#this is just the people on eurosport

[seb-come-back]

I love seeing half of the f1 paddock at Le Mans :))

So far Fred Vasseur, Pierre Gasly and Mark Webber have popped + all the old drivers racing

[raininyourblackeyes]

Ngl if I was in charge of livestreaming of fs competitions in ISU, I'd keep Ted as a juniors commentator only. He is just too nice and doesn't actually say anything, which works when it's about 13 year olds having their first international competition. But half of these people are Olympians. They should be commentated on realistically when something they do is simply not good at all.

[molliemoo3]

We don't appear to have been freed from the shackles of TNT sports in the UK

[pro-cycling-primers]

🚴‍♀️🚴‍♂️ So, you're interested in starting watching cycling in 2025 (I hope), but have no idea where to start? 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♀️

Before the start of the road cycling season this year, I thought I'd post some information for people completely new to the sport. You might have seen some Tumblr posts going crazy about men and women in tight lycra, or watched a bit of the Tour de France on TV once, or maybe this post found you some other way! Let's get to it.

When does it happen?

Cycling doesn't have a set timetable nor are races only at weekends. It's mostly the same each year, but there have been some changes over the hundred-plus years professional cycling has been around.

The WorldTour (highest level of pro cycling, more about that in a later post) season lasts officially from January until October, with the full women's calendar for 2025 looking like this:

And the men's like this:

Don't try to watch all of them. Or do, I'm just a Tumblr blogger hoping more people get interested in this great sport 🤷

Okay then, which races should I watch?

The answers to this are many and varied; every list of 'best races to watch' will have at least one cycling fan clamouring 'But HOW could you ignore [x]!?'

In terms of basic introduction to the sport, I think this would give a solid season-wide grounding:

Five one-day races have mostly arbitrarily been declared The Monuments: Milano-Sanremo, Paris-Roubaix, de Ronde van Vlaanderen, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and Il Lombardia. (A more detailed post about these will be coming later in the season). All but Lombardia have men's and women's versions, with Milano-Sanremo Donne running for the first time in 2025, though Trofeo Alfredo Binda is a more well-established women's race in a similar region at a similar time.

Each has its own quirks, history, and favour different kinds of riders. The big names (except the pure stage racers) will be there.

I'd also recommend one of the early-season one-week stage races, Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico. They run at the same time, for one week in March, and present the first opportunity for the top stage racers to stretch their legs (another post about different types of riders will come). On the women's side, Itzulia Women or Tour de Suisse.

One of the Grand Tours is in my view, essential: Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a España, or the big one, the Tour de France

If you want, you can disregard this entire section and just watch the Tour. It's the biggest race there is, the most-covered, and teams bring their best riders in their best shape. It's a massive cultural event. If you take nothing from this post other than following a little closer in July, then it has been a success in my book.

How can I watch cycling?

Cycling has a serious lack of easily accessible coverage. Every race organiser has different TV rights arrangements, varying MASSIVELY from country to country, with some having free-to-air coverage of most races on national television but some having no option other than the paid services Discovery+ and Eurosport.

For an international suggestion there is a lovely site: tiz [dash] cycling [dot] io has free (!) livestreams of every race you could feasibly ever want to watch, and a back catalogue covering most of the last decade +

5-15 minute highlight videos from YouTube channels such as Eurosport, FloBikes etc. are also available a few hours after a race finishes! The Tour de France has its own channel with decent highlights and interviews.

See you later in the season!

[channelslam]

No, it’s… I don’t play for money, it’s simple. Of course it’s a nice prize and everything but.. For me, I went there because there were possibly the six best players in the world, and then you can measure yourself with them. And it was also a nice event for me, it was the first time I went to Riyadh. […] And of course, the money is important but not that much. I live a good life also without this money($6M). So I think it’s more important the health I have, surrounding myself with great people and family I have, then the money, it’s just an extra. (eurosport on X)

my actual less hot-headed take about sinner's interview: the "i don't play for money" thing really is bad out of context but the full quote makes a bit more sense for me. it's not him completely disregarding money is a factor the way other people are making it seem. we can argue about how honest he's being about the importance of the prize money in his decision making, but i also feel like this is a bit of a "damned if you, damned if you don't" situation? i definitely don't expect him to outright say he played solely for the money (although that wouldve been funny lol). if anything, he could've worded it better and clearer, but i don't think it's his fault people are quick to latch onto a soundbite.

that being said, sports washing is 100% a big problem in tennis and critique towards all six of them is deserved for participating especially when they... didn't need said money in the first place? on top of that, hearing a millionaire athlete brush off that amount of money (albeit unintentionally) will put a bad taste in anyone's mouth 😭 god knows anyone would love to be in his position and have $6M just be available for the taking!

