Does nobody watch cycling on TV now?

[mjr]

the problem was nobody really did in the first place, thats why its not FTA anymore, not that the Giro ever was anyway apart from one or two years I think ITV trialled it, and was clearly such a disaster zone for viewership they never bothered again.

ITV have not broadcast the Giro in the last forty years. Probably not before either.

It's all still FTA, but not to the UK with English comment/ary.

This Giro was mostly dull, due to one contender and his team dominating.

[mattheus]

While Vingegard was the nailed on winner, a lot of the other categories were competitive right up to the very last stages. No one sprinter dominated, the young rider category was pretty close, and there were some hard to predict stage winners and we saw the emergence of some new talent in Eulalio and Piganzoli. It’s not always about the GC.

Yes. I thought it was an entertaining race. (A couple of breakaway stages in particular - seems like we've already forgotten Stage5 !!! https://www.cyclingnews.com/pro-cycling ... rates-xrg/ )

I know some focus on GC, so if that's not a close scrap they're bored - well their loss!

[TrevA]

the problem was nobody really did in the first place, thats why its not FTA anymore, not that the Giro ever was anyway apart from one or two years I think ITV trialled it, and was clearly such a disaster zone for viewership they never bothered again.

ITV have not broadcast the Giro in the last forty years. Probably not before either.

It's all still FTA, but not to the UK with English comment/ary.

This Giro was mostly dull, due to one contender and his team dominating.

Well if you thought the Giro was boring, best not to watch the rest of the Tour!

[pjclinch]

the problem was nobody really did in the first place, thats why its not FTA anymore, not that the Giro ever was anyway apart from one or two years I think ITV trialled it, and was clearly such a disaster zone for viewership they never bothered again.

ITV have not broadcast the Giro in the last forty years. Probably not before either.

It's all still FTA, but not to the UK with English comment/ary.

This Giro was mostly dull, due to one contender and his team dominating.

Well if you thought the Giro was boring, best not to watch the rest of the Tour!

Quite. I mean, the man's a marvel, comes across as a likeable, decent human too and the occasional exhibition of dominance makes for a good watch, but over 3 weeks I'd rather watch something with a less inevitable seeming outcome. Roll on les femmes!

Pete.

[Wipperman_95]

A British 1-2; Jordan Williams, Reece Wilson, in the men's Elite Downhill, in the Andorra MTB World Cup today. Sadly the media think cycling begins and ends with road racing/ the Tour.......

The Downhillers have insane skills, but we're told road racers are the best. They might be the best athletes, but most aren't the best actual cyclists......

[mattsccm]

Virtually nothing here. I won't pay for telly of any sort. I did watch everything going when it cost me (well her) bugger all but now? Nope

[Nearholmer]

Watching cycling, except perhaps madly daring stuff which makes your eyes pop out of your head, is up there with watching paint dry, or grass grow in real life, and on telly it’s like watching paint dry, or grass grow by CCTV. Cycling is fun; watching other people cycle isn't.

I tend to the same opinion about cricket and football, and nearly everything else, too, although I do watch football on tv with my son sometimes, because he enjoys it (and he watches motor racing, which is paint drying while somebody runs an aeroplane engine next to your head!).

[TrevA]

This reminds me of an occasion at work during the Rio Olympics. An open plan office with around 50 people. A woman (non-cyclist) asked if anyone had seen Laura Trott win her Olympic gold medal the night before. You could hear the tumbleweed rolling down the office. No one responded. I’d been glued to the telly watching it the night before, of course. I did confirm to her later on that I’d seen it and we had quite a long chat about it. I asked the guy sitting next to me if he’d been watching the Olympics. He said he’d sort of kept abreast of how many medals we had won but had not watched any of it on TV. I’ve watched sport on TV virtually my whole life, starting with the morning round up programme of the Mexico 1968 Olympics, when I was 9. I thought most other people did too, but it seems I’m in a small minority.

[mattheus]

<snip...>
I’ve watched sport on TV virtually my whole life, starting with the morning round up programme of the Mexico 1968 Olympics, when I was 9. I thought most other people did too, but it seems I’m in a small minority.

Probably not very small! The tentpole events (WC Final, Wimbledon, 6 Nations) get massive numbers of UK viewers.
And more widely, google found this:


https://www.olympics.com › ioc › news › around-5-billion-people-84-per-cent-of-the-potential-global-audience-followed-the-olympic-games-paris-2024
A record 84 per cent of the potential global audience* followed the Olympic Games Paris 2024 according to independent research

[pjclinch]

This reminds me of an occasion at work during the Rio Olympics. ..

The Team Pursuits at the Rio Olympics were amazing, both British gold runs great watching for entirely different reasons.
The women were just an utter machine and incredible to watch as the US dashed themselves to ruin against them, while the men were see-sawing this way and that right down to the wire with both teams seeming to explode and regroup through the ride.

Pretty zippy stuff, as paint-drying goes!

But, having said that, one has to find the right event. My wife is a keen cycle sport spectator, and watching 'cross during the pandemic encouraged her to the point of joining in, but though she owns and uses a track bike she's indifferent to track as a spectator sport. I like most track to watch, but not really the scratch race until the last 100m (out of several thousand).

Pete.

[pjclinch]

Following the Olympics...

For what value of "the Olympics"? I wonder...

I watch some of the events quite closely, I don't think I've ever followed, say, the Greco-Roman Wrestling for more time than it took to find something else. Again it's the tent-pole events (like the big running and swimming finals) that pull lots of folk in, I suspect the folk watching, say, fencing or archery are either involved to some degree themselves or are putting off working through their to-do list. And the archers and fencers probably feel the same way about the cycling I like... good to dip into a little but not something they'll sit up all night for.

Pete.