I agree that I would like to see live coverage of the GR. While there weren't any live broadcasts that I'm aware of this year there were approximately 1 hour long highlight shows that were available the same day online. That's far better than many WWT races which only get a short UCI highlights video that comes out days later.

[cnighbor1]

Tour de France
Some how this tour became a clobbered up mess!
Great riders crashed and were gone
Cobbles threw in too many unknowns
Climbs were sort of concluded before they started

[dmurphey]

I used to like TP but find his slightly stoned, hipster doofus act increasingly tiresome. Maybe not an act, more’s the pity.


Dude, take a break, do a fatty, have a beer, and relax your smoothie muscle fibers. Taylor Phinney is west coast hip in a freakin world of nerdiness that needs golf shoes to walk through.

Okay, for me, resurrect Hunter S Thompson and have him narrate the tour! If I hear Paul Sherwin again I am going to shoot myself.

[kramnnim]

I'd like to see poor Richie have a crash free 3 weeks.

[unterhausen]

I used to like TP but find his slightly stoned, hipster doofus act increasingly tiresome. Maybe not an act, more’s the pity.
due to drug testing, I think we can assume he's not actually stoned. It's a really good simulation of the stoner affect though. He does usually come up with something interesting, even if the delivery is not the best.

[rustychisel]

Ban radios, the single most effective way of bringing back exciting racing (not that some of the racing this year wasn't)

...

2. Do a team time trial in dense city, such that they'd be better off using regular bikes.

OFO bike. An ITT through the city riding OFO bike.



4. I'd like to finally see this new rider Phil was mentioning Allaphilippe Gilbert.



:)

[Fivethumbs]

I would like to see a L'Eroica stage.

[mcteague]

due to drug testing, I think we can assume he's not actually stoned. It's a really good simulation of the stoner affect though. He does usually come up with something interesting, even if the delivery is not the best.

Thus my use of the word "act". I didn't really think he was stoned.

I used to like TP but find his slightly stoned, hipster doofus act increasingly tiresome. Maybe not an act, more’s the pity.


Dude, take a break, do a fatty, have a beer, and relax your smoothie muscle fibers. Taylor Phinney is west coast hip in a freakin world of nerdiness that needs golf shoes to walk through.

Okay, for me, resurrect Hunter S Thompson and have him narrate the tour! If I hear Paul Sherwin again I am going to shoot myself.
So, I need to self medicate to enjoy Taylor's comments? :confused:

This year, for some reason, I found Phil Liggett a bit less irritating than usual. He seemed to make fewer mistakes than previous years. Not so say he didn't make quite a few, just not as egregious IMO.

Tim

[Climb01742]

Monday morning, post-Tour withdrawal. [sigh]

[MattTuck]

Monday morning, post-Tour withdrawal. [sigh]

Not a thing :) Mondays are rest days. Withdrawal starts tomorrow.

[NeauDL]

1. Less carnage! What bike racer would not drive for NASCAR if he had the choice? I almost hate to watch the first week. The UCI does not adequately protect its riders.

2. Shorter stages. I love the mountain stages but this year's finish up Alpe d"Huez came after we had to watch the peloton grind its way up the Croix de Fer in the hot sun. I felt hot and worn out after that.

3. If there'll be sprint finishes, don't eliminate all the sprinters. It's show biz. People want to see the top sprinters. Just say that anyone who doesn't make the time cut is no longer a GC competitor.

4. Bigger bonus (money, points, time?) for stage wins, to provide more interest late in the tour when the yellow jersey competition seems to be over and we're all bored when the cameras switch back from the leaders to the peloton.

[simonov]

1. Less carnage! What bike racer would not drive for NASCAR if he had the choice? I almost hate to watch the first week. The UCI does not adequately protect its riders.

2. Shorter stages. I love the mountain stages but this year's finish up Alpe d"Huez came after we had to watch the peloton grind its way up the Croix de Fer in the hot sun. I felt hot and worn out after that.

3. If there'll be sprint finishes, don't eliminate all the sprinters. It's show biz. People want to see the top sprinters. Just say that anyone who doesn't make the time cut is no longer a GC competitor.

4. Bigger bonus (money, points, time?) for stage wins, to provide more interest late in the tour when the yellow jersey competition seems to be over and we're all bored when the cameras switch back from the leaders to the peloton.

Four thumbs up!

[eddief]

think of that dude.

[Climb01742]

1. Less carnage! What bike racer would not drive for NASCAR if he had the choice? I almost hate to watch the first week. The UCI does not adequately protect its riders.

2. Shorter stages. I love the mountain stages but this year's finish up Alpe d"Huez came after we had to watch the peloton grind its way up the Croix de Fer in the hot sun. I felt hot and worn out after that.

3. If there'll be sprint finishes, don't eliminate all the sprinters. It's show biz. People want to see the top sprinters. Just say that anyone who doesn't make the time cut is no longer a GC competitor.

4. Bigger bonus (money, points, time?) for stage wins, to provide more interest late in the tour when the yellow jersey competition seems to be over and we're all bored when the cameras switch back from the leaders to the peloton.

Nice ideas. I particularly like #3. Time limits seem arbitrary and/or counterproductive. There must be other ways to disincentivize lolligagging. They’re already out of the GC just on time. Maybe there’s a small monetary fine for egregious lateness or whatever. But yes, keep the sprinters in!

[bironi]

steve porino switches to coverage of motorcycle racing.

[Ralph]

I think the races are a little too long. But maybe that's what it takes to separate the weak from the strong. Do they really need to take those chances down hill? We really like the sprint finishes, how they organize around their sprinters, and how/where they set up for the finish.

Love the history and the camera shots of the people, terrain, and landscape. Enjoyed seeing their homes, how they build their towns, and roads, etc.

Believe it was a good ad for France....and no problem with that. Perhaps I just enjoyed the spectacle, and most of you study it in more detail than I do.

Wouldn't mind more technical info about the bikes, are any set up different, their stage gearing, what gears they are in, stuff like that....but that might turn off non bike folks.

Thank goodness for DVR's.

[fkelly]

wonder if anyone has watched an entire Tour on NBC without using a DVR and mute/fast forward...

must be like having an electronic lobotomy.

ditto. And as long as it can be on DVR, I'm fine with it. It took an hour or so to watch the cobble stage and near an hour for one or two of the climbing stages, probably a half hour each for all the rest. At 4x forward speed on the DVR you can see that the lead group of 12 is 4:32 ahead, then 4:15, then 5:00 and an hour later the peloton is catching them, then the catch, then the line up for the sprint then about 2 miles from the finish turn it on regular speed and watch the sprint. DVR back to watch the sprint a couple times (though they show it several times on the broadcast too) then delete the whole thing. Fast forward right through the interviews of the riders saying nothing except "we'll see how the legs feel today".

[bikinchris]

I see people agree with me. Keep the top sprinters in the race. Expecting them to make the time cut against climbers is as crazy as making the climbers race a miss and out against the sprinters.