DiabloScott

The app worked fine for me too - a very good option if you don't want cable/dish/vpnEurosport. Just watched all the podium presentaions... very nice.

Giacomo 1 

You guys make me laugh.

It wasn't even 10 years ago we didn't get TDF coverage of any type at all, and all I hear from you guys is complaints about little non-sense, "oh the announcers are terrible", "to many commercials", we missed such and such", blaahhh bla, bla. Get over the little stuff and just be happy we get full coverage.

Heck, NBC/SN gave us 4 - 5.5 hr telecasts everyday, with repeats at night! C'mon, they aren't perfect, but they have to make sound business decisions. The race went long and NASCAR is a much bigger money maker than cycling will ever be, so NASCAR gets the nod, Stinks for us, but I get it...

Marcus_Ti

10 years ago we had Outdoor Life Network (IIRC) coverage of Tour de France just fine here in the USA. 2005 was one of the many Lance Armstrong years that were indeed broadcast in the USA. It was also Phil and Paul, in their younger years.

Would you like to try again to rant about how terrible the old days were...this time actually remembering when they were?

Laggard

I started watching the tour when all we had was a one hour recap on Sunday afternoon. I've no problem with their coverage. I have a problem with the fact that they were not willing to preempt NASCAR for 15 minutes. Even without that there was a chance that we could have seen the podium but they then proceeded to go to commercials rather than going back to the tour.

Does the NASCAR crowd have so much clout that NBC is terrified of cutting 15 minutes of pre-race coverage?

cruiserhead

Anyone that can't figure out how to watch Eurosport or other live streaming broadcasts, and gets all drama queen about free, network sports coverage... I mean, really. This is the USA, and there isn't even an American GC contender. NBC gave it a lot more than I expected.
Then again, I don't care, because I watch plenty of vids because I actually want to follow the Tour in more than NBC snippets.

Laggard

Free? Who gets free cable?

I'm going to figure out how to stream Eurosport to my HDTV though I suspect with our ISP and computer that the results will be iffy at best.

ericy

NASCAR is the only sport I know of where they televise practice. What stuns me even more than this is that there are people who want to watch it.

Laggard

Ha. And it wasn't even practice. It was some analysts talking about practice.

Deal4Fuji

I saw the yellow jersey presentation and Froom's speech on the Sunday night telecast on NBC/SN. I'm with you Giacomo, I think the coverage was great considering the number of viewers they get. 3 hours AM & PM for 3 weeks, and some interesting shots of the countryside and the fervor of the TDF. There were a lot of commercials but they were front-loaded, so when the stage finish was being decided they didn't cut away as often.

DLBroox

The app was great. No commercials. Complete coverage to the very end. Stats, maps, race profile, photos, written play by play, separate videos of specific events during the race along with a complete stage replay whenever you wanted to watch it. All for a buck a day.

Scummer

Eurosport had the whole shebang coverage. In Europe Astra beams it right through your dish into your living room for... free. Imagine that.

Wilfred Laurier

TSN, a Canadian sports network, has recently gone to a ~7 channel feed but plays the same damn thing on all seven sometimes

Last fall I was watching a football game on TSN5 and they cut away from the tied game with ~15 seconds to go, right after one of teams recovered a fumble on the 15 yard line, so they could tell the audience that another game would be starting in five minutes and the remainder of the current game would be shown on TSN6.

Marcus_Ti

But without us being penny-and-dimed how can we be penny-and-dimed? That is socialism!

Campag4life

Completely agree. Loved the NBC SN coverage. Thank you NBC for doing such a good job. No they aren't perfect. Also also feel Jens who is a great bike rider and knows more about cycling than just about anybody, isn't a natural in front of the camera. Now he is just starting out but his delivery isn't very good in spite of all the public speaking he has no doubt done and maybe he will loosen up a bit over time. But he is far from a natural. Still good to hear from the great Jens. I really enjoyed the coverage and watched a lot of the race on NBC SN.

Bacciagalupe

Are you really that desperate to see a few podium girls?

I'd much rather see actual racing than the podiums. Perhaps my memory is wrong, but it seems like they were showing more stages right from the start in the past few years.


Yes.

Auto racing is one of the more popular sports in the US, beating out golf, hockey and tennis. By some accounts, it's only beaten out by football, baseball and basketball. Cycling doesn't even rank.

Does this really surprise you?

Campag4life

I actually dig the podium girls and why I watch the presentations when they are on. I love hot woman and my girlfriend is a good cyclist.

As a side note, one of the things I am always astounded by is when I see the jersey winners at each ceremony. Take Sagan. He always looks like he does before the race. Racing over 100 miles in the most grueling conditions with weather and steep hills in thin air and he looks like he just had a nap.
Those guys are in another universe.

Laggard

Me too. I generally don't care about podium presentation. But this was the FINAL yellow jersey presentation. The ultimate reward for three weeks of racing and they can't hold off 15 minutes to show it?

So NBC, next year please cut out 15 minutes of racing and give us the full final podium.

Other than that f-up I thought they did a good job and appreciate the coverage we get.

klmmicro

The Eurosport option seems like a great option as I really like to watch other cycling events, not just the TDF. I do love the TDF, do not get me wrong...there is just so much more to the sport than that one event. In the US, the options to seeing the rest of the events is limited.

NBCSN is paid for by racing in the off season, NASCAR being the primary form for their fans. The TDF was a nice addition, but cycling simply does not show up on the radar here. We are a minority...

fietsbob

they intro'd the NASCAR Coverage to follow , then went back briefly to the TdF yellow jersey final presentation (saw, Here)

Giacomo 1 

Actually, I'm very happy with all of the coverage we get here in the states these days.

You have NBC/SN, Universal Sports, which are both subsidiaries of NBC, and a station called BEIN. I don't get BEIN, but it is available, however Universal Sports is in the basic package and it's especially cycling heavy, showing a lot of the small tours, spring classics and the Veulta. I've watches races I never heard of on Universal!

Right now, I don't see a need to go to Eurosport...

gandrimp

I think it would still be a chicken.

Leinster

The teams have spare "podium kit" for all of the riders so they can freshen up quickly and wear sparkling clean duds for the cameras. I couldn't help thinking watching Degenkolb scrub his face and change shirt after Roubaix this year that if I'd just bike 275km through the mud for the win, I'd want the grime and dirt to be visible. Though obviously the sponsor logo should be as well.

Also, I've always found that whatever sport I've competed in, the better shape I'm in at the start, the less knackered I am/quicker I recover at the finish. The guys who are winning these races are the best athletes, in the best shape of their lives. I'd bet it's the guys who are barely making the time cut that will be the ones unable to speak/walk up 3 steps/hold down solid food for half an hour after crossing the line.

09box

I don't have cable and didn't shell out for the app. I just watched daily recap videos online each day and watched Eurosport feeds when I could online. No complaints.

Walter

cthenn

So they didn't show the super doper accept his final yellow jersey, no big loss.