Versus Finds Tour De France A Wheel Of Fortune
Watching Versus’ coverage of the Tour de France is like watching a combination travelogue and sporting event. The Tour dominates Versus’ coverage in July, as it started July 5 and runs until July 27 when the riders hit the Champs Elysées in Paris. In the meantime viewers get a chance to travel throughout France and Italy, as the 21 stages of the Tour play out daily. Overall, I have found Versus’ coverage to be comprehensive and filled with excellent studio talent that both informs and entertains viewers. For the true fan, the best place to get the latest updates on all the action surrounding the competition is Versus’ “Tour de France PreRace Show,” broadcast live each day at 8:30am ET. The show is produced from the city which hosts the finish of each day’s stage of the competition. Anchor Craig Hummer is a solid and informative host, and he takes the lead role in presenting the most updated news surrounding the event. For example, on the morning of Stage 12, which aired July 17, it was Hummer who broke the story that cycling superstar Riccardo Ricco had tested positive for drugs, and that he and his entire team had left the race and returned home to Italy in shame.
 |
Williams Lauds Versus For Its Coverage Of
Ricco's Failed Doping Test After 12th Stage |
It would be easy to gloss over the controversy, but that was not the style of Versus’ cycling analysts Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen and Bob Roll. They have never been shy about sharing their views. Liggett and Sherwen have been covering the Tour for almost 30 years while Roll is the “rookie” with only seven years under his belt. So just a day before Stage 12, the trio had been praising the Italian hero Ricco; but when the drug story broke, they were quick to dole out the criticism. Liggett: “Ricco has been caught and probably did not think that we (the cycling sports community and the international organization) and the doping testing organization in France knew he was taking drugs. It is simple; if you cheat you will get caught.” Sherwen was also quite candid about Ricco, saying, “Some idiots out there thought that they might not get caught because the drug (CERA) is used in such small doses that it can’t be traced. Clearly the testing can detect the drug and Ricco got caught. It sends out a great message to the riders and that is don’t cheat because you will get caught.” But it was Roll who drove home what the doping scandal could do to the Tour. He said, “When you find the guys that we as broadcasters and fans are building up each day cheat, it makes you wonder if this is all worth it…. If following the Tour is worth the trouble. If the doping problem continues, there will be a time when we can’t have this race any more and that will be a very sad day.” Roll’s comments were honest and refreshingly clear.
Once they have gone in-depth on the news of the day, the rest of the morning show looks at the specific issues facing the riders on that particular stage of the Tour. Here, Liggett, Sherwen and Roll break down the conditions that will most likely affect the day’s race. For example, at Stage 12, Liggett said, “This is one of the last relatively flat stages we have before we hit the Alps. So it is a chance for a number of the racers -- but most of all the sprinters -- to have a good day. There is a wind that they can use to their advantage because it will be at their backs most of the day. In about two day’s time, we will be in the Alps and that means the focus will shift to the climbers, the mountain men.”
After the “PreRace Show,” Liggett and Sherwen take up their position at the finish line where they call the action off monitors of the world feed broadcast provided by France2. The coverage mixes the traditional fixed and hand-held cameras, with those placed on motorcycles, helicopters and atop cranes. Think of broadcasting a Super Bowl on wheels every day for a month and you get an idea what it takes to cover the Tour de France. From the extreme close-ups of the road-weary cyclists to the aerial shots of the racing peloton (the field pack of racers) to the stunning views of the European countryside, the camera work is breathtaking. However, though France2 offers this spectacular coverage in HD to the rest of the world, U.S. viewers do not get the race in HD. Versus, which now shares an HD channel with its sister network Golf Channel, hopes to have the event in HD on their own full-time channel next year.
 |
Williams Likes Amount Of Background
Information Given Out About Riders, Regions |
I have always enjoyed Liggett and Sherwen’s play-by-play of the race. They give viewers plenty of information about the riders’ backgrounds, strategies, and a history lesson of the region that each stage travels. The duo also keeps the audience’s attention by explaining some of the less technical aspects of cycling that both seasoned fans and first time viewers can enjoy. Here is Sherwen on riders eating and drinking while they compete: “One of the great traditions of the Tour is the feeding stations along the route (where staff hand competitors bags of food and drink as they ride by.) But as you can see, riders now can drop back and pick up everything from a banana to power bars and energy drinks from the team cars. That way they can eat or drink whenever they choose and do not have to wait till they hit a feeding station. A rider might eat and drink a couple of times over the course of a 100-plus mile race like today in order to keep hydrated and have some added energy.”
As the day’s competition ends, Hummer, Roll, Liggett, Sherwen and field reporters Frankie Andreu and Robbie Ventura wrap up the live coverage with interviews of stage winners. Then the Versus crews split up, with one team leaving the race for the next stage and the other sticking around to set up for the primetime program. The primetime program, aired at 8:00pm ET, is a tightly-packaged two-hour show that is anchored by Hummer and Roll. The first five minutes recap the entire day’s race, complete with clips of the most important stories of that day’s stage. For example, Stage 13 was an especially important day for the sprinters, who were vying for the coveted Green Jersey over a reasonably flat circuit. I particularly liked the way that Roll talked about this race within the race: “Mark Cavendish is clearly the class of this field. … Robbie McEwen, the Aussie, has been the biggest disappointment so far. He should be winning this competition among the sprinters, yet his best finish is a fifth. If you are a world class sprinter, you must be cocky. Confidence is a key part of their make up. If McEwen does not ride with more confidence, then he won’t see a single Green Jersey the rest of the Tour.”
Roll and Hummer then do the play-by-play of the day’s race action, drawing heavily upon the expertise of Andreu, a former participant in the Tour. What the trio does is a condensed version of the race providing some of the day’s most compelling action. Andreu noted the dangers the mountain stages offer by stating, “What makes the mountain stages so hard is not just the tremendous energy that it takes to climb up the mountain, but it is the focus you need on those long descents. Coming down the mountain requires extreme focus because they are so dangerous and after working so hard to climb a mountain, it can be easier than you think to lose focus when coming down the mountain. And that is when you can really get hurt.”
I am a big fan of Versus’ coverage of the Tour because they have made it a family event. You do not have to be a cycling expert to enjoy the competition and the European history lesson they provide for almost the entire month of July. It is also the cheapest European summer vacation you will ever get.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Sports Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer who lives in Baltimore. He will be reviewing sports programming occasionally for SportsBusiness Daily and SportsBusiness Journal. He can be reached at jameswilliams360@comcast.net.
|
