The art of cycling commentary

[martint235]

I've never heard a French commentator pronounce Wiggins in a Lancashire accent for example lolz

Well he is as much a Lancastrian as I am a Londoner I suppose......

Back on point, was it Duffield or Liggett who used to go off on a tangent during the flat stages? You'd be watching the peloton ambling along and all of a sudden he'd start going on about his Aunt's garden and how it looked like one of those next to the road.

 

[psmiffy]

its easy - I rarely listen to the commentary when watching cycling - between the pictures and having the live website open it is easy to to keep track of whats going on - not a lot most of the time

 

[oldroadman]

Theirs 1 Eurosport commentator who pronouncers foreign riders names in a foreign dialect which they are and it drives me crazy..

Ok I guess that's correct cept for the fact he's talking English.

I've never heard a French commentator pronounce Wiggins in a Lancashire accent for example lolz

Unless Maida Vale and Kilburn have been shifted 250 miles north I'm not surprised. Check history. I believe he rode for Archer RC (as London a club as you can get) right up to the years he was junior world champion.

 

[roadrash]

wiggins was born in belgium, brought up in london, now lives in lancashire

 

[blackgoff]

its easy - I rarely listen to the commentary when watching cycling - between the pictures and having the live website open it is easy to to keep track of whats going on - not a lot most of the time

I seem to get the Sporza feed tho they seem to know what they're talking about..

 

[Citius]

Back on point, was it Duffield or Liggett who used to go off on a tangent during the flat stages? You'd be watching the peloton ambling along and all of a sudden he'd start going on about his Aunt's garden and how it looked like one of those next to the road.

They're both guilty of that, not just on the flat stages either. Duffers probably more so. They would both routinely miss the race-winning moves just to finish making some trivial point about a local monastery or a ruined castle once plundered by Henry V....

 

[Dogtrousers]

wiggins was born in belgium, brought up in london, now lives in lancashire

So to pronounce his name properly a commentator needs a mixture of Hercule Poirot, Barbara Windsor and Fred Dibnah.

 

[martint235]

So to pronounce his name properly a commentator needs a mixture of Hercule Poirot, Barbara Windsor and Fred Dibnah.

Something like VyGanz should do it

 

[Hont]

Duffers probably more so.

Definitely more so. Towards the end of his commentating career, it was like the bike race was a background image to his anecdotes.

Yet he wasn't always like that. Here he is simultaneously commentating on a crash and Sean Kelly winning MSR after having done the race without a co-commentator...

 

[martint235]

Definitely more so. Towards the end of his commentating career, it was like the bike race was a background image to his anecdotes.

Yet he wasn't always like that. Here he is simultaneously commentating on a crash and Sean Kelly winning MSR after having done the race without a co-commentator...

I didn't mind it too much and in fact found it entertaining when it was at 2.30pm on day 3 of the Tour and there was bugger all happening.

 

[Hont]

Theirs 1 Eurosport commentator who pronouncers foreign riders names in a foreign dialect

Well it's not really a dialect, he's just pronouncing the names as they would themselves. I'm all for this. British commentators' pronunciation of foreign names is embarrassing. If you ever listen to a typical German commentator, their pronunciation of English names is invariably immaculate.

 

[Hont]

I didn't mind it too much and in fact found it entertaining when it was at 2.30pm on day 3 of the Tour and there was bugger all happening.

Yeah but that was the point. It wasn't just when nothing was happening. He'd miss all the attacks. I think he missed every attack Jan Ullrich ever made. Yes. Both of them.

 

[blackgoff]

Well it's not really a dialect, he's just pronouncing the names as they would themselves. I'm all for this. British commentators' pronunciation of foreign names is embarrassing. If you ever listen to a typical German commentator, their pronunciation of English names is invariably immaculate.

Well from a Latin to English pov:

E is A

I is E

GL is LYA

CH is K

C is CH

Recently ive been watching French TV's broadcast of the race Cavendish won and they pronounce names in a French style so some Posey Eurosport turn-coat can turn permanently faic.

Even his website has him berating his false Latin/Germanic accents...

But still a grater' like Ligget & Sherwen..

imo.

 

[Dogtrousers]

We need more British cyclists with names like Featherstonhaugh and Cholmondely to really test the mettle of these foreign jonny commentators.

Peter Kennaugh is a good start

 

[Hont]

Or anything with lots of "th" sounds. They really struggle with those. Thistlethwaite or Thackaray.

Is there a Martha Thistlethwaite able to join the BC Olympic programme tout de suite?