Phil is past his time and needs to retire. The confusion is mind-boggling and he is one of the last standing ties to the Armstrong era. I love Jens but he and CVV don't make great commentators.

Eurosport with the duo of Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly can't be beat. Went to watching them a couple years ago and never looked back. I wish they didn't have Greg Lemond standing in, but otherwise, it's really, really good.

I wish they'd let Jensie do more than colour commentary. He's got way better insight.

That said, my wife loves Ligget and gets annoyed with the races he doesn't announce

I too have Phil's voice in my head when I ride. I've followed cycling since the 90s but these days his voice is white noise. Sean Kelly has great insight and often calls the race by watching who's hanging at the back of the peloton.
I'm based in Finland and the commentary is beyond boring. Imagine the monotonous voice of an aging Kimi Raikkonen with long silences constantly mentioning Finnish riders who have taken part in the tour.
I watch with the sound off.

^^ this

phil liggett and paul sherwen were excellent in their day but now past it

Their replacements on the ITV (in the UK) are indifferent: Ned Boulting is shockingly poor as the main commentator but David Millar is good.

Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly are great on Eurosport: Kirby does talk complete bo**ocks at times but his delivery is wonderful!

We don't get Liggett and Sherwin commentating on any of the coverage here in the UK any more and I don't miss them at all. The last couple of seasons I saw with them they were so frustrating to listen to, Liggett in particular just didn't have a clue what was going on.

I think Carlton Kirby commentates pretty much every single race of the season now for Eurosport, from the Tour Down Under in Jan right through to the World Champs in Oct, so it's not surprising he's a bit laissez-faire about some of the less exciting stages! I appreciate that over trying to ham it up and make it seem more exciting than it really is.

Greg Lemond is a bit sketchy at the moment but as someone else mentioned, Sean Kelly was the same when he started and now he's ace. You've got to give these guys a chance to find their feet because it must be a tough and unforgiving job!

NordicSkier wrote:

Now if only Liggett knew how to actually read a bike race. You'd think after this many years...

This.

I used to think he was good, but know better now. He commentates on the race he thinks he's about to see rather than the race that is actually happening.

Also, Liggett was a big Armstrong supporter/doping denier for years. He like to imply he's a journalist but he's a shill
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/despite-usadas-evidence-liggett-remains-armstrongs-supporter/

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Classic!

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

I use to be a cynic and think Phil had to know the score. I mean how could you be in his position and not know, but over time I've come to think he may just have been stupid enough to have believed the BS.

so soothing to watch, especially the high aerial shots

Sean's great. "ee's really suffrin' now" about somebody at some point in every stage

I really enjoy the commentary from Liggett. It is obvious that he gets confused with names sometimes, but I don't understand why people feel he needs to "call a bike race". If you are watching it, you know about the sport, and understand what is going on yourself, you don't need him to call the race. His voice is very calming to me and makes watching the long stages easier. I hope he continues until his last breathe.

Plus, my better half and I have made an excellent drinking game out of them. Drink every time you here the word damage. You might want to start with beer and be sure to play at home. It goes fast.

Phil is so way off that it is comical. However, his voice is familiar and relaxing and easy to have in in the background.

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Paul Lantinga
Sable WaterOptics from See Worthy
paul@sablewateroptics.com

Haha, we play a similar game, but you drink when he gets a riders name wrong.

golf clap


I believe you are speaking of David Harmon, who once said (when he wasn't aware he's on air), that's bollocks! (this was at the finish of the 2009 UCI Men's RR Championship in Mendrisio)

Kirby certainly talks a lot of nonsense, but it's good to have Kelly tune him down. Also great are Magnus Backstedt, who does some of the "lesser" races for Eurosport. His commentating partner is also quite good; better than Kirby i'd say.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/...france/245849-245849

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Phil and Paul are pleasant to listen to, unless you really understand actual bike racing tactics and strategy, then they often sound like they are just reading stock lines that have little or no relevance to what is actually happening on the road.

But, I will concede that whatever they are actually talking about at key moments of a race (and as often as not it isn't what is really playing out in front of them) they do make it sound interesting and exciting and they are pretty good at filling the calm times with idle patter.

"Look at this! Jason80134 has cracked and is losing time quickly now as slowman has opened a large gap with only 2km to go to the top of Alpe d'Huez!"

Don't worry. I saw him digging into his suitcase of courage. He'll be fine...

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3SIXTY5cycling.com

Robbie McEwen and Michael Tomalaris are GOLDEN. McEwen is still prickly as ever. The shift from those two to Phil and Paul at the 50k mark is a little painful.

I love both of those guys - I have an autographed poster of them in my bike cave. But, DAMN - they both need to retire. Now! Phil has reached a point where one in every four declarative sentences he utters is factually wrong and he regularly comes out with total gibberish. Not the kind of "it's nonsense but you know what I mean" that we all utter on occasion, but stroke victim type strings of random words. Sherwin develops a "word or phrase of the day" and uses it over and over and over. If you fast forward, you can sometimes restart on him saying the exact same thing he said five minutes ago. I'd like to see Bob Roll doing more straight announcing. He could ease off some the semi-buffoon role and move into full time serious broadcaster with no problem. When he is explaining things he is a joy to listen to.

Those clowns are a disgrace to cycling...

The swedish commentator on Eurosport (Vacchi) on the other hand, there's a guy that knows racing, riders and 'pivotal moments'.
He'll see a 5sec aerial shot of a bunch of 30-40 riders and go: "where's Nibali?"
And he routinely 'overrides' the official rider name that shows up on the screen: "that's not Nieve, that's Thomas"
But most importantly, he'll thoroughly ridicule the atrocity that is Voeckler...

I have never heard the clowns utter anything of insight or value.

Good point.

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http://www.jt10000.com/

Plus, like Liggett, he had his head in the sand about doping for years - or lied about not knowing.

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That sums it up nicely. I'd just add the NBC coverage as a whole treats the audience as if they are newbies who don't know anything about cycling. Really, how many times do they need to explain an echelon? There's no respect for the audience. Eurosport doesn't do that in the least. They assume if you are watching you know about bike racing. I've noticed the same thing with female commentators in women's soccer. They are always explaining the game for some reason.

Not to mention 'cross, tail wind'. There are either headwinds, quartering winds, crosswinds, or tailwinds! That said, not standing up for NBC Sports commentating crew, but I suspect they are making due seeing as compared to the other media outlets, NBC paid bottom dollar to the ASO to hitch hike on the video feeds provided by French television. ITV and Eurosport commentators are watching multiple video streams from the camera motos and helicopters out on the course making it easier to discern race action. Over at NBC, Phil, Paul, Bobke, Vandevelde, et al, are making due with only one or two feeds and must discern more granular details by actively monitoring the race radio chatter from race officials as well as tidbits fed to them from Steve Porino out on the road.

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Meh. He's familiar but not great. That said, compared to listening to Steve Mcmanaman commentate the Euros, Phil is refreshing.