It is all very exciting at VCCP towers this week. On Thursday the agency embarks on its annual bike ride. This year we venture into the Welsh hills, tackling a route ominously dubbed “The Dragonslayer”. Outside VCCP, cycling is quickly becoming the fastest growing sport in the UK, in both participation and in terms of viewers. This noble sport has always gripped our European neighbours hearts, America has fallen in love (and perhaps back out of it following Armstrong’s confession), it is high time Britain joins the party. With the introduction of an all British team (Team Sky) and some superb home-grown talent (Christ Froome, Geraint Thomas and Sir Bradley Wiggins) money is starting to come to the sport in a big way. The ironically named Tour de Yorkshire saw huge crowds out in force.
The sport is clearly one for all sizes and ages, and with the professional end of cycling being in such good health we have a sport that can be enjoyed and idolised by everyone. The question remains how we can optimise or advance ways of following a cycling race on TV, above and beyond the commentators musings and irregularly updated time stamps on screen. A lot has been talk about the “second screen”, where someone uses a tablet or phone to garner extra real time information from what one is viewing on TV. So far attempts to truly optimise this have been somewhat lukewarm. Demystifying the Tour de France, by explaining in real time the riders movements, showing a bird’s eye view of the gaps and giving in depth fact files on each rider, could be a great way to bring colour to a sport so often hard to initially understand. Critics would say bearing all compromises the romance of cycling, I would say it could open up a whole new world to fans and propel the sport further forward still.
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