That was a pathetic interview. Felt embarassed to be British. Why not congratulate the winner after 250k’s of endurance?.

That’s the bbc for you.

“Vino, not the result the British wanted” as if he gives a toss!

Yes, Jill. Quality interviewing…

Fair play to him though a nice way to finish off a career. He’s about 39 or something now isn’t he?

I’m not sure knew who he was. She never said his name. No wonder he ignored the silly final question.

Should of slapped the ignorant idiot. Well done Vino

Agree. A touch embarrassing to say the least. It’s one thing to get behind your countrymen but that was jingoism gone way too far.

I think the BBC though we had to turn up and collect the medals

trailmoggy – Member
I think the BBC though we had to turn up and collect the medals

Given the ‘quality’ of their coverage, pantomime commentary (Griepel sprinting for fourth place?) and total lack of directorial control, I don’t think the BBC thought about anything to do with the event! 🙂

It made ITV’s tour coverage look amazing.

Is it actually the Beeb who provide the pictures though? Or do they just have to deal with what they are given?

I think the BBC though we had to turn up and collect the medals

That seems to be everyones opinion, home advantage my arse, it’s not like the non UK cyclists were going to get lost because they don’t know their way around London

I can almost excuse the coverage, bearing in mind there’s hundreds of other sports happening at the same time. Plus, tour coverage is always going to be better as they use french TV and proper timing…more money/sponsorship involved etc, but JD was just plain RUDE, there’s no excuses for her biased opinions and lack of knowledge

Jill “How do you feel” Douglas is an awful interviewer.

BBC sports coverage has been going downhill for years, lets face it they seem to think Claire Balding has sporting knowledge beyond horses. They have decided trendy presenters are more important than knowledge, I gave up on it when they started featuring Suzy Perry’s moustache so prominently on motogp.

To be fair, the lack of information the commentators had isn’t the BBC’s fault, it’s not to do with them (the broadcasting and info is centrally managed by the Olympic organisers).

Jill Douglas was horrific though. I was just in awe – couldn’t believe my ears. Absolutely abysmal.

**** him.
This is vino the drug cheat who didn’t even have the decency to apologise.
I would’ve been happy if anyone else had won.

The pictures weren’t the BBC’s so you can’t blame them for that.

Although Eurosport’s commentators were doing a better job of working out who was who. And Hugh Porter is fairly rubbish.

Can’t say I’m delighted at a Vino win. Still let’s wait for the results of the drugs test.

Of the breakaway group I’d have much rather Gilbert, Boonen or Cancellara won. And now it looks like Fabien is out of the TT.

**** him.
This is vino the drug cheat who didn’t even have the decency to apologise.
I would’ve been happy if anyone else had won.

Really?? And if Millar would have won you’d of been happy cos he apologised? Get real.
Anyway, off subject, it’s the total ignorance of the beeb reporters that’s the issue here, regardless of a Vino win. According to the bbc Cav failed…love his comment to the twatty interviewer ”stop asking stupid questions, do you know anything about cycling” ace.

Jill Douglas is a knob.
But then so is Vino.
Cav is still my hero.

Poor old BBC – they are finding out the hard way that Tokenism plus dumbing down does not guarantee quality broadcasting!

Reminds everyone just how good and hard working Claire Balding is. Good double act with Foster during bits I caught tonight?

I hate Vino, at least Millar has apologised and gone on to promote anti doping.

I have no trust whatsoever in him.

Any video links or transcripts of the interview(s)?

I have no trust whatsoever in him.

Indeed. I didn’t want him to win.

But man, can’t that f*cker produce the goods when it matters.

Yes she was…. The guy covering the gymnastics has been good, Lineker and Thorpe were a bit meh, as was Balding and Foster. They need to stop trying so hard.

MSP, Suzy Perry knew MotoGP inside out in the end (and if rumours are to be believed a few riders knew her inside out so to speak)….her interviews with riders in the pre race programming were very good and she seemed to have a genuine rapport with the riders….her early days in WSBK were cringe worthy but everybody has to learn their trade somewhere.
She is a presenting colosus compared to Jill Douglas, Hazel Irvine and other bland presenters the BBC manages to unearth.
Gabby Logan is also very good, did the BBC lose her to ITV?

Saw about 2 seconds of John McEnroe and 2 people who I don’t know discussing cycle race tactics. Dire.

Jill Douglas is a lot better with track cycling.