[echteliebe-skijumping]

So basically Werner Schuster and the other commentator on Eurosport were discussing that Stephan would just be a nice guy but not thrilling and he would be colourless (which basically means he's got no personality?).

They were told right after by Werners son that people could already hear them and made fun of it then.

[batsplat]

i’ve been into motorsports for..arounddd a year? and only got into tennis in the last couple months and i would like to tell you i really enjoy reading your posts about these things! i think you are very knowledgeable, I always get something interesting out of your posts. How did you get into these sports/how long have you been a fan?

that's really kind, thank you <3

i started playing tennis when i was like four years old, though i started taking it more seriously when i was around nine and that's probably also the time when i got more invested as a viewer. so uh... idk i didn't get into it, it's always just been part of my life. got my coaching license when i was fourteen, played for clubs + tournaments, spent most of my teenage summers on a tennis court every day either playing or coaching, played for my uni team etc. my mum's a tennis fan (albeit fairly casually at the time) so she got me to try it out, i enjoyed a bunch of different sports but for whatever reason that's the one that stuck. something about the one-on-one nature probably, also even as a kid i was really into the tactical flexibility and being able to choose yourself how to construct your technique. kinda a control freak sport i reckon

motogp would've been 2016, an auspicious year to join in some ways... i'd started following it quite casually around the time i was moving to a foreign country for the first time,, where i knew nobody, complete blank slate etc etc. i'd stumbled across motogp in quite a roundabout way, enjoying motocross youtube videos and like... probably went on the wikipedia page for what kind of motorcycle racing sports there are, idk lol. i just liked having a new interest when moving abroad, something that was completely For Myself and i wasn't going to discuss with anyone but just gave me something to get kinda excited about. different from tennis because obviously i play that myself and i talk a lot about it with my family and players and coaches and my high school maths teacher and i also watch matches with other people... which is great!! lots of fond memories with a lot of different people over the years!! but idk i do get discourse fatigue sometimes, so it's nice having a sport where it's like... if something in motogp pisses me off, i can just completely ignore it for three months and literally nobody will ask me about it or tease me or anything. shout out to me having to rock up to 7:30 am training on the monday after medvedev lost that ao 2024 final, love leaving the house at 6:20 to whack balls and pretend like i don't still want to blow my brains out over the match that is the main topic of conversation that morning

uhh as for what actually got me into motogp specifically... it was that tried and tested combo of 1) really not sure this sport should be legal what tf, and 2) wow they sure do keep referencing a lot of backstory i am completely unfamiliar with. as somebody who obviously also enjoys plenty of non-sports fandoms, there was something immediately appealing about coming across a sport with quite so much Lore that was also generally just insane. like i just did all these google sprees where you initially feel like you're being fed a new bonkers fact every minute, i love researching stuff, it's a sport that ends up almost doubling as a fun lil puzzle to pick at. and over the off-season 2016-17 where i was on the cusp of getting PROPER invested, i watched some old races based on like. reddit recommendations (race replays were WAY harder to find back then if you couldn't afford videopass lemme tell u). and one of the first ones i was actually able to access was due to some kind soul in september 2016 uploading one of those crappy 'i'm trying to avoid this getting copyright struck' streams of laguna seca 2008 with the beloved eurosport commentary. forty eight minutes and four seconds later i was a changed person. i was invested for life. extremely fortuitous timing with that upload tbh like idk if i would have stuck with the sport to the same extent if i hadn't been able to watch THAT exact race at that exact time. eye opening moment because it's like... the exact stuff i enjoy about tennis, this one-to-one tactically intricate excruciatingly tense psychologically vicious confrontation meets soul exorcism etc etc etc... like even with minimal backstory you watch it and you can TELL how much it matters, the commentary explains why what you're watching is unusual + surprising, what's going on strategically, this role reversal dynamic between the duellists, the emotional stakes of both sides... and then you watch how both parties act after the race like... yes haha yes (sickos). motogp uploading the aborted handshake attempt way back in 2008 changed lives. so obviously i immediately became fond of the surly australian git going :| throughout the post-race proceedings. few things in life i adore more than a sore loser

[sportsallover]

Eurosport is roasting the French riders so bad. "Christophe Laporte has only won stuff in France or in countries north of France" (so certainly not ever in Italy) and "Benoît Cosnefroy has only ever won in French speaking countries" (he is just lost when people are not speaking his mother tongue around him). 😂

[officialtayley]

I'm sorry I know that no one cares but as a tennis fan it makes me laugh so bad when I see ppl captioning this picture of them with Laura Robson as a picture with a fan LOLLL. She ain't a fan... At least it's not the reason why she was there. She was a pro tennis player, a very good one actually. She peaked at 27 in the rankings and won silver Olympic medal at mixed doubles with Andy Murray but was plagued with injuries and eventually had to retire very early in her career. She is now an Eurosport and BBC expert! Anyways, them getting to play at the grass court (and probably hit with her - ex-pro) is literally the best thing. Like when you just play tennis for fun it is so rare to actually afford to play at the grass court. It is so costly (and outside of UK it is also not easy to find grass court to play on) so I think it was so cool especially for Zac!!

