The 2010 season starts today (Sunday 7 February) for European Free-to-Air Satellite TV viewers with the International Tour of Qatar.
Eurosport (19e) has coverage of the following stages starting at the following times:
Have you seen it on other free tv channels? Please leave a comment here if you have.
The 103rd Giro Lombardia is on RAI Tre (13e) at 1500 CET (1400 UK) and is on Eurosport (19e) from 1530 CET until about 1730 CET.
If you miss it today, Eurosport will be showing highlights at 1230 CET tomorrow, repeated 100 CET Monday and 1515 CET Thursday.
Brian wrote in “Paris-Tours on France3 (5w) at 1525 local (1425 UK) plus Eurosport de (19E) at 1500 local (1400 UK) - does not seem to be scheduled for British Eurosport.”
It’s also on RTBF-Sat (13e) from 1525 CET (1425) until 1705 CET.
Seen it elsewhere? Leave a comment here, please.
The World Championships from Mendriso, Switzerland sees UK coverage switch back to the BBC with coverage on BBC Two, BBCi (usually called STREAM-0 up to STREAM-6 - both 28e) and online. It looks like only the senior races are on the BBC.
Across Europe, more races are on Eurosport at 19e and RAI Tre and RAI Sport Píu at 13e. The senior races and short reports from others are also on SLO-2 at 13e.
It doesn’t appear to be on RTBF-Sat, TVEI or RTPI. If you spot it on other free-to-air satellite channels, please leave a comment here.
The Tour of Britain started today!
Coverage is free-to-air on itv4 (28e) and it’s at 7pm BST most nights, except for 7.30pm on Sunday, 8pm Wednesday and 10.30pm(???) Thursday. TV times are shown on the itv Cycling web page.
It’s Britain’s top race and comes to Somerset for two key days this year just before the race-finishing 92km London circuit stage next Saturday.
Is it on TV anywhere else? I didn’t find it yet. I guess the Vuelta is more attractive for most broadcasters who are going to show cycle racing.
Bernie emailed in to point out Paris-Bruxelles 1420 tomorrow (Saturday) on RTBF-Sat (13e). Thanks!
Brian wrote in “As expected the Vuelta is being shown on Eurosport.de starting Sat. but it seems it will also be shown live on Spanish channel TVEinternational (19E) - currently listed for Sat and Sun so far.”
TVEI is on a wide range of satellites with show times apparently only published a few days ahead, for the second year running.
Eurosport has Vuelta shows in the late afternoon most days.
Who else is covering this race free-to-air? RAI Sport pìu (13e) seems to prefer the Giro del Veneto at 1900 CET today.
Bernie S writes in too: “The Vattenfalls race in Hamburg on Sunday is on both Eurosport and RAI Sport piu from 1545 cet”
This is a race that I usually miss and it looks like I’ll miss it again this year. Is it any good?
BrianL wrote in “The ENECO Tour is being shown on RTBF Sat from 18-25 August (c 1300/1330 UK time or 1400/1430 CET). How will Britain’s Bradley Wiggins fare after his great ride in the TdF?”
I hope he’ll do quite well. Is the ENECO Tour what used to be the Benelux Tour, or is that different?
And so it begins!
itv4 (28e) has live coverage Saturday 1630-1900 BST and Sunday 1430-1630 BST, with highlights daily at 1900-2000 BST (except Saturday when it’s at 2000), repeated the following day at 1300.
Unfortunately, it seems that reruns of 60s serials are more important to itv4 than the Tour de France (home of cycling? more like a doss house it’s only allowed in at night), so we need to look at foreign channels for live coverage…
France Television is the home broadcaster and you can watch live tour coverage on France 2 (5w) most days from about 1420 CET. There’s often a short programme earlier at 1250 or 1300 CET for the village départ on France 3 (5w). I suspect the highlights are in either the France 2 Journal at 2000 CET or Tout le Sport around 2300 CET on France 3. Generally, the pictures are what you’ll see used as a base by all the other broadcasters.
Belgium’s RTBFsat (13e) is also showing tour coverage in French. In previous years, it’s been fairly similar to the French coverage, but with different commentators. If I remember correctly, a little before the stage, their show A bicyclette offers a bit of a different look around the start towns.
Italian channel RAI Due (13e) seems to have the live stages this year, with highlights later on RAI Sport píu (13e). Earlier in the day, RAI Sport píu is showing the Giro d’Italia femmini if you’d like to watch that.
Either the Spanish-language channels suck, my TV guides suck or both. I can’t find any free-to-air coverage from Spain at all.
In German, Eurosport (19e) has live coverage daily. Usually, they add more on-screen captions, picture-in-picture interviews and also magazine programmes like Planet Armstrong. Good for information, but some may find the scrolling competitions a bit distracting.
ARD and ZDF (13e and 19e) continue their love-hate relationship with le Tour. This year they’re showing live coverage, but I think starting later in the stage than other broadcasters (1630 CET or so). Hopefully this year they won’t bottle out if some drug cheats are caught during the race.
Unusually, I’ve also found RTL Tele Letzeburg (19e) showing live coverage. I don’t remember finding that before. Maybe they’re hoping to capitalise on the reduced coverage from across the border in Germany this year?
Have you spotted any more free-to-air coverage? Any particularly good (or bad) presentations of the Tour? What do you love or hate about the shows? Leave a comment and praise Phil or condemn Carsten if you like…
CyclingFans Main Site
Yet-to-be-published Coverage Tips
Recent Bookmarks
MJ Ray's Recent Utterings Powered by WordPress