The Eneco Tour...
 

So who is watching?:innocent:

Well, the first two stages looked tailor made for the sprinters, but they failed in both. None of the sprint teams even got close. None of them ever got a lead out together, let alone putting their guy out front for a chance. Very strange that these sprint teams that looked so good in the TDF, could look so bad here. And I mean bad!

But there were some great finishes anyway. Stybar from Czech Republic and defending champ is out front in the GC after winning stage 2. Tomorrow is a very short TT, followed by some hilly stages. It looks like the sprinters blew there chances here.

So, who is watching?

we can barely get a pulse around here for the vuelta which has been the gt the last few years. the giro generally doesn't suck either.
only tour that really seems to move the needle in bf, unfortunately, is the tdf and maybe paris-roubaix for the one day races.
the 3-8 day tours don't really stir the imagination or keystrokes of the majority it would appear.

I think the lack of chatter around the Vuelta is because it is hard to find on TV. I find watching a grainy stream on a sketchy looking website unenjoyable. I did just watch most of the Tour of Utah on Fox Sports. That was pretty entertaining...breakaways that actually work and a slick move by Cadel Evans to take the stage win on the final stage.

The only reason I even knew there was an Eneco tour was because of a short article on VeloNews.

Same with me. It's just so hard to watch these races. If you're not around when they're live to catch a crappy steam it's almost impossible to find a replay. I'd watch cycling every day if I could. And talk about it! I'm hoping there's going to be an app for the Vuelta. Even the tour of Utah had one.

I also think once the whole Lance thing finally resolved itself and the arguments all stopped the posers on BF left the room. That was a great deal of the threads for a long time.

Yeah, the Tour is THE big event anyway, but it also has the advantage of live HD coverage. If the classics and other national tours got the same coverage that non-major tennis and golf events get, there'd be a lot more chatter about them. Of course, they wont' get that coverage if they don't get the eyeballs, and vice versa.

I'm not sure I understand you guys.

There is both live HD coverage and replays of the Eneco almost all day on Universal Sports just like NBC/SN did for the TDF. It's a great feed, comparable to the TDF, except Steve Schlanger and Todd Golgoski do the announcing. Universal will also cover the whole Veulta to.

Cycling coverage continues to get better here in the States thanks to NBC/SN and Universal...

Comcast dropped Universal a couple of years ago. When they did have it wasn't HD but still you got great cycling coverage. With the Giro, Vuelta and some other races it's Steephill for highlights. Streaming live isn't really an option for me. Comcast is the only real good option for high speed internet so I'm not dropping them.

At least we get Utah on Root and the Colorado Challenge on NBC Sports.

Hard to get too excited about every race, unless it has some real exciting racing or spectacular scenery.

There are at least three stage races going on in Europe right now and if I had choice which to watch it is the Vuelta a Burgos to see how Quintana looks.

I'll probably record the Arctic Race of Norway 2014 highlights on NBC just because the scenery was amazing last year.

Same here...no Universal Sports on my cable provider. For a long time, Universal Sports was a broadcast subchannel and when they switched to a cable only format and demanded wider carriage and increased fees, a lot of TV providers chose not to continue carrying them.

Definitely enjoying Eneco.. on steephill.tv that is, just watching the last 10-15k of each state.

The last 500m of today's stage was pretty crazy.

Why is the Eneco Tour always so damn crashy??

Can't say that I've ever watched the Eneco Tour but the Netherlands especially is known for lots of road furniture in recent years. A few years back the Tour de France started there (I think it will start there next year too) and riders were crashing all the time. It was ridiculous and scary for the riders. Belgium is known for crappy (cobbled or often concrete slabs with gaps in them) roads which can also lead to crashes.

Also wind and rain are common too any time of year.

Add to that Dutch and Belgian riders are used to riding in these conditions that favor big powerful riders that can fight for position. They aren't going to be pushed around on home roads and will likely muscle other riders out of their way if need be.

You might want to check your listings again, because Comcast has merged with Time Warner, and they provide Universal in HD in their basic package. So maybe you have it now and don't even know it.

Wow, terrible crash at the finish.

They took the GC favorite, Stybar, to the hospital so he's out. He flipped and landed flat on his face. Ugly!

Is it me, or are these sprint finishes getting hairier and scarier every year? It seems like everyone thinks they're a sprinter and nobody backs off anymore. There had to be 50 riders going hard for the finish. The sprint teams can't even get their lead outs out in front anymore.

Considering he had no lead-out, it was good to see Tyler Farrar in the mix at the finish, and not in the crash, but it seems he has lost some of his speed these days. His career has really dropped off in the last two years...

Nice to see GVA win today! One of my favorites.

I do think the sprints get harrier every year, more stronger riders fighting for points and trying to "avoid" crashes by being up front.

I check this fairly regularly since I'd really like to watch the Giro and Vuelta. We got something a while back called Universal HD and I thought that might be it but it is another channel in their family that occasionally shows sports. It looks like you can't get even on the premium packages with Comcast in Seattle.

It usually works fine to stream the last 10k on Steephill since this is usually all I watch for most stages. Occasioanally, especially in the Giro, there will be an epic stage that I wished I could see more.

With NBC SPorts I get Le Tour, Utah, US Pro, Dauphine, Paris-Nice, Roubaix (the single best day of televised cycling IMO) and a bunch of smaller races. Plenty to watch.

Besides the Giro and Vuelta the only races that I'd really like to see that I miss are Flanders, Lombardy and Milan-San Remo.

Sorry that so many of you missed this tour or didn't care much about it, because this was a good one.

It was really my type of tour, all big, strong riders duking it out on the flats, the hills, and cobbles. No skinny, emaciated climbers need apply for this race. This was one for the spring classics type riders and the big sprinters, who by-the-way, fared very badly here. These guys were literally elbowing, shoving, and pushing each other out of the way, and all at high speeds on narrow goat-path like roads. The winds, the rain, and the narrow roads all added to the excitement.

So congrats to Lotto-Bellisol and their young Tim Wellins for a great overall victory in a difficult tour...

ya, i've been watching wellins now for about a year, and he's always up there and works like a dog. nice to see him win a big race. a good one too.

http://www.lottobelisol.be/pictures/...jpg?1388409610