HELP ARE PEOPLE DOING THAT? 😭😭😭 you'd think that considering she has a blue tick on ig people would've at least looked her up if they didn't know who she is im crying 😭

and that's so cool! i also think that would've been super cool for zac too since he loves tennis so much

[robinfrinjs]

Hello, planning to watch WEC this upcoming season. Do you know where I can watch the races for free? Thank you!

Hello Anon! Depending on your region there are a few ways to watch WEC for free. WEC has not released their official broadcast distribution, so I cannot include everything just yet. I really hope they're posting it soon. However,

In Europe and most of Asia Eurosport will broadcast a big part of the WEC season and usually this is free to air TV. Though interrupted by ad breaks and sometimes only parts of the race will be shown. It also depends slightly which Eurosport channels you receive. Sometimes it's on 1 but mostly on 2 which I've found out is not free for everyone.

Alternatively if you happen to have Discovery+ or Eurosport Player it's on there. Obviously not free, but some people have those already or receive those for free through their provider.

In Brazil it should be free on the Esporte na Band YouTube channel.

In Austria ORF Sport+ has WEC rights but it clashes with F1 and supports this weekend so they broadcast like an hour total of the race. Maybe it will be on ORFTHEK? It was on that last year.

Kuyentertainment should be broadcasting on YouTube again too, in Indonesia

Aside from that, there used to be some more free online broadcaster you could access with VPN etc but I am not a 100% sure at the moment cuz of the broadcast info not being released yet.

Alternatively, usually latifistreams works and you can always find some other streams on r/motorsportstreams2

And I will be streaming all races and qualifying in my Discord server right here

[romancandlemagazine]

Pastry Chefs and Flat Tire Flyers

Since 1977 cyclist/pastry chef Tilmann Waldthaler had been pedalling around the globe - clocking over 590,000km in the process. I found out about this guy from reading a small article about his adventures in a 90s bike magazine I was scouring through at a second hand shop—a bit of internet sleuthing later and I was calling up an Australian retirement village to talk to him about bikes, kicking back with Bob Marley and nearly getting gunned down in Iran. 

Read it over on the Outsiders site.

On a sort of similar two-wheeled note, I recently interviewed Iris Slappendel about her busy life since ‘retirement’ from the pro-cycling world, making clothes, starting up the Cyclist’s Alliance and working as a commentator for Eurosport.

Read that one here.

MTB pioneer Charlie Kelly has been uploading some old issues of his Flat Tire Flyer magazine. This thing started out in 1980 as a simple newsletter before morphing into the first real mountain bike magazine, documenting the transition from balloon tired klunkers to honed Japanese machines. The covers are the best things about this magazine, with the limitations of the era adding to the charm.

The last cover is particularly good. Check the old Nike and New Balance runners to the left. Reappropriating what you can find will always be more interesting than forking out for whatever some ‘development team’ decided you should wear. Mountain biking looked infinitely cooler when there was no such thing as mountain biking clothes.

Here’s an interview with Charlie from a decade ago. Time flies when you’re constantly mithering people half-way around the world about things they did 30 years ago.

On that note, here’s an interview with photographer, rider and magazine-man James Hudson. From back-garden ramp set-ups to the big-top and beyond, James Hudson spent the 80s and early 90s fully engrossed in the world of riding and skating, not just as a rider, but also as a photographer and magazine-man—contributing snaps to R.A.D., editing SK8-Action and publishing BMX Now. This was originally printed in the last issue of Red Steps but there’s no harm in stuff being on the internet too.

Next issue of Roman Candle should hopefully be out sometime in summer. This stuff takes time.

Until then, here’s 28 minutes of audio mastery courtesy of James Ferraro. Been listening to this one a lot lately. 

[wosobronze]

I know most people have discovery+ or eurosport now but just an fyi that the games tonight are both on bbc iplayer/red button x

oh is it?? thank you! x

[loveforalexzverev]

🎤 R1 on-court interview after Alexander's win over Otte:

Transcript:

Interviewer: Well, Sascha, well done. It's such a leveller at the start of a new swing, isn't it? Oscar, he's ranked what, 470 places below you, but he's had a couple of Qualifying matches, and, well, how tough did he make that today?

