This sport desperately needs help - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

kris.to • 13 days ago

This sport desperately needs help

On the live blog at lunchtime...

Comments

I wonder what viewership is like for this compared to something like the Lifetime Grand Prix gravel series that does a lot with youtube.

I get that they are different kinds of projects but they seem to really be able to make something out of a bunch of previously disconnected races.

kris.to•13 days ago

Indeed lifetime has done a great job building a world around their events. I haven't watched the should check them out

glasgowsheep.bsky.social•13 days ago

I never really got into it. By the time it came out so much had happened and events had moved on. Watched them but took me ages as I just couldn't really engage with it as so much else going on

rholt.bsky.social•13 days ago

Where is Henri Desgrange when you need him?

mikewilsonruns.bsky.social•13 days ago

Hardcore cycling fans will say it was sensationalized (which it was) so they tuned out but I agree reducing the ability to access the sport for new fans is not good. I watch everything cycling-related and still enjoyed

titaniumman.bsky.social•13 days ago

I suspect some of the TdF teams weren't too pleased to be airing their dirty laundry (literally and/or figuratively).

lordstrange.bsky.social•13 days ago

This is not strictly cycling’s fault in this case. Netflix is notorious for canceling things based on their business model for producing shows. https://deadline.com/2019/03/netflix-tv-series-cancellations-strategy-one-day-at-a-time-1202576297/

tratnikstan.bsky.social•13 days ago

Why do you think it's that bad that Netflix stops with the series?

kris.to•13 days ago

I think it was the closest thing we had to an "onramp" for new fans. Without that there is nothing to get new fans interested or up to speed on who the main characters are, etc

dianemartins.bsky.social•13 days ago

I agree with "onramp" theory. my fascination with cycling started after watching Unchained in 2023. last summer I traveled to France to watch TDF and met many Americans with the same cycling fan origin story.

thehatersguide.bsky.social•13 days ago

But it was only giving us ‘main characters’ as they were viewed through the lense of a single race. Newcomers would be forgiven for thinking MVDP was just ‘Disaster’s’ helper.

writebikerepeat.bsky.social•13 days ago

They had to make decisions with a limited amount of airtime... arguably they could have made better ones, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter to a new fan who is who, just that they are defined in the context of that race. Cycling's so complex, it had to be distilled somehow.

thehatersguide.bsky.social•13 days ago

Yet ‘the Least Expected Day’ had no problem with that. My worry when they first announced ‘Unchained’ was that it would be too slick, too overly produced and a misrepresentation of what is a ‘slow boil’ sport. Reality can never keep up with ‘reality’ TV.

writebikerepeat.bsky.social•13 days ago

Fair point. It's a square peg in a round hole. Diving deeper into one team over a longer period of time is clearly far more conducive to making something that will last. I just always felt it was better that than nothing... I'd rather see the sport represented even they misfired on some points.

skreps.bsky.social•13 days ago

Least Expected Day is superb, great characters, glorious failure interlaced with the odd victory is way more entertaining than slick winning machines...I now have the theme tune in my head!

tratnikstan.bsky.social•13 days ago

Didn't watch the Movistar docu, but i don't think they focus on classics too much either so...

skreps.bsky.social•12 days ago

I watched Milan - San Remo and you could be forgiven for thinking MVDP is just Jasper's helper...although I'm just sore Mathieu chased down Pidcock's late attack 😡

tratnikstan.bsky.social•13 days ago

I mean many people who only watch tdf / casual fans would think exactly that though.. the documentary will actually help get more people to be more hooked about the sport and find out that actually there are others races too

katie13.bsky.social•13 days ago

I theorize that if we were more like the Netherlands where people had to put their behinds on a bike, they’d be more into the sport. I think unchained was a bigger on-ramp for non European (especially American) fans, but even then, it could only do so much.

stijnfest616.bsky.social•13 days ago

Maybe we should just accept that cycling, at least the endurance variant on regular roads, is a very niche sport. Maybe it's not even a sport in the commercial sense (certainlhy is in the athletic sense!) but more of a life-long soap opera you buy into.

kris.to•13 days ago

I hope not! I don’t think it can survive if it stays this niche for another decade tbh

stijnfest616.bsky.social•13 days ago

Races will disappear, budgets will shrink but the racing continues. I am quite confident of that. Anyway with a figurehead like Pogi and a strong supporting cast I think we are guaranteed a couple of really strong years still.

andrewrosch.bsky.social•13 days ago

It's a dinosaur of a business model, and even more out of touch with modern sports media. Not surprising that it didn't take off as a replica of Drive to Survive.

