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A different nationality
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| DaBobScotts |
Posted on 03-06-2012 22:20
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Domestique
Posts: 606
Joined: 15-01-2011
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I live in Australia, and cycling is a small, gradually growing sport. The only time it is reported in the news is a 2 second thing on how Cadel did something only during the tour. As far as most people are concerned, there are 2 races per year, the TDU and TDF.
And you cop a lot of shit when either of those two races aren't on, either...
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 03-06-2012 22:31
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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Then it's good for the sport that Evans won TDF. I hope it keeps growing over there. TDU is one of my favorite races, btw. I've been told that they choose one rider each year, a domestic, and they give him a lot of attention. I like that attitude! |
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| Wilier |
Posted on 03-06-2012 22:49
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5405
Joined: 28-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Even in the Netherlands, a former top cycling country, the general idea is that cyclist are dopers. There's only a small amount of live coverage of cycling races (the big classics, and the TDF). There's still a decent amount of amateurs racing and there's always some talent. |
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| Kentaurus |
Posted on 03-06-2012 23:10
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3999
Joined: 26-07-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Mresuperstar wrote:
In the USA, the majority of the country doesn't know cycling is a professional sport  If I ask anybody in my region to name a professional cyclist, most would have no clue or fall back on Lance Armstrong. And don't even get me started about the news, local never shows cycling period. ESPN does doping scandals and 5 second segments for TdF stages, thats about it for National sports coverage. So it's kinda strange why I'm here, you can thank random TV surfing and stumbling apon Versus showing the TdF. I have been hooked every since 
Pretty much true, I think the is a little bias based on states also, California, Colorado and North Carolina all have some decent cycling communities, but as far as the rest of the country, they are mostly clueless. Lance at least got ESPN to give a minute or two to the sport when he was winning the TdF in the early 2000s. Now that he is done though there really hasn't been anyone to replace him, and the US really doesn't care if unless you win.
However Cycling is growing nicely in the US right now, the Tour of California got an hour or two of live national coverage on its last stage. And the TdF will be carried live again on one of the channels (Universal Sports I think?). The sport is now more popular than it has ever been and the general attitude of people has changed from "get those stupid idiots off my road" to "ehh, whatever".
EDIT: I say the sport is more popular now than ever, I should correct that to be the activity is more popular than ever, most people have started cycling as a way to get exercise and do not follow the professional sport.
Edited by Kentaurus on 03-06-2012 23:13
AZTECA - NBCSN  |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 03-06-2012 23:14
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 10438.70
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I am from America. They do have coverage of quite a few races, most pro tor events on Versus or Universal sports, but not on big channels, and in terms of scheduling it always takes a back seat to something else. The only time the major sports station in the country (ESPN) covers cycling is during the TDF.
My country also invented two sports that no one else cares about: baseball (username  ), and American football. We also have basketball and hockey.
Other than that, soccer (football) isn't really that popular, but people like it, as well as tennis and golf.
Then there's this exotic thing called lacrosse... but even I don't care about that.
Edit: And Kentaurus, all stages of the TOC were covered
Edited by baseballlover312 on 08-06-2012 00:54
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 03-06-2012 23:38
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2907
Joined: 15-07-2007
PCM$: 300.00
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Having been a really anonymous sport for decades in Norway, the interest have exploded over the last few years following the success from the likes of Kristoff, Hushovd and Boasson Hagen espescially.
Now they broadcast both the Giro, TdF and Vuelta and a lots of lot of classics in the spring and higher profile stage races troughout the season. The interrest is there and the money is certainly there, and therefore I think it's just a matter of time before we'll see a Norwegian ProTour-team.
People are finally looking to embrace this sport, and yes, they allways show the highlights from cycling races in the evening news  |
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| DaBobScotts |
Posted on 03-06-2012 23:39
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Domestique
Posts: 606
Joined: 15-01-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Ian Butler wrote:
Then it's good for the sport that Evans won TDF. I hope it keeps growing over there. TDU is one of my favorite races, btw. I've been told that they choose one rider each year, a domestic, and they give him a lot of attention. I like that attitude!
Yeah it is good that he won the TDF, gave the sport a lot more attention. Although, it would be nicer if the mainstream media at least mentioned other races. Not a word about Goss/Gerrans winning the MSR, etc. SBS gives the most coverage here. We got 8 stages of the Giro live this year, and 30 minute highlights of every stage.
And I am involved with that stunt every year. It's run by a local club, and they get shirts made and everything. They have some pretty tough requirements though, like he can't speak much english, his first TDU, neo pro (or close to it), etc. It's a pretty cool thing that gets much more attention in countries that aren't here.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 03-06-2012 23:43
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
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Mresuperstar wrote:
In the USA, the majority of the country doesn't know cycling is a professional sport If I ask anybody in my region to name a professional cyclist, most would have no clue or fall back on Lance Armstrong. And don't even get me started about the news, local never shows cycling period. ESPN does doping scandals and 5 second segments for TdF stages, thats about it for National sports coverage. So it's kinda strange why I'm here, you can thank random TV surfing and stumbling apon Versus showing the TdF. I have been hooked every since
I got hooked the same way. Stumbled upon Versus showing the 08 TDF.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 04-06-2012 00:03
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World Champion
Posts: 12986
Joined: 20-05-2009
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There is absolutely no interest in it here, tbh. I'm lucky if I see one other person with drop bars on their bike in a day. I also live in a terrible area for road cycling, as its pan flat = boring to almost everyone 
We get the Tour Coverage live every year and delayed replays of ASO races like California, Crit Intl. and Tour of Oman (atleast I think they're all ASO)
Regardless there is no cycling culture here, and it will be a long time before there will be, if ever.
Doping Scandals dont make the news unless Lance or a recent Tour winner is involved. I did like how TSN got Steve Bauer to come on TV to explain what Hesjedals win meant to Canada though.
Its still not one of those sports that anyone plays as a kid, like mini-soccer, baseball or hockey.
Luckily for me, my Dad has a small interest so one day I watched a little bit with him, and thought it was pretty cool. It put me in a bike phase for a long time, but it wore off. Then the year later, same thing. Tour is on, watched a bit. Rode my bike a lot more for a few weeks. Then one year I had the whole summer off and decided to watch as much as I could. I still consider it my best holidays ever...
And then I found PCM looking for a Fifa game
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| lluuiiggii |
Posted on 04-06-2012 01:20
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8542
Joined: 30-07-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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I'm surprised.. honestly I thought cycling was much bigger in some Europe countries then what is being said.
Here, cycling is just another very small sport. Thanks to ESPN though, there's a 30-min highlight of each stage of the Giro which is broadcast at midnight, and 2 hours of each TdF stages live. Concerning the "normal" news programs, cycling is never mentioned (like most sports other than soccer/football), but I guess the TdF winner is sometimes mentioned in a random sports program (most likely on ESPN). There are also the 5 seconds ads (again on ESPN) which sometimes are about a cycling moment (lately I've seen mostly Contador finishing the 2010 Tour making a 3 with each hand - which is now outdated ).
As for the local cycling, it's not bad. The main television network here shows 3 races they sponsor "live" - with quotations marks because it's shown together with the Sunday morning sports program, and then for each 5 mins of the race there are 15 mins of the program. The narrator though is horrible (guy leading out his team train with 750 m to go - he says the rider's name and says that he's also fighting for the win). Unfortunately, since the race had to start and finish within the tv program, some of the races have been pathetically short, e.g. 40 km; luckily it's changed to at least 110 this year to get back to the UCI America Tour as 1.2 race.
And 'locally local', there's some interest in the sport, it's not rare to see people practicing cycling, races sometimes get some time on one of the city (which hosted the race) local news program.. it's good
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 04:39
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 04-06-2012 06:12
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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This is why I like Belgium:
My newspaper of today (the most business-like newspaper, so with not too much sport, some papers have endless pages of sport): Football: 3 pages. Cycling (Durbridge & Roelandts): 1 page. Tennis: 1 page. Other sports: 1 page.
In more sport-minded newspapers it's usually many pages football and 2-3 pages cycling.
During big races, even more (TDF, Ronde Van Vlaanderen) |
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| solano |
Posted on 04-06-2012 10:33
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Stagiare
Posts: 181
Joined: 06-07-2009
PCM$: 200.00
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In Britain, cycling was hardly ever mentioned until Chris Boardman won Olympic gold in 1992. There were 30 minute daily Tour highlights on Channel 4 but that was about it.
Since then there has been a gradual increase in interest mainly due to further Olympic gold wins on the track. Nicole Cooke's success was largely ignored by the media. It was only the success of the men that was noticed.
However, Cav and Wiggo's road success has now started to be noticed in the general media. Cav won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award last year (Chris Hoy won it after his golds at Beijing) for his Tour wins, green jersey and World Championship win. The whole of that race was broadcast live on the BBC, which was the first time I remember that happening. The Tour highlights are now an hour on ITV and they show some of the stages live too.
Yes, there is the inevitable doping talk surrounding cycling, but it's no longer the only thing talked about. Cycling has a more postive image now and that's a good thing. However, you still feel second-class when riding on the public roads as a lot of car drivers still see cyclists as a nuisance, or shout abuse as they drive past. Cyclists are still seen as a bit weird by a lot of people. |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 04-06-2012 10:42
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Team Manager
Posts: 33046
Joined: 08-03-2007
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Its growing. Track Cycling is still more mainstream because of the Olympics, but Tour de France is leading the way forward. ITV4's coverage of it even got nominated for a BAFTA recently.
solano wrote:
However, Cav and Wiggo's road success has now started to be noticed in the general media. Cav won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award last year (Chris Hoy won it after his golds at Beijing) for his Tour wins, green jersey and World Championship win. The whole of that race was broadcast live on the BBC, which was the first time I remember that happening. The Tour highlights are now an hour on ITV and they show some of the stages live too.
BBC have shown the whole World Championship for many many years on the red button / online. And ITV show ALL Tour de France stages live - and theyve had hour highlights for over 5 years, its hardly a recent thing! They also showed all Vuelta stages live last year aswell, which was a stroke of luck for them in terms of how it played out British riderswise.
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| tyriion |
Posted on 04-06-2012 11:05
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Sprinter
Posts: 1510
Joined: 29-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Being in the Netherlands is good, because you get Belgian television and can watch most races with good comments.
Check out my ManGame team here
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| arthon |
Posted on 04-06-2012 12:35
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Domestique
Posts: 581
Joined: 22-07-2009
PCM$: 200.00
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In Romania, cycling is broadcasted via Eurosport, albeit with useless commentators (even the Serbs are better at that, having about the same level of cycling culture), but besides that, there's the usual 30 sec mentioning of who won the TdF on the national station and that's about it.
Our sports news are 99% football scandals, WAGs and the sex & booze escapades of random moron players.
Edited by arthon on 04-06-2012 12:35
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 04-06-2012 12:42
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World Champion
Posts: 13915
Joined: 05-08-2008
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arthon wrote:
In Romania, cycling is broadcasted via Eurosport, albeit with useless commentators (even the Serbs are better at that, having about the same level of cycling culture), but besides that, there's the usual 30 sec mentioning of who won the TdF on the national station and that's about it.
Our sports news are 99% football scandals, WAGs and the sex & booze escapades of random moron players.
I second this. The commentators of Eurosport are useless. I would want Banciu and Naum back. They liked to mess around during the transmissions but at least they knew a thing or two about cycling, not like today's morons that only talk about Radioshack and SaxoBank.
Also they think Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans are the nicest guys in the peloton so I guess that says a lot about their knowledge of each rider.
As for the newspapers. It would be kinda ok if they were only about football, people here love the sport. But it's not about football. It's always who is the new girlfriend of X player or in which club he spent last night. They are like tabloids. And when they do write about real football it's always about the same 4-5 teams and the others are completely ignored.
Edited by alexkr00 on 04-06-2012 12:43
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 04-06-2012 15:46
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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So Football's kind of a big deal everywhere (except the USA). Well, I guess that was to expect. I sure hope cycling will increase in popularity!
If Hesjendal were Belgian, the whole country would go nuts, too bad he's Canadian
Edited by Ian Butler on 04-06-2012 15:46
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 04-06-2012 16:19
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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lluuiiggii wrote:
...
As for the local cycling, it's not bad. The main television network here shows 3 races they sponsor "live" - with quotations marks because it's shown together with the Sunday morning sports program, and then for each 5 mins of the race there are 15 mins of the program. The narrator though is horrible (guy leading out his team train with 750 m to go - he says the rider's name and says that he's also fighting for the win). Unfortunately, since the race had to start and finish within the tv program, some of the races have been pathetically short, e.g. 40 km; luckily it's changed to at least 110 this year to get back to the UCI America Tour as 1.2 race.
...
That does sound horrible! |
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| solano |
Posted on 04-06-2012 16:34
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Stagiare
Posts: 181
Joined: 06-07-2009
PCM$: 200.00
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SportingNonsense wrote:
Its growing. Track Cycling is still more mainstream because of the Olympics, but Tour de France is leading the way forward. ITV4's coverage of it even got nominated for a BAFTA recently.
solano wrote:
However, Cav and Wiggo's road success has now started to be noticed in the general media. Cav won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award last year (Chris Hoy won it after his golds at Beijing) for his Tour wins, green jersey and World Championship win. The whole of that race was broadcast live on the BBC, which was the first time I remember that happening. The Tour highlights are now an hour on ITV and they show some of the stages live too.
BBC have shown the whole World Championship for many many years on the red button / online. And ITV show ALL Tour de France stages live - and theyve had hour highlights for over 5 years, its hardly a recent thing! They also showed all Vuelta stages live last year aswell, which was a stroke of luck for them in terms of how it played out British riderswise.
Gosh, is it 5 years of ITV? I hadn't realised it was that long because they use the same people the Channel 4 used so there's not much difference. I also thought they only did live coverage on weekends and some of the mountain stages. I must have missed the other live coverage with being at work.
I enjoyed seeing La Vuelta for the first time, although the coverage was lower key than that of the Tour. I hope that cycling coverage continues to increase. Maybe a good result in the Tour and the Olympics will push it more into the public's attention. |
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| cristi_schleck |
Posted on 05-06-2012 11:40
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Amateur
Posts: 1
Joined: 04-06-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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Hi ! I`m from Romania and in my country was a kind of explosion of bicycles 4 years ago ! There are not many cyclists, but I think that 6 young people from 10 are using a bicycle
There are many fans of cycling , watching on Eurosport and some of them are involved in road cycling, like me ! Fans of : Omega-Pharma, RSNT, Colnago , BMC etc...and it`s a pleasure to see the discussions about this beautiful sport.
I`m an Andy Schleck fan , btw
"Cycling is the most beautiful sport you can imagine - Andy Schleck - (Radioshack Nissan Trek)
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