Tour de France 2011

[Dave Cooper please]

Sky are putting an awful lot of money into 'Team GB' (Ugh! Hate that term but there you go). Can't blame them for wanting their logo splashed all over the place in return.

[lovejoy]

Which is ironic in a sense as they don't have any real cycling coverage.

[TopDeck113]

Which is ironic in a sense as they don't have any real cycling coverage.

Don't worry.  I'm sure the days of being able to enjoy the Tour on free-to-air will be behind us soon enough...

[Mac]

I don't know too much about cycling but I reckon winning the World Championship and the Green Jersey in the same year is a fantastic achievement. He should really win Sports Personality of the Year now but I bet he doesn't.

He should have won it last year after all the tour stage wins.  If he doesn't win it will be an absolute disgrace.  At least he has a media profile now.

[Mac]

Which is ironic in a sense as they don't have any real cycling coverage.

Don't worry.  I'm sure the days of being able to enjoy the Tour on free-to-air will be behind us soon enough...

Ironically, I don't think they will.  They want maximum publicity from the money they pump into the sport.  If they only have it on sky they're preaching to the converted.

[N'Rexy]

Its unlikely that the big races (both multi day and one day races) will ever go onto pay TV. The teams that race are essentially moving bilboards advertising their sponsors goods/services and reducing audience figures would disrupt the entire team funding model.  The Tour de France is on free TV pretty much everywhere and the organisers (ASO) have said that this won't change.

[Dave Cooper please]

I'll keep it in here because we haven't got another cycling thread.

Tour of Beijing started today with a short time trial, Brits finished in 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th behind the awesome Tony Martin. In order: Millar, Dowsett, Froome, Cummings.

[N'Rexy]

And Mat Hayman won the Paris Bourges. Mountains in china tomorrow. It might be good to watch on eurosport over breakfast!