Anthony Mccrossan – Commentating on the Worlds. Guest Blog.

I was asked if I would write a blog about commentating on the world championships to give you all a bit of an insight into what it is us commentators do all day, so here we go….

The World Championships for me is one of the biggest weeks of the year.  Its one of those weeks that starts high and ends normally higher.  The racing is competitive, the crowds get bigger as the week goes on and strangely the commentary box gets busier and busier!

So, I arrived in Firenze (Florence to us Brits) late on Saturday night, the day before the team time trials.  I was picked up at the airport by one of the guys who works on the caravan at the Giro where I am the speaker so I immediately felt at home.  Arrived at the hotel, met a good friend of mine Seb who does radio tour on the Tour De France and of course ended up having a glass of wine and dinner.  Its great to catch up on news and exchange views on the season so far and what might happen.

The next morning I headed to the race finish area to find my home for the week.  This championships I was on the upper deck of the big grey commentary boxes you see on the finish line of the worlds, in between Norwegian and Dutch tv, along from Italian and French tv.  So, this is where I would live for a week!  Watch the racing, commentate on the action, welcome my guest commentators, watch the victory ceremonies and be part of the incredible event that is the World Championships.

Each day is much the same.  Arrive in the morning at the finish area.  Go to the press centre to check any news, have a coffee, check the set up in the commentary box.  Read everything you can about news overnight, talk to other commentators and get their thoughts on the race, have more coffee, commentate, go to the press conference of the winner, back to the hotel, eat, chat more and sleep!

It would take a long time to go through day by day what happened at this years Worlds so here are some high points and some amazing things that happened.  My role at the worlds is commentator on the host broadcast feed, so my commentary is taken by a number of broadcasters across the world.  This time to places like SBS in Australia and also on the new live streaming to the Youtube UCI channel.  The audience is diverse, worldwide and as a result my commentary is generic, not related to any specific country and that means you have to know a lot about every rider.  It’s fun, challenging and an absolute honour to do what I do.

This year for the first time I had guest commentators on some days.  On the womens ITT day it was great to commentate with Team Manager of Wiggle Honda – Rochelle Gilmore.  She is working hard to change womens cycling and had some great insights during the race.  She also isn’t afraid to correct you or say what she thinks.  One moment of commentary was “I noticed you tripped over Elisa Longo Borghinis name Anthony – thats ok – we just call her Lamborghini!”

On Saturday I was joined by silver medalist in 2012, Rachel Neylan.  It was a tough day for Rachel as she has been injured a lot of 2013 and to watch a race she wanted to be riding in was an impressive thing to do.  She brought the race to life, giving stories about the riders, recalling her race with Vos in 2012 and for her first time in the commentary box, she was excellent.

Florence was a wonderful place for a world championships.  On the day between the time trials and road races, the circuit is closed for training.  The riders who are taking part in junior, U23, womens and mens races all go out.  This year I went round the circuit in a car as I unfortunately didnt have my bike.  I was joined by Jerome Pineau who was working with French tv.  He was great to listen to, giving us insights on who he thought would win, what the race would be like, showing us photos of him racing this year- its all helps with the homework for the racing!  

It’s a fans dream to be there on that day and I would recommend it to anyone.  You see all the stars, Mark Cavendish, Vicenzo Nibali, Alberto Contador, Evelyn Stevens, Marianne Vos, Lizzie Armitstead, Peter Sagan etc etc all out training.  Its amazing.

On Sunday, the weather turned and we had the most extreme Worlds for a long time!  What a day for the riders.  I dont know how they competed in those conditions.  Thunder, lightning, a deluge of rain.  It was incredible.  I was joined by young British rider Adam Blythe for the race.  I have known Adam for a while and its always struck me that he would be good in media.  At the worlds our ‘shift’ in the commentary box is 7 hours + so you live the entire race!   I think he was surprised at how tiring it was, but he was excellent.  Not sure what his colleagues will think of him willing it to rain harder though!  His rider identification was incredible, even down to spotting shoes and legs!  

So what were the highs and lows?  For me the most exciting race was close run between the womens road race, the mens TTT and the mens ITT.  I thought Brads ride in the ITT was testament to how classy he really is.  The way the Americans rode for Evie Stevens in the womens road race was exciting, but Vos was in a different league.  And Orica Green Edge and OPQS finishing less than a second apart was stunning.

There aren’t many lows at a Worlds to be fair.  Katie Colclough retiring was a shame.  She isn’t mentioned much, but is a world TTT champion.  Having the only taxi driver in Italy to observe the speed limit on the motorway as I tried to get a flight home on Sunday night was probably a disappointment, you don’t get that too often!

Thanks for reading, the next races for me are Lombardia and then China for Tour of Beijing.

Anthony Mccrossan.

(A massive thank you to Anthony for taking the time to type this out! Hope you all enjoy this as much as I did, as always feel free to comment, Elz)

A beautiful ending to Le Tour

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven’t posted for a while! Hoped to be able to do one or two short posts whilst in France, but that didn’t happen.

So, you want to know ‘they story?’ I’m not going to included everything, just a outline. Let’s just say this:

I picked Melissa up from Heathrow last Sunday, drove to the Eurotunnel, managed to get an earlier slot and went to Calais. Unfortunately my phone didn’t work over there. Except for WiFi. I got a little lost (the sat nav was very out of date). Almost drove on the wrong side of the road a few times. And finally got back on the road toward Pau. I drove until about 10.30pm (maybe later) that night, and we finally stopped at a hotel, where luckily they had a room available. That is where I posted my last blog! The next day I drove onto Pau. All of this was via the toll roads as I got too lost if I wasn’t on them!

In Pau, after a few guesses, I managed to find the underground car park in the centre of Pau. Thank god! I was a very worried about how long I could park there, but managed to sort that out later on. We wandered up and down before finding our way to the finish area. When we had found a spot, Melissa wanted to go for a wander. It was hot and about 5 mins after she went off I walked back into town. Then I could check out Hotel Bosquet, attempt to contact my parents and hopefully use the Wifi in Quick (the french version of Burger King). This I managed to do and eventually wandered back towards the finish, where all the team buses were parked. I asked the Orica-Greenedge boys how far they had left, and watched the riders come in from there.

Eventually the team buses were surrounded by people, and I got smacked on the head by the Eurosport camera (thanks you idiots) by the Team Sky bus. Eventually saw Melissa by the RSNT bus and took some pics etc. Then we went back to the car to attempt to find the hotel for the night! It took a lot of doing and I was knackered by the time we got there (just as reception was closing). A lot of media people were staying at Appart City Pau Idron.
Then the Wifi didn’t work! A quick shower then I was asked by her if I was going out to get something to eat. I wasn’t planning to as I had already eaten, but took her down to town as she looked pretty miserable. I suppose it must be very difficult being a vegan! Eventually I found somewhere to park and using the GPS on my phone, managed to find our way to restaurant after restaurant . Finally she decided one would suit and sat down. Loads of people were about. She was very unhappy with the sheer amount of people smoking and kept getting up to go for a walk.

Anyway. Finally we got back to the hotel. Where I get informed she hadn’t sorted any way to get back to Heathrow for her flight home. As she had already said she wasn’t staying in Paris with me, I had left her to it! I think by then I had had enough of trying to help her. Cue much banging around in the hotel room as i attempted to sleep.

Tues am: I go to reception to see if anyone could help us out using the WiFi on Melissas laptop. One of the receptionists, Christina Chorley, was British and agreed to immediately help her. I wandered down to Lidl to buy a bit of food (didn’t have enough money for breakfast in every hotel), and on the way back saw Vacansoleil out on a training ride.
Tues pm (ish): Back at the hotel Melissa eventually gave up and decided she wanted to move on back into town to try and find Wifi there. When we got there she went off on her own, and I decided to take a wander up to the hotel we were staying in that night. Ah we had one double bed. Crap. Oh well, I decided to wander up to the Sky/BMC/Garmin hotel, as we had driven past it earlier. I met some lovely American’s who were lost, and showed them the way to the team hotel.
Met @monadott and her friends, and #bernieontour. They were lovely people, and let me hang around with them until late in the afternoon when they went back to their hotel.
I spoke with loads of people about getting up the Tourmalet on the day, and was told it just wasn’t possible with a car. By this time i was feeling pretty ill, and was getting very stressed. I had no contact with melissa either (her phone is American and doesn’t work on European bandwidth or something). All I knew was she’d gone to find RSNT hotel. I took her luggage up from the car to the hotel, and finally went back for my own. Then I went to Quick to use their WiFi again. Then to the hotel for a shower and eventually fell asleep by 10ish.
Was woken up at 12 when she arrived. Tried to go to sleep, but she then asked me what the plan was the next day. I told her I’d been ill, and had been trying to work out if it was possible to get up the Tourmalet and said no.
A couple of hours later she starts banging around the room, having a shower, drying her hair right next to me etc. by now I felt awful, stomach cramps the whole lot. Then she picked my car keys up. Asked her what she was doing. She said seeing if she’d left anything in the car. No way do I ever let anyone take my keys. Especially at that time of the morning – after all I don’t really know her