what are people's opinions on this series/how it's been televised/the format/etc?
For me i think it has been a well shown series and kept me interested throughout. As for the format, it's a little confusing to start with, what with all the 'top 3 positions' thing, and the sprints in the middle but i think the 1 hour format on a short circuit works and is more entertaining to both the tv viewers and the people who go to the actual races. I think it gets the non-cycling people interested and hopefully keep them interested enough to take up the sport. It would have been nice to have spread the races about a bit more (3 in the north west and 4 in the south east, none in the north east at all) and the nearest for me was well over an hour away so after work it wasn't possible for me to get to any of the races, hopefully next year the races will be in different towns and maybe nearer me, but i know that's being selfish so i'll keep that to myself.
what do other people think of it?
so no one has any opinions on it then? i'd have thought plenty of people would have been watching it... maybe it's just me then...
???
When/where was it on ?
itv4, 7-8pm wed & fri for the past 5 weeks or so
Yep I've watched every race (sky+) and went to the Chester Race last night to experience it 'Realtime'.
I think it's been really good and like you say a 1 hour race (+ five laps), ream competition and individual sprints, very entertaining once you understand it.
Well worth watching tonight as it was a great race. Last race is on Thursday evening and shown on telly on Friday.
ream competition
😯
I think the format is pretty good, the action is fast (particularly as its recorded highlights) and the weather has been pretty good too.
It could have been publicised a bit more, but then again there's already been people on here complaining that some stupid bike race stopped them driving their cars around some township in the provinces.
Its just a shame about the super cheesy logo and graphics.
The publicity has been rubbish, I only found it by accident and its not even covered much in Cycling Weekly (could almost be a women's race there then!).
I dont enjoy viewing sport all that much but I have enjoyed this series. There is lots of action, lots of varied filming opportunities (fun to watch the motorbike camera person) and the towns have given an interesting background when the bike stuff is less active. I have already seen a town I want to go and visit.
All round, so very much better than the 08 Tour of Britain, which was (due to budget and liner race format?) the most boringly filmed race in the world, consisting of endless backsides wobbling through country lanes, with no decent view of what was going on at all.
I hope this town Tour Series is run again next year, hopefully with additional races.
It was on ITV4 around 7.00pm and repeated the next afternoon.
I stumbled across it completely by accident. Shame as I would have liked to have seen the whole series as it was good entertaining racing.
"[i]its not even covered much in Cycling Weekly[/i]"
that's because it's not a sportive
😉
i think it took a few races to 'find it's feet' as the riders and programme got used to the scoring format, but it's been entertaining viewing, especially for the blatant use of the camera motorbike for drafting, and the podium girls
I wondered how long it would take you to mention the podium girls 😛
Have they been submitted to pezcycling yet?
I think it's been really good, with pretty big crowds at most races (Blackpool was the only one that looked fairly sparse on the TV). The team racing format seemed like a bit of a gimic at first but I think it works to keep everyone racing (if there's a breakaway up the road the bunch still have to race to the line) and make it more exciting for the spectators.
Went to Chester yesterday and it was great, shame about the rain but it made the cobbles a bit more exciting - rather them than me, looked lethal!
I've quite enjoyed watching it and it does seem that each town thay have visited have welcomed the racing. I was just disappointed with the car drivers in my office who complained because the race came straight past our building and one end of the road was shut so the car drivers had to maybe take a slight detour to get out of town. Plus there was a lot of negativity towards cyclists as a whole ......"why do they need to shut the town centre just for a bike race?", "bloody cyclists" etc etc etc.
The postie in the pink tutu was quite amusing though in the public race!