Mario Cipollini on Tour Tracker in 2008
See Tour Tracker up and running for 2009 Tour of California
The Amgen Tour of California goes live in 2009.
Versus has announced it will be broadcasting live from the 9-day race that rolls out Feb. 14-22. Meanwhile, the online videostream at Tour Tracker, at right, is returning for those at work who might not be able to get away from the computer.
The VS. broadcast team of Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen will be heard everyday during the race, now in its fourth year. This is the 3rd year that VS. has broadcast the bicycle race, and the first time with live coverage every day.
Here's the Versus schedule issued in a press release (all shows are 2 hours):
| February 14 Prologue – Sacramento (live/same-day delay) |
5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT) |
| February 15 Stage 1, Davis to Santa Rosa (live/same-day delay) |
6 p.m. ET (3 p.m. PT) |
| February 16 Stage 2, Sausalito to Santa Cruz (live) |
12:30 p.m. ET (9:30 a.m. PT) |
| February 17 Stage 3, San Jose to Modesto (live) |
5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT) |
| February 18 Stage 4, Merced to Clovis (live) |
4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT) |
| February 19 Stage 5, Visalia to Paso Robles (live) |
4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT) |
| February 20 Stage 6, Solvang time trial (live) |
4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT) |
| February 21 Stage 7, Santa Clarita to Pasadena (live/same-day delay) |
5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT) |
| February 22 Stage 8, Rancho Bernardo to Escondido (live/same-day delay) |
5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT) |
There's also a preview show schedule Feb. 7 at 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT).
In addition, the Versus daily schedule at its website reports a nightly Tour of California highlight show every night from 11 p.m. to midnight (ET), and 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. (PT).
Versus cautions that times are subject to change, so check the Versus online schedule.
Tour Tracker
Meanwhile, Tour of California spokespersons have confirmed that the Adobe Tour Tracker will return in 2009 “with new features to make it better than ever.”
[The 2009 version of Tour Tracker requires a quick download of Version 10 of Adobe Flashplayer. It's a short download, but I learned that my computer doesn't have the muscle to run TourTracker as well as other browser windows.]
They're not ready to announce those new features yet, but here are some from previous years:
— Live video stream
— Live commentary (Frankie Andreu, Joe Silva and Mari Holden last year)
— Stage map and elevation maps
— Photos
— Chat
— Live text feeds from CyclingNews and VeloNews.
This is sizing up to be the most well-covered Tour of California yet. Lance Armstrong's return to cycling — and introduction to his first Tour of California — might have something to do with it. But race coverage has been improving every year.
In addition to Armstrong in the peloton, a partial list of US riders includes Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie, Tyler Hamilton, Christian Vande Velde and Floyd Landis. International stars include Carlos Sastre, Ivan Basso, Fabian Cancellera, Tom Boonen, Thor Hushvold and Mark Cavendish.
Eurosport
According to DailyPeloton.com, the Tour of California also will be broadcast live on Eurosport:
Eurosport is available on Sky 410 and Virgin Media 521. Eurosport 2 is available on Sky 411 and Virgin Media 525. Eurosport HD is available on Sky 412. Eurosport channels also available via Eurosport Player.
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