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Watch Tour de Georgia Cycling Video and GPS Tracking Free Online

roadskater's picture
Submitted by roadskater on Wed Apr 23 2008 12:58pm

Wow. Really great stuff and sorry to be late on this with the Eddy workshop and guests coming to town, but over time, free internet video and the Tour de Georgia are both getting cooler. As I had to keep telling myself last weekend, I can't leave town right now with lots to do and some of it requiring me to be here, so I will have to enjoy this opportunity from afar it seems. If anyone thinks they want to get a carpool together later in the week, let me know (I know I'm dreamin').

Credit where due goes to:

http://www.steephill.tv/2008/tour-de-georgia/#live

There's a ton of great stuff there, including everything mentioned here I think.

I've seen WCSN making strides to cover the "other sports," including early days on TVUnetworks.com and their viewer, and hoped they'd make a good go of it. They're brilliant to give live Tour de Georgia away just for the "price" of free registration. I signed up happily and eventually got it to work (there's a lot going on with the notebook right now, so I did need a reboot, but don't think WCSN is to blame). Anyway, here's a page that shows what they're covering live, with "watch now" links when the live feed is up.

There's good commentary as well. It's great coverage in my opinion, and if we could get something like this going for A2A that'd be awesome. I should add that they did not afford helicopter coverage and the motorbike coverage has dropouts as would be expected, but that can be frustrating at times...especially at the finish of Stage 1 under the oaks and Spanish moss where the last 200 yards or meters were not to be seen by viddy. Still, lots of good info and some great riders!

http://www.wcsn.com/schedule/index.jsp?s=34009&e=2008_tour_de_georgia_sched

Schedule:
4/21/08 Georgia, USA Stage 1: Tybee Island to Savannah Stay tuned for on-demand video
4/22/08 Georgia, USA Stage 2: Statesboro to Augusta Watch on-demand
4/23/08 Georgia, USA Stage 3: Washington to Gainesville Watch now!
4/24/08 Georgia, USA Stage 4: Atlanta | Team Time Trial Watch LIVE at 1:00 p.m. ET
4/25/08 Georgia, USA Stage 5: Suwanee to Dahlonega Watch LIVE at 12:30 p.m. ET
4/26/08 Georgia, USA Stage 6: Blairsville to Brasstown Bald Watch LIVE at noon ET
4/27/08 Georgia, USA Stage 7: Atlanta | Circuit Race Watch LIVE at 1:00 p.m. ET

For GPS tracking, course elevation profiles, comments from VeloNews and more on a sweet site, check out...

http://www.tourdegeorgiatracker.com/

For the VeloNews Interactive material on their site:

http://velonews.com/live/

Cycling news has live updates for home:

http://live9.cyclingnews.com/?id=latest

...and for phone:

http://live9.cyclingnews.com/wap/

Fun!

‹ David Zabriske (Time Trial) and Doper Tyler Hamilton (Road Race) Wear the Red White and Blue as USA Cycling Pro Champions Tour de Georgia: Biggest Loser Food-Stained Jersey for Acts of Embarrassing Spectatorism ›

Comments

eebee's picture

Very informative!

Submitted by eebee on Thu Apr 24 2008 9:57am.
Thanks for posting all this, Roadskater! Very informative. I just wish my schedule had worked out in synch with the Tour de GA. Unfortunately I'll be in Tybee Island a week too late, and Metro Atl on all the wrong days :-(
roadskater's picture

For once, Internet Exploder Works Better (on My XP Setup)

Submitted by roadskater on Thu Apr 24 2008 2:37pm.
Just a quick note to say with the WCSN page, it's best on my pc at least to load that into Internet Exploder to launch the player. I've mucked about with tons of different video players and such, so it may not be about the browser, but the player the browser is trying to use. In any case, it works better for me, for now, with IE. The same is NOT true with Roadskater.net. What a shame we couldn't work it out to see all of the Tour de Georgia live, in person. It's a killer to be so close and yet so unable to be there! Brasstown Bald and downtown Atlanta should be extraordinarily excellent. At least we can see video this year. That will help attendance in future years, and watching live will be even better knowing you can go home and see more than a few seconds, as exciting as that is. They're getting the idea that a road event with a criterium at the end works well for the host destination city on some days. I think Tour de Georgia has put North Carolina to shame, sad to say, as much as I love NC...who could watch Tour de France and not "get it" that those images will draw tourist if you make sure to pick a date and locations that showcase the beauty of your area. Good job, Georgia. Hate to admit it, but you outdid us. It's not like we didn't know, with finishes in Winston-Salem and Greensboro for the old Tour de Pont, where we could see young Lance Armstrong as a bulked up powerhouse before the weight loss and whatever else of the cancer recovery years.
roadskater's picture