Part of the problem is the media build up around Cav – there was an article in yesterday’s Times all about the marginal gains, how Cav and Team GB were going to do this, that and the other and the gold medals would just come falling out of the sky to them. That was the implication but sadly cycling doesn’t work to scripts like that and all the media were so surprised that Mr Dead Cert didn’t win they were left scratching their heads and asking daft questions.

You get the same on the track to some extent when Chris Hoy/Vicky Pendleton don’t win.

Usual dumbed down journalism from presenters chosen more for their looks or for being famous names than for their knowledge of cycling.

the mcenroe/kelly holmes thing was all i really saw of it last night, and i think my interest in any media coverage of the games by the bbc is over as a result. it was a complete embarrassment. it wasn’t their fault, but seriously why would you expect to get an informed appraisal of road race team tactics from a retired tennis pro?!

Just watched clip of JD interviewing Cav in which she stated, “the Olympics and Mark Cavendish don’t mix?” I didn’t think my low opinion could have got even lower. Full marks to Cav for maintaining his dignity.

MSP – at least Balding makes a real effort and does a lot of homework to sound credible IMO.

The Mcenroe/Holmes discussion last night was utterly appalling. At least Michael Johnson had the good sense to keep quiet about something he didn’t understand. Mcenroe and Holmes floundered about “If they were so far up the road why didn’t they just catch them up?” or something similar. Even a non cyclists could see that they had no clue. Why they were even asked or expected to give an informed opinion is beyond me.
The BBC coverage of sport has been dire for a number of years now. I watched an hour of coverage yesterday on the big screen in Manchester and didn’t actually see any sport. They just kept nattering about sport. Wimbledon is the same, they sit in a studio and tell you what matches are being played and then talk about a match that has already been played. How about showing a match!
Post event interviews are just “how does it feel” “describe the emotion” and several other variations. “You must be happy to have won, how happy are you?”

To be fair, the lack of information the commentators had isn’t the BBC’s fault, it’s not to do with them (the broadcasting and info is centrally managed by the Olympic organisers).

I would say it is though, how hard is it to make sure you know the jersey colours of the majority of countries, ie the ones likely to be contesting medals*, and how hard is it to have a list of race numbers near you with the riders name against it, at least it then sounds like you know who your looking at?

*i forgot only the UK was contesting medals, so why worry about who is wearing any other colour jersey.

I thought the BBC coverage was dire. I was out for the day so had to record it. I couldn’t easily find what channel it was on – admittedly I left it until Sat morning – so ended up recording all of BBC1 & BBC3.

Hugh Porter didn’t have a clue what was going on – no idea of the team strips – and as said no idea which rider had which numbers. Ramblings about the 1948 Olympics are all interesting but poor compensation for no idea about the current riders.

Sun on the TV monitors – put a brolly up!

And Jill Douglas was truly aweful – as said her interview with Vino and Mark Cavendish were exceptionally stupid and under prepared.

Overall I’m really dissappointed with the BBC. They have never really got the hang of TV Cycle commentating, nor have they shown much interest in the sport until recently and the poor coverage of the Womens Road Race in Beijing should have prepared them for this. Plus to any non cycling fan the World Championship win last year and the success of Team Sky this year should have given them enough warning.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complain-online/

The BBC RR coverage comes via the “Olympics” TV feed. A dutch company apparently. I agree with the above, terrible coverage, particularly after the TDF coverage and I presume that the british guys were struggling to get time gaps as much as anyone else?

Much better standing next to the course and watch the riders go past 8 times, soaking up the atmosphere then only have to put up with the last 30mins at home on the TV.

JD – was terrible and obviously hadn’t considered what to ask the winner if it wasn’t Cav.

As for the wunner – I’d have been happy with just about anyone else than Vino. Terrible sprint from Uran Uran too.

Andy – thanks for the link – rudeness/ lack of respect / ill preparation logged.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complain-online/

I’ve just added my voice to this.

BBC say sorry for appalling cycling coverage

Who did Cav make that comment “do you know anything about cycling” to?

Who did Cav make that comment “do you know anything about cycling” to?

It was from the highlights show last night, not sure of the reporter. May be on BBC iPlayer

Well done JD, must have read STW as she upped her game today

Sport in general has been getting worse on the beeb, and its usually the one thing you can count on, what they didto F1 was very poor asthey had started to build a very good team abd program. Even the Golf coverage is loosing it when tht goes you know there is a problem.