Sascha: No, I mean, he won both Qualifying matches [in] straight sets, so he's obviously been playing really well, and this is his favourite surface. And, you know, a week ago, I was playing on clay still, basically, and, you know, he made it very tough for me, obviously no rhythm at all. Yeah, but that's how grass court tennis is sometimes, and I'm just happy with the win.

Interviewer: Give us an idea of how tough that is, to come out here and play a first match. After all the practice this week, there's no substitute is there? How long does it take?

Sascha: No, I mean, it's different, also the court is very different. You know, in a stadium court, you know, with 10, 000 people in it, it's just a different thing. And obviously he did make it difficult for me, so credits to him. But obviously I'm happy that I won, and hopefully it's gonna be a level above the next match.

Interviewer: Whatever surface you're on, we all know you're at your best when you're positive. Come Wimbledon, come that fortnight, what kind of tennis do you want to be playing on grass?

Sascha: I mean, look, grass court tennis will never change, right? It's not gonna be the most spectacular tennis, it's not gonna be the longest rally. But, at the end of the day, you know, you have to do your best the way you can, and the shots that you have, you have to hit them to your fullest. And obviously, you know, I think I played better and better the longer the match went on, actually, and that is very positive for today.

Interviewer: One final question, you can't have been interviewed by your brother Mischa too often (Sascha smiles). He was practising with you this morning, and now he's asking the questions for house. Has that happened before?

Sascha: Yeah, I mean, he works for TV now, right? So he works for Tennis Channel, he works for Eurosport, so it has happened before, obviously not on Centre Court. But, you know, he's doing a good job and I'm happy for him (smiles).

Interviewer: Well done.

Sascha: (Smiling) Thanks.

[stateofsport211]

RG QWS F: Guy Sasson def. Sam Schroder [2] 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(7) Match Stats

📸 Eurosport GB

This match turned out to be return-heavy by emphasizing their anticipation, followed by how they executed the final shots. Somehow, it took pace absorption in one way, while nailing the said point construction under pressure for another, which resulted in Guy nailing the tie-break through his passes as a result of overpowering Sam somewhere in between, which also contributed in saving his 2 match points. As a result, both players converted 11 of their break points even if Sam had 3 more break points than Guy throughout the entire match.

Interestingly, Sam was mostly dominant on serve except his second serves, which hampered him from following things up further under pressure. Even though both players did not score any ace, Sam landed 75% of his first serves and won 3% more points from there, which partly helped him nailing the second set. However, he could only win 15% points behind his second serves, even though he double-faulted just 6 times compared to Guy's 10, which did not help anything except trailing on some crucial moments.

This marked Guy's maiden Grand Slam-level title after winning 3 ITF 1 Series titles on the hard courts earlier this year, as well as becoming the finalist of the Australian Open to be ranked third in the Quad Rankings. Interestingly, this would mean the quad competition became slightly open, thus not limiting its competition to only two people (or less). Somehow, both Guy and Sam contested their doubles finals two timeslots later with their respective partners, match report to follow.

[yesterdayiwrote]

Quite frankly if they wanted to put FE behind a paywall (which they shouldn't) they should have gone for Sky or Eurosport. Sky for the obvious F1 overlap, Eurosport for the WEC overlap. Eurosport on Discovery+ is standard tier, so only ~£8 a month and there's enough on there that's worth it.

Yeah, TNT is probably the worst choice out of all of them. They have motogp rights in the UK, but even motogp have branched out and given some rights to itv because no one was watching it. Even F1 has the agreement with channel 4 because they realised that completely paywalling it with no free to air option would just cut people off and dissuade them from following.

Formula E doesn't have the luxury of an established fan base yet and it's incredibly niche, so by paywalling themselves there's no opportunity to grow their base. Channel 4 weren't great towards FE, but tye YouTube streams were perfectly accessible and anyone could jump in to watch them.

[esr10]

sorry to bring this back up but ppl are talking abt the nba in particular bc that’s what noah lyles talked abt. it’s literally just in reaction to what he said

https://twitter.com/eurosport/status/1695789669093359751?s=46&t=cVHrkzjWyfm_sRkJzZ4OEw

He’s actually the reason why I made the original post and my point still stands. If the NFL winners of the super bowl can call themselves world-champions, so should the NBA players when they win their championship. Either it’s an issue when everyone does it or it’s a non-issue. Targeting the one league that’s dominated by black men — especially as a black man yourself — makes you look weird and insecure. That said, the way people have responded to him (DRAKE) is also lame asf.