Road Atlanta TTT Excellent; Into the Hills

Submitted by roadskater on Fri Apr 25 2008 1:34pm.
The Road Atlanta Stage 4 Team Time Trial was good fun with some interesting insights, some of which might be worth a go on inline skates. There are some great riders in this year's Tour de Georgia. It looks like Slipstream, High Road, Astana brought some of their best. Today's Stage 5 from Suwanee to Dahlonega gets them into the hills and after just under an hour he viddy seems questionable when they get into the trees. Still as I work along it's not too bad in the corner of the screen there. So far, however, I don't seem to be getting any audio! Free is good, though, and watching cyclists struggle in pain up hills is a well-recalled pleasure even without commentary. A group of four struggles it's way up as I type, and I'm not in nearly as much pain at the laptop as I am usually when watching cyclists leave me chopping my way up the hill behind them. Wow, now over the top they're flying down, taking the whole road as they know they own it today. Those corners at speed feel great and make me want to get ready for hilly pain and joy! Some of these tricksters hold on to the water bottle in the hand off to get a boost from the car it seems...or maybe it just looks that way. Cyclists wouldn't cheat would they? OK, that's it for now. Give a watch if you can. Yes it's not just the Jittery Joe team that's jumpy, but free tv is a sweet thing, especially when it's human powered wheels rocking down the highway.
roadskater's picture

Audio OK; Rain on the descent; Pack of four still hanging on

Submitted by roadskater on Fri Apr 25 2008 3:18pm.
Audio started working about an hour in, so if you watch the rebroadcast and there's no viddy, there's a heads up. The group of four is still hanging on after Woody's Gap. As they're getting closer to Dahlonega, it's raining with still one KOM (King of the Mountains) climb to go. They're in rolling hills now, having passed through some beautiful country today, including mountain tops and bottomland rushing streams. The front group will likely be caught, but contains the US cyclocross champ, the CAN road champ, and a three-time olympian from KAZ, and one other guy who obviously has some chops to hang with this bunch for hours. Oh these guys have gotten max coverage today due to the low budget nature of the coverage...one motorbike or cam is out of commission today, so all the viddy has been in the main group. No face time for the big dogs unless they hump it into gold town. Sweet stuff when these guys go through these rural intersections. What gorgeous countryside. Ah...me tinks of me yoof in the Carolina Black Mountains and Blue Ridge. Imagine what it's like shooting viddy sitting backward on a moto (I assume) on these twisty downs!
roadskater's picture

Moto Driver Breaks Wrist; Collides with Spectators

Submitted by roadskater on Sat Apr 26 2008 4:51am.

Hey I found out later that moto 2 (that stays in the back or with the peleton if there's a breakaway) was involved in an accident at the start of the race stage just after the rollout. Apparently two folk old enough to know better went out into the street after the pelo rolled, and the moto creamed them, sending all four (2 peds, moto driver, viddygrabber) to the hospital. Motoman broke his wrist methinks. Bummer!

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/sports/stories/2008/04/25/bikepeds_0426.html

eebee's picture

Tour de Georgia

Submitted by eebee on Wed Apr 30 2008 12:34am.

Thanks for helping me figure out how to be able to watch this on my computer. I happened to be sick and couch-bound for two days during the event, and I must say the Road Atlanta Team Time Trials were very therapeutic to watch.

Great memories linger of the Tour de Ga about 3 years ago, and I keep asking myself 'how come there aren't that many spectators this year?'. The answer is of course 'because Lance isn't there!'. I think we were about a foot away from him on the last bend at the top of snowy Brasstown Bald. I don't think I could tell which one was Lance in the end, but I'm pretty sure I screamed hard into Levi Leipheimer's right ear. Sorry Levi.

roadskater's picture

Brasstown Bald Breakaway?

Submitted by roadskater on Sat Apr 26 2008 6:35pm.
I won't give too much away I hope but just want to say if you get a chance to watch this stage on a replay on wcsn.com (probably a day or two from now) it's good stuff. An early break had four, then five tried to bridge up, but one dropped out. Heading to the climb before the entrance to the last 3.1 mile climb at Brasstown Bald, the peleton had caught all but two riders, who had bridged up from the peloton earier. With four seconds between two riders in the GC (overall winner), the climb would settle things between leader, Trent Lowe, and Levi Leipheimer. The day had a nice surprise at the end, of sorts, and it looks like we know the winner of the Tour de Georgia, barring an actual contest on the last day instead of a parade. They still have to ride down the Champs de 'lanta. The early riding was good as the day was full of crunchy ups and twisty downs along the kudzu and trailer decorated backroads of Georgia, and I mean that with all due respect, darling.
roadskater's picture

Nice Article on Sweet Rider from Belarus

Submitted by roadskater on Sun Apr 27 2008 3:35am.

Spoilers may follow...Check it out. Methinks we'll be hearing from this guy, and from his fellow countryman, our own skart!

Good times watching cyclists suffer!

http://www.velonews.com/article/75405/sivts-who-a-primer-on-kanstantin-sivtsov

Spoilers...

Certainly as Chechu Rubiera (Astana) hit the right turn into the Brasstown Bald road, with CSC's Bradley McGee, it looked good for Levi. Rubiera would surely take him to the top once Levi caught up. On WCSN video playback time (NOT race time but much shorter) it was 3:10:18. The first part of the splintered peleton was barely in view at this point, but catching fast were maybe a dozen. McGee dropped back soon. By 3:12, Levi was 3rd with Trent Lowe on his wheel.

With the AVERAGE grade at 12%, Rubiera took a relative flat place to let Levi reach and by 3:13:10 he had handed over his water bottle to Levi. Rubiera, Leipheimer, Lowe.

By 3:14 Chris Horner was up, and Rubiera dropped back. By 3:17, Levi was up front, and twenty seconds later they passed the left switchback where eebee and her son and I had hung out in 2005 (methinks). (Before the riders arrived we moved upward to one of the 20% grades, the steepest spot short of the top, just after a relative flat, where we could see them for a few more seconds and be on the inside of a left bend with nice views up and down.)

Leipheimer got some draft from a CSC rider briefly, then Horner made it back up but Levi didn't really take the shelter for some reason. By 3:20 they hit a massive wall and the seven or so became three, as idiots ran along and generally got in the way (bless their hearts). At this point it was clear that Kanstantin Sivtsov was for real, with Levi and Trent in front.

Lowe was marking Leipheimer but definitely not going to go in front before the last few meters, and Sivtsov likely grinning in happy pain at the back. What a chance for him. He really looked very comfortable even at 3:24 as Oscar Seville reappeared amazingly behind Sivtsov!

With 1K to go Sevilla was up front. Incredible to bridge up to the other three. And Rory Sutherland was impressive as he dug in to catch the now dropping off Sevilla, Levi up front, Sivtsov, then Lowe, the latter two mostly side by side.

Sivtsov took off at 3:27:10 and Levi appeared to make a very brief go at it but from all appearances, neither Leipheimer nor Lowe had any concern over Sivstov...and apparently everyone forgot that he was only six seconds behind Lowe!

Sivstov vanished out front briskly and this set up the two GC leaders (on the road at this point) for a dual. And surely Levi would have his Tour de Georgia finally.

With 300 to go, Levi backed off, then sprinted, but Lowe was on him. Another try at this was also futile and both riders looked in much more difficulty that Sitsov, who mostly sat and gasped to the win. Lowe crossed before Levi after all and Lowe and many others thought this meant Lowe would go into Atlanta in the yellow jersey.

However, Svitsov took took ten seconds out of Lowe, who only had six to give, and later the Tour announced Svitsov had the yellow and four seconds! Svitsov took till video player time of 3:29:24 (finishing in 3.47'16" officially), with Levi six seconds behind Lowe. These guys averaged about 9.5-10 mph on that incredible climb.

Check out the stage results here:

http://www.tourdegeorgia.com/results.html

Notably the top ten for the day was an international mix: 1 BLR; 1 MEX; 2 NZL; 2 AUS; 3 USA; and 3 ESP. Sweet.

roadskater's picture

Tour de Georgia Always Fun

Submitted by roadskater on Sun Apr 27 2008 3:45pm.
Well, it's over now but it was great to be able to see the TdG over the internet, despite video glitches, moto crashes we didn't get to see (hope all are ok), the choice between an unimpressive background or a bunch of lamers waving at the cam (more on this), and some obvious learning going on for the announcers. All in all I can only say thank you to WCSN.com and to all those mentioned above. If it were not for you folk, I probably would not have followed the event, and certainly would not have gotten anything near the flavor of the event that I can say I got on my notebook with a video in the corner as I worked on other things. Today wasn't quite a parade and there was some excitement, mostly for the extremely strong finishes garnered by Team High Road. It's a shame George Hincape didn't make his one sprint work out, but he has a clothing line so we'll not feel sad for him, OK? The saddest part if true would be if Trent Lowe really had enough spank in the legs to win Brasstown, but simply didn't, thinking Levi the only threat. I can tell you that nobody mentioned a threat from anyone else on the broadcast, and even in interviews immediately after that stage, Lowe seemed to think he had it. But we saw the emergence of another young rider in the TdG, as we did with Tom Danielson in past years, and time will tell if he will become a seasoned, mature pro. But from the way he took that mountain, I'd say only he could stop himself now. You hear about dancing on the pedals, but really, there were times he quite literally looked as if effortless compared with other known strong riders. So, is it fair to ask? Is he doping? Every time I think someone's making it look easy, there's a question later. How much testing goes on at Tour de Georgia? These are just some of the questions I have now. I think Sivtsov is headed for the Giro, and it will be fun to see what he'll do there, as he lives and trains in Italy.

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