Brussels

The media distributors of the Tour have become ever more severe with their paywalls, now making it impossible to purchase Eurosport from the US. I’m happy to pay for the media – think it’s only fair – but want the option of a French feed. I can still get France 1 and 2, which are excellent, but don’t like pirating nor the poor quality that comes with it. So I watched normal, terrestrial TV yesterday and NBC’s coverage of Stage One of the Tour. 

Now, whenever I write about television coverage, one must be aware, as I am myself, that there’s a certain amount of twisted and bitter perspective within me – somewhere I think I should still be over there and do miss it so. But I’ll do my best to maintain balance. 

Bob Roll stepped into the booth with a display of true professionalism. He and Phil had a fine rapport, the commentary was good, and the show went on as it must. Phil’s tribute to Paul was heart-wrenching and showed exactly why producers keep aging commentators going – they have the chops for the crucial moments and the beautiful delivery that the public expects. 

The burr-under-the-saddle for the NBC team was the arrival of Chris Horner who took to television, as I knew he would, as if he’d been doing it for decades. A sometimes tension developed between Horner and Christian Vande Velde, as VdV’s previous areas of expertise were suddenly invaded by the rash newcomer and his acute observations. Horner’s commentary, for example, on the effects of even a minor concussion – speaking of the crashed Jakob Fuglsang whom I’ll get to later - was pure color commentary gold. Horner is, by far, the most accomplished and experienced racer to ever grace American cycling airwaves. Winner of the Vuelta (beating Nibali), Tour of the Basque County, the Tours of California and Georgia…all of this from a racer who was generally plugged into a supporting role. The US public have, sadly, never given him his due, and I’m delighted to see him finally elevated to a proper position. In my dreams, when I’m back at the Tour, I’m in the booth with Chris Horner.

Directing American television is an impossibly tough job, with all of the commercials and sponsor elements that have to be plugged into the complex mosaic of the TV “rundown.” But I did feel let down by the directors yesterday. The first was when the hosts (Steve Schlanger, VdV and Horner) were on-camera and nattering on about something, don’t even remember, just when the peloton was exploding into bits under the pressure of Peter Sagan over the stretch of cobblestones (followed by a Green Jersey sprint) that had been thrown into the mix. We all knew the stones and sprint were coming, a simple reading of the roadbook sufficed, and as the race had been calmish up until then, a chance to excite and involve the audience was missed. The TV crew caught up with the peloton afterwards, but the point of live TV is immediacy. 

The second was Waterloo, which I’d been eagerly anticipating, and the long shots of the Butte du Lion (Lions Mound, the giant hill with the lion on top). How can Waterloo be completely ignored the way it was? Hello? The Duke of Wellington’s defeat of Napoleon; War and Peace; the triumph of the Allies…imagine if a French TV crew was covering the old Tour de Trump and made no efforts as the race passed Gettysburg. One of the main attractions of open road cycling is the tracing and commemoration of historical places and events, a way to involve yet another segment of the audience. People often watch cycling just for the scenery – thus all of those loving helio shots of chateau. That one was a huge miss and I really hope that it was just the directors getting into the weeds and not some stereotypical American attitude towards history that does not directly involve us. 

Now to the race. The big news was the crash of Jakob Fuglsang and his most dramatic, blood covered return to the peloton. The Dane is on the form of his life, is at least considered a contender for the win, yet he was riding towards the back of the peloton where the crashes happen. That’s not how one wins the Tour. His Astana team needed to keep him in the front both for tactical and psychological reasons – a contender needs to have the sense of commanding the race and not simply following it, especially with 20 K to go on the first, always-chaotic stage. Fuglsang’s injuries will insure that he has a brutal day today in the Team Time Trial, a completely unforgiving race. His podium lies in the balance.

The “surprise” win of Mike Teunissen, and Holland’s first Yellow Jersy in 30 (!) years was a sign of the slow yet steady building of the Jumbo-Visma team back to the levels of the old Ti Raleigh years of Dutch domination. Teunissen is yet another cyclocross phenom, (2013 U23 World Champion), joining the new, hyper-talented generation that have come out of the muddy races. He’s just come off of winning two, northern stage races, and was the final lead-out man for highly touted Dylan Groenewegen, who of course crashed out before the sprint. Many pundits are saying that Teunissen’s Yellow Jersey will be a one-day reign of glory but I’m not so sure. The TTT is short and the Jumbo-Visma team is made up of very, very fast men in the grand Dutch tradition. They start last and have all of the time checks to guide them. Wout Van Aert, Groenewegen (if he’s ok), Tony Martin (there’s a good TTT man!), Steven Kruijswilk…those boys are all real happy at 55kph+. Big day so early in the Tour, superb visuals and tensions for all of us watching.