Whilst I wait to see what the highlights package will actually look like, I'm pleased to see that those of us unwilling to pay for TNT will be able to follow the grand tours this year.
Will also be interesting to see whether this materialises - https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/there-will-be-a-free-to-air-product-tnt-sports-hint-at-free-tour-de-france-coverage-from-this-summer
No Wout though.....out with an elbow infection. That will put a bit of a spanner in the big V's support network
Oh Wout 😔
It won’t be the same without the jaunty ITV music & Ned Boulting/Gary Imlach laconic commentary.
Gutted about Van Aert…
The same deal covers the vuelta and giro until 2028
Last year the highlights were pour. The Giro one this year were better. It won’t be as good as it was. But it is what lots of people asked for
Will there be geology lectures?
Will also be interesting to see whether this materialises -
that is exactly what the first post is - the "free to air" bit is the free highlights package. As mentioned it covers highlights for all three grand tours (incl Tour de France Femmes - not sure abuot the womens Giro / Veulta) and full coverage of the UK stages for the 2027 TDF amd TDFF Grands Departs
https://media.wbdsports.com/post/tour-de-france-comes-to-5-in-landmark-multi-year-deal-with-tnt-s
Will there be geology lectures?
The perfect format for grand tour coverage is basically Saturday Kitchen Live, presented by Gary, Ned and Chris, with VT's of Rick Stein cooking at the roadside, Alice Roberts on geology interspersed by Michael Portillo, Michael Palin and Paul Merton doing wine reviews from a train alongside the peloton. There will also be a bike tech section hosted by Francis Bourgeois.
If anyone at TNT is reading this I'm available to exec produce this.
Will there be geology lectures?
The perfect format for grand tour coverage is basically Saturday Kitchen Live, presented by Gary, Ned and Chris, with VT's of Rick Stein cooking at the roadside, Alice Roberts on geology interspersed by Michael Portillo, Michael Palin and Paul Merton doing wine reviews from a train alongside the peloton. There will also be a bike tech section hosted by Francis Bourgeois.
If anyone at TNT is reading this I'm available to exec produce this.
Take my money please (or not, as I want it for free, or the cost of watching mournful charity ads for rescued donkeys).
Just hand it over to Ned, David and Pete to do Never Strays Far on telly. That's what we all want.
I'm glad it's back on free to air TV, but my grumpiness that it's not going to be Gary, Ned, Chris, David etc. is still overriding my desire to watch it this year.
I'm glad it's back on free to air TV, but my grumpiness that it's not going to be Gary, Ned, Chris, David etc. is still overriding my desire to watch it this year.
Yeah,I don't disagree but it's a bit cutting off your nose. Just have to remember that I was horrified when the coverage left C4 and Ned's early tours were far from polished.
Ned's early tours were far from polished.
But that was the whole point! Ned was brought in quite deliberately as someone who knew nothing about the sport.
I welcome free to air coverage but surely we already have this on DMax, as we have done with the Giro this year, and this is just them selling it to another channel...
If we can't have it fully live and free to air then I'd personally rather just keep it on DMax and use the Eurosport/TNT/Discovery/HBO broadcast package.
Also, controversial points:
- As much as I like the ITV coverage with Gary, Ned etc., I prefer Rob Hatch's commentary and the discussion is a bit more in depth whereas ITV appeared to dumb it down for first time viewers (and yes I know it's needed). I would much rather watch TNT live than the old ITV, albeit the ITV highlights with part magazine show were better as a highlights package.
- I don't think that £31 is that bad to pay compared to other sports subscriptions, given it's about 5 hours per day x 21. So 105 hours for £31, but if you time it right you'll get other races thrown in too. Add in the fact that if you're canny you can share this between mates to lower the cost...
- Add in the fact that if you're canny you can share this between mates to lower the cost...
Afaik you can use your subscription on two devices simultaneously, so that limits the amount of mates who can benefit
I don’t mind rob hatch. Jose Been and Steve Cummings were good on Dauphine. Robbie, Adam and Matt Stephens work really well together on the big races
Carlton Kelly and especially Sean Kelly are major drawbacks for me
Finding the world feed with Ned and Jacopo commentating on the giro was wonderful: insightful and informative, telling us not that it was “very difficult” or that the breakaway was “continuing on”, but detailing who was in the break and explaining their relevance: who was gunning for mountain points or the like, week was there to serve as a springboard for a team leader later in the race and so on.
Sadly I couldn’t find a world feed for the dauphine, but I’m hoping to find it for the TDF
VPN to New Zealand, live broadcast streamed on Youtube, for those who want to try
- As much as I like the ITV coverage with Gary, Ned etc., I prefer Rob Hatch's commentary and the discussion is a bit more in depth whereas ITV appeared to dumb it down for first time viewers (and yes I know it's needed). I would much rather watch TNT live than the old ITV, albeit the ITV highlights with part magazine show were better as a highlights package.
I dunno, fundamentally GT coverage is the archetype for so called slow TV*. It's at least 3+ hours of nothing but scenery. You can cover the important information about what's going on fairly quickly, then cut to the local chateaux, or Rick Stein cooking potatoes in an obnoxious amount of butter and garlic. No one actually wants 5 hours worth of commentary.
*loads of it around Christmas, channels showing 8 hours straight of Sami reindeer hearding on dog sleds, BBC4 has one of a bus route in Yorkshire.
the ITV highlights with part magazine show were better as a highlights package.
This was absolutely my favourite part about the whole thing. The actual race I'm fairly take it or leave it these days, but the way they did the highlights just elevated the whole thing for me.
