njlonghorn

It seems odd to me that the announcers don't make more use of raw data. When I want to figure out how fast the peleton is going, I have to use a stopwatch and wait for them to pass two mileposts (or whatever you call mileposts in metric). The math isn't all that complicated, but I shouldn't have to do it.

As a casual fan, more speed data would be very interesting to me -- especially during climbs. I know that a good 10% grade can slow me down to a crawl. They look like they are flying.

An example of something that would be interesting -- make note of the breakaway's speed at a particular point, then inform the listeners of the main peloton's speed at that same point. Talk about where the peleton is making up ground, and where it is losing ground.

I have heard them mention wattage data, but it comes up less than once an hour. WHY???? It would seem to me that they'd mention it every time the terrain changes, attacks are launched, etc. etc. etc. Yesterday, when the field was waiting for the crash victims to rejoin the peleton, they looked like they were barely pedaling. What kind of wattage were they putting out? Probably more than I can on an all-out sprint.... but I don't know because they didn't freakin' tell me.

Full disclosure -- I've only watched about 30-40% of the coverage so far this year, including all of yesterday (Sunday).

mkadam68

Versus coverage is pretty lousy. In their defense, the video comes from the Le Tour organization's pool feed. The audio is Phil & Paul. They're still stuck in the "Americans don't know squat about cycling so we have to be really basic with them" mode. I've really been liking EuroSport's coverage. Even Sean Kelly has been somewhat insightful.

SouthFLpix

I do hear them talking about speed actually. There is even a thread on this page discussing if 40 miles per hour is doable, as has been mentioned in the broadcast a few times.

Wattage is something that most people will not understand as they have no basis for comparison simply because power meters are still quite expensive. So if they say that someone is putting out 400 watts at the moment, very few people can translate that into effort.

rousseau

I agree, I think it would interesting to see this. I love watching ride videos with the data on the screen. I think it would make it even more dramatic.

Creatre

I just found out SRM has a live feed for like 8 riders during the whole TdF, you can track them live on their website. I haven't used it yet, and not sure of the link, but would be worth googling if you are interested. I will probably do it for tomorrow's stage.

Kind of Blued

I'm actually suprised at how seldom Phil & Paul explain what they're talking about. The learning curve for the typical six-pack football fan in America is still pretty steep, even if he tried to watch a whole stage.

That said, I'd be into more processed data too, but I uunderstand why they limit it to what they do.

Skewer

A bunch of the Garmin-Cervelo guys have been wired for data:

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/97548011

Error

Well im following race via Eurosport and they explained that they can not affect on that (because people very often ask about) .... picture coverage is from Tour organizers as mkadam68 said and they can only display that, so i guess they don't know about exact power output and speed .... but i hope this can help you little bit :

https://home.trainingpeaks.com/races/...e/stage-9.aspx
https://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/6TN...HRC7WIYHZLELCE

merlinextraligh

https://data.srmlive.de/TDF/

Very cool.

I was thinking the little box on the back of some of the rider's seatposts was for telemetry.

Kind of Blued

That's pretty awesome. I'm suprised I haven't heard it mentioned during the TV coverage.

merlinextraligh

SRM apparently isn't a Versus sponsor.

Versus should hook up with SRM, get them to advertise, and link the data on the NBC sports site.

Then they'd be promoting the heck out of it.

zigmeister

Yes, cool to watch the SRM live data on a web page, then have a live video feed on another, you can switch back and forth to get an idea of the speed/power and climb/descent profile and watch the map. Awesome.

njlonghorn

I just went to check it out -- speed 0, cadence 0, watts 0. They did still have a heart rate for a few guys. I guess this data would be more interesting before the stage ends.

Thanks for the scoop. I'll pull this site up tomorrow when they are actually moving. :-)

Error

WOW ! Great stuff merlineextraligh, only if they have some more riders ....

cyclezen

I'm actually surprised that we get any rider telemetry at all. Certainly I would expect that team directors would restrict data for the key players. Wouldn't want the opposition to get realtime data on when anyone is under stress and maxed out, as well as indications of how they react - hence even stage history data would be too much of a 'tell'. Especially for the key players, Schlecks, Contador, Evans.
Course I don;t think there's encryption of transmitted data, so any sophisticated techie could prolly pull in the rider data feeds and ID from whom it came - or maybe they're already ahead of the game and are encrypting these transmissions.
any case, the garmin site stuff is interesting, although 'iffy' on some data - MAX RPM for Ryder shows 177 (stage6) and 210 on another, then a more realistic 131 (Stage8) - neither of 177 nor 210 are real world except for a nano instant while dropping a chain, or some such goofy thing. The actual cadence chart never goes much above 120-ish rpm - more reasonable...
Overall, it's very cool.
I would luv to have seen PGilbert's telemetry for the last 12K from yesterday's stage - guy blows my mind!