There are too many intermediaries and stakeholders to bicker over anything that might drive change. Now if the riders owned races...

pamina85.bsky.social•13 days ago

I think most riders will probably be very happy about this tbf

thehatersguide.bsky.social•13 days ago

I thought it was a terrible show that went out if it’s way to make riders look bad. And I doubt many outside of hardcore fans watched it.

puckbuddys.bsky.social•13 days ago

I know hate is your brand but the show was fine, I could see it working for the no0b, casual or bike-racing curious. Almost any TV exposure for a niche sport is a plus. "Never turn down [sex or] the opportunity to appear on television." Truer now than when Gore Vidal said it nearly 50 years ago.

thebubbatex.bsky.social•13 days ago

I quit S2 after about 2-1/2 episodes. It was also boring.

thehatersguide.bsky.social•13 days ago

Yeah, season 2 was bad. I found the Visma DS extremely off putting with the stuff he was saying over the team radio.

broomwagon.bsky.social•13 days ago

This was my view (from the UK): With ITV no longer showing the Tour de France, the eye watering price hike from TNT, and now this news about Netflix it seems like someone somewhere has decided that what professional cycling really needs is significantly fewer people watching it

botalume.bsky.social•13 days ago

Meh I won’t miss that show

tricrossian.bsky.social•13 days ago

On yer bike.

tonke.bsky.social•13 days ago

Yes. But too many players involved. Plus putting it mainly behind a paywall can’t help matters much. And we need to fix the safety issues first too.

velospence.bsky.social•13 days ago

the problem is that it’s a simple sport made convoluted by the media. and the Netflix show went as far from that as possible.

objective: first to the line

gravelinfluencer.bsky.social•13 days ago

I also think the decision to hold the series until so close to the next Tour was a mistake. I know the idea was to drive viewership, but it was just so divorced from the prior race. Do it mid-winter and build excitement for the whole season.

velospence.bsky.social•13 days ago

for as expansive and confusing as the bike racing calendar is, it almost needs to build through out the season and air April/May with early season coverage then part B the nationals/Tour/Worlds.

i've been told i'm wrong before but i stand by the format of TDF:U was too confusing for casuals.

gravelinfluencer.bsky.social•13 days ago

I agree with you. Most sporting events are not run over 3 weeks in separate stages.

velospence.bsky.social•13 days ago

the way they told that story over 2/3 episodes was just so odd, spend 8-10 minutes in EP1 explaining the Tour (overall, small prizes) and get into it. i never understood why it was so hard. the biggest event in the world (football World Cup) is held in stages over a month.

gravelinfluencer.bsky.social•13 days ago

True, but World Cup is different in that you don't have the GC vs. individual game winner thing, which is why I agree with you that the narrative was confusing. If I knew zilch about cycling, TDF: U wouldn't have been a good intro.

kris.to•13 days ago

The problem there is that the TDF owns the rights to the content and is only interested in driving excitement for the TDF

gravelinfluencer.bsky.social•13 days ago

It's ASO, right? So could do PR, LBL, etc.

gravelinfluencer.bsky.social•13 days ago

Or TDFFAV!

kris.to•13 days ago

I don't think they're so invested in any other race. If they can drive 1% more viewership for TdF it seems more valuable to them than 100% more viewership for every other race combined

gravelinfluencer.bsky.social•13 days ago

Yeah, I think my larger critique is probably of ASO here then. And I get that TDF is the cash cow, but there's a benefit in creating regular viewers across more races.

katie13.bsky.social•13 days ago

Yeah, I think it’s a good point that the Pogacar/Vingegaard domination isn’t really great for storytelling each season. Side stories can only do so much. TDFF would actually be so much more interesting. Also, I think airing this right before TDF is questionable.

gravelinfluencer.bsky.social•13 days ago

Totally agree on right before TDF. Why not mid winter? Get new fans excited for the classics maybe...

katie13.bsky.social•13 days ago

They could’ve expanded on unchained by doing a documentary or two on the classics. PR would’ve been a great one.

gravelinfluencer.bsky.social•13 days ago

Agreed. Obviously more cost, but I think the one-day races are potentially more attractive to people.

Or to your point, just focus on the women where there is so much drama!

katie13.bsky.social•13 days ago

I mean, that’ll rope some people in, but overall, women’s racing last year was just so much more INTERESTING.

gravelinfluencer.bsky.social•13 days ago

Agreed! And so many storylines too. Legitimate team drama, Kasia finally winning, emergence of new stars like Kerbol.

reardupeloton.bsky.social•13 days ago

I dunno. All these sport docs are built off/copies of drive to survive. Which while they have been doing it has had 2 different world champions and with the exception of one season the championship has been wrapped up pretty early. Not sure the dominance is necessarily a problem with it.

reardupeloton.bsky.social•13 days ago

But the sport needs help and needs a way to reach new fans. Especially young ones who aren’t spending hours in front of the tv for anything let alone cycling…

tratnikstan.bsky.social•13 days ago

I personally think this main rivalry is good tho.. it went from Tadej domination in 2021 to Jonas beating him in 22 to two week epic rivalry in 2023 but jonas coming on top and now Tadej taking vengeance in 2024 but for 2025 jonas has the "excuse" that his prep wasnt ideal...

Think it's great

tratnikstan.bsky.social•13 days ago

And these epic Historic rivalries is what excites people a lot. And it's not like there's not a ton of other amazing stories that we tend to miss when watching the race (and 2024 remco will bd huge too)

katie13.bsky.social•13 days ago

REMCOOOOOOO 👏🏻

katie13.bsky.social•13 days ago

I don’t disagree. I enjoy the rivalry. I’m just wondering if Netflix felt that they did all they could do with it.

tratnikstan.bsky.social•13 days ago

I doubt this rivalry was a reason. There's a good story each year and now remco coming who should also be somewhat interesting for the french audience..

Probably just the show didnt do as well in france and thats not really surprising given how little success they are having

katie13.bsky.social•13 days ago

And no, I don’t think it’s directly the reason either.

katie13.bsky.social•13 days ago

Well yeah they cancelled the show Marianne after one season and that was the best thing I’ve ever watched on Netflix. Get it together, France.

thehatersguide.bsky.social•13 days ago

Focusing only on the tour was a mistake. That’s like making a feature about the Premier League but only showing both City v Liverpool games. Who has 24 days to watch cycling 6 hours a day during the school holidays? Should have been a season long thing.

katie13.bsky.social•13 days ago

Off season for cycling fans would’ve been better, but winter for the average person, I think, is a better time to get into something new.

pokesnail.bsky.social•13 days ago

But part of the point of the show is narratives from other teams, side characters and insights we might have missed during the race itself, etc. And even in last year’s ‘domination’ there was plenty of a story to tell between Pog/Jonas, like stage 11

katie13.bsky.social•13 days ago

I agree but also, who wins will always be a big part of the story and I don’t think that one is changing anytime soon. 😂
I really enjoyed the second season, though. More than I was expecting to.

katie13.bsky.social•13 days ago

Also, worth noting that I love Visma for producing excellent content for the fans. I eat their little documentaries right up.

tonke.bsky.social•13 days ago

Trek and (ugh) UAE also make interesting short documentaries! It think the teams do it better themselves than Netflix. Well, some teams. Alpecin still sucks although their backstage channel is a surprising improvement.

lonefrontranger.bsky.social•13 days ago

Visma has such blatant propaganda and I’m with you I also eat it right up! It’s one of the primary reasons for me being a complete Visma fangirlie despite being heavily influenced by my IRL connections with Specialized

pokesnail.bsky.social•13 days ago

Airing right before TDF makes most sense for attracting new fans to cycling/TDF

katie13.bsky.social•13 days ago

I personally got into it in January and then started watching the spring classics and and that got me excited for tdf. It gave me time to learn more about it. I’m normally so busy in spring/summer, I never would’ve caught it when it aired.

pokesnail.bsky.social•13 days ago

Sure but it’s not like they really explain/mention that spring classics exist, you have to take initiative to get interested. Much easier to carry over new viewers to the TDF right after

wpball.com•13 days ago

The Rugby Union one about the 6 Nations is also not continuing I believe.

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