Vuelta. Watching?



wicklow200

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May 12, 2005
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Just interested ... how many of us who have access to tv, internet coverage of the Vuelta, and ususally watch it, will be doing so from Saturday.

Personally I'm in two minds.

I paid far less attention to the Tour this year than ever before. The OP expulsions sort of knocked the good out of it for me. Although, I got sucked back in during mountain stages.

Since FL's bust I have had the chance to, and in former years would have watched, key stages of Deutchland tour, Eneco, Vattenfalls, but just didn't bother.

Now with the vuelta, Im intrigued by how Perreiro and ValVerde will work together and if Vino and Mayo will compete. But at the same time Im sicked by all the goings on, the doping, the UCI, the legal disputes, the sheer random nature of the sport right now.
 
wicklow200 said:
Just interested ... how many of us who have access to tv, internet coverage of the Vuelta, and ususally watch it, will be doing so from Saturday.

Personally I'm in two minds.

I paid far less attention to the Tour this year than ever before. The OP expulsions sort of knocked the good out of it for me. Although, I got sucked back in during mountain stages.

Since FL's bust I have had the chance to, and in former years would have watched, key stages of Deutchland tour, Eneco, Vattenfalls, but just didn't bother.

Now with the vuelta, Im intrigued by how Perreiro and ValVerde will work together and if Vino and Mayo will compete. But at the same time Im sicked by all the goings on, the doping, the UCI, the legal disputes, the sheer random nature of the sport right now.


I'm in the same boat too, Wicklow.

I love the sport but I'm not sure I love it enough to have to watch it given what we have seen since prior to 2006 TDF.
Eurosport will give it the usual three week coverage.

I love the Vuelta - so it's going to be tough trying not to watch it.
 
judging by how dull the past editions of the Vuelta have been (it's either a Spanish wankfest, a nice training ride for the worlds, or a grand tour for the teams to make up the numbers in with new or average riders), i'm keeping €19.99 in my pocket.
 
Dead Star said:
judging by how dull the past editions of the Vuelta have been (it's either a Spanish wankfest, a nice training ride for the worlds, or a grand tour for the teams to make up the numbers in with new or average riders), i'm keeping €19.99 in my pocket.
Well to be fair the Tour de France was a procession during the Lance years as well. Its just the best riders turned up. Anyway the Tour vs Vuelta and Giro has been discussed to death.

Whats the 19.99 for btw?
 
wicklow200 said:
Well to be fair the Tour de France was a procession during the Lance years as well. Its just the best riders turned up. Anyway the Tour vs Vuelta and Giro has been discussed to death.

Whats the 19.99 for btw?

that's for watching it live on cycling.tv, seeing that I don't have Eurosport.

Tommy D? Sounds like some new variant of that drink Sunny D!
 
Dead Star said:
that's for watching it live on cycling.tv, seeing that I don't have Eurosport.

Tommy D? Sounds like some new variant of that drink Sunny D!
Tom Danielson from Disco. I saw him ride several years back at the Cascade Classic in Bend, Ore., (Great race they have there, btw) and he seemed like a Armstrong wannabe, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Anyway, some peeps in the press were touting him as the next American GT threat. The jury is still out on that. He does best on steep climbs and, I believe, the Vuelta has a few this year along with some mnt. top finishes.

He's got the Disco team behind him. I'm thinking a top fiver would be a good result for him.
 
You guys are not true cycling fans. The ENECO tour was awesome and the Vuelta has constantly been the most exciting Tour. The parcours is fabulous...3 mountain top finishes in the first 9 days! Are you ****ing kidding me? The Vuelta starts off with a bang and doesn't let up until the final day in Madrid. Vino, Menchov,Tommy D, Sastre, Mayo, Pereiro, Valverde, Kashechkin, Rasmussen battling it out for G.C..

One day stars like Di Luca, Bettini, Perdiguerro, Samuel Sanchez and Rebellin going for stages

McEwen and Petacchi, Hushovd to see who truly is the best sprinter in the world

Then you have your second tier G.C guys like Chris Horner(who is going for G.C), Cyril Dessel, Fothen who may give us a surprise run..

But best of all is the way the Spanish race. CONSTANT ATTACKING and open G.C battle means the race is constantly exciting.
 
Well I'm watching for the newly installed "bike cam" - Thats cool !

_______

Unipublic’s campaign to reinvigorate the Vuelta after the last two editions were hit by high-profile doping scandals will include some intriguing innovations that could seriously boost interest in the Spain’s national tour. The race organisers have already announced a major change in weekend scheduling, bringing six of the eight weekend stages forwards so that TV companies can more easily show more of the race during this busy sporting season.

In addition, Spanish TV is planning to increase the number of mid-stage interviews it carries out with team managers. However, unllike at the Tour de France, for example, where interviews are carried out over the phone and with previously recorded images, these interviews with be carried out via a micro-camera installed in team cars. As well as face-to-face interviews, fans will also be able to hear team directors talking to their riders, as well as replies from the riders.

Given the strategic nature of many of the instructions passing back and forth, directors will be warned about when the camera in their car is going live so that key tactical information is not given away to rival teams via TV.

Another innovation is likely to take fans closely than ever before to the race action. While cameras mounted on bikes have been seen before, the Vuelta is planning to mount another micro-camera on the seatpost of a rider, but looking backwards at riders following him rather than forwards at the backs of riders in front.

The hope is that by having this camera on the bike of a key domestique each day, fans will be able to see how the main players in the race are performing. For example, on a day when a sprint is likely, the camera could be mounted on the bike of one of Milram’s lead-out men so that it can follow Alessandro Petacchi’s movements in a sprint. As well as vision, the camera will also transmit sound. A different rider will carry this 100-gram camera each day.

Those who cannot watch on TV aren’t being left out either. If you’ve got a web connection during stages, check out Google Earth for the ultimate bird’s eye view of the race. Real-time satellite pictures will enable fans to follow the action from the ultimate eye in the sky.

One innovation that the Vuelta brought in and other races have copied is being discarded by the Spanish race. The transmission of information from riders’ pulsemonitors has been canned as teams refused to let their leaders be monitored. Consequently, riders selected for this coverage have tended to be out of contention and of little interest from the competitive point of view.
 
whiteboytrash said:
Well I'm watching for the newly installed "bike cam" - Thats cool !
The bike cam will be something else. It's hard to appreciate the never-ending adjustments riders have to make to stay upright in the peloton. That's the part of the sport non-cyclists have a hard time appreciating. The bike cam should help.

The company I work for is thinking about carrying a mini camera you hook to you helmut, sorry, helmet and hook the cord into a compact DVD or VHS recorder (not included). If we get one, I'll hook it up and show you'all these insane group rides in Miami.
 
Given that whoever wins can be fairly assumed to have swallowed, injected, or swilled several dozen varieties of dangerous and illegal performance enhancing potions supplied by some corrupt and self-serving witch doctor, my interest in watching what has essentially become a three week advertisement for the pharmceutical industry is completely lacking.

Maybe I could renew my interest if I could cheer for the doctors instead of the riders. Go Ferrari! Go Fuentes!
 
tcklyde said:
Given that whoever wins can be fairly assumed to have swallowed, injected, or swilled several dozen varieties of dangerous and illegal performance enhancing potions supplied by some corrupt and self-serving witch doctor, my interest in watching what has essentially become a three week advertisement for the pharmceutical industry is completely lacking.

Maybe I could renew my interest if I could cheer for the doctors instead of the riders. Go Ferrari! Go Fuentes!
Man, don't tell me all those years you've believed riders are clean and that they're winning clean?
Don't torture yourself without reason... Watch premium cycling.
Attractive parcourse, glorious views and most important - very open race.
 
Andrija said:
Man, don't tell me all those years you've believed riders are clean and that they're winning clean?
Don't torture yourself without reason... Watch premium cycling.
Attractive parcourse, glorious views and most important - very open race.

Sigh, you're right. I mean I've figured they all doped for a while. But man, to learn just how corrupt and cynical the whole thing is this year is just f*@king impossible!

I may have to tune in to see a mountain stage. I already paid for the cycling.tv.
 
tcklyde said:
Maybe I could renew my interest if I could cheer for the doctors instead of the riders. Go Ferrari! Go Fuentes!

Maybe they should list who the rider works with - the way F1 lists what tyres the car runs on. :D


I won't be watching. I've got two weeks off work and a brand new TCR composite in the garage. Venga! Venga!
 
EvilJediJ said:
You guys are not true cycling fans. The ENECO tour was awesome and the Vuelta has constantly been the most exciting Tour. The parcours is fabulous...3 mountain top finishes in the first 9 days! Are you ****ing kidding me? The Vuelta starts off with a bang and doesn't let up until the final day in Madrid. Vino, Menchov,Tommy D, Sastre, Mayo, Pereiro, Valverde, Kashechkin, Rasmussen battling it out for G.C..

One day stars like Di Luca, Bettini, Perdiguerro, Samuel Sanchez and Rebellin going for stages

McEwen and Petacchi, Hushovd to see who truly is the best sprinter in the world

Then you have your second tier G.C guys like Chris Horner(who is going for G.C), Cyril Dessel, Fothen who may give us a surprise run..

But best of all is the way the Spanish race. CONSTANT ATTACKING and open G.C battle means the race is constantly exciting.

Think the point is they are sick of doping not cycling, they are true cycling fans, not true doping cheat fans.
 
EvilJediJ said:
You guys are not true cycling fans. The ENECO tour was awesome...
Yeah, yeah, but here in America he didn't see it on the tele (was it on someplace? OLN? Cyjism Sunday?). Defending a two or three second lead over flat roads doesn't translate well into print, but on TV? Hell yeah it would have been exciting. I like Paris-Tours for the same reason. Over flat, mostly smooth roads with wind, you just don't know what's going to stick.
 
helmutRoole2 said:
Yeah, yeah, but here in America he didn't see it on the tele (was it on someplace? OLN? Cyjism Sunday?). Defending a two or three second lead over flat roads doesn't translate well into print, but on TV? Hell yeah it would have been exciting. I like Paris-Tours for the same reason. Over flat, mostly smooth roads with wind, you just don't know what's going to stick.
I'm in America so I watch all the races on Cycling.tv. It sucks having to watch on a computer, but its better than nothing.
 
rocko said:
Think the point is they are sick of doping not cycling, they are true cycling fans, not true doping cheat fans.
If they were unaware that the cyclists have ALWAYS been doping then they are idiots. If they were EVER a cycling fan, they still should be.
 
I paid my 20$ and saw the Giro, ( very poor announcing...still learning). Now they want another 20$ for the Vuelta. The deal was 20$ for one year but "they didn't know they would get the Vuelta"... that's my problem? Is this a euro thing?... bait and switch?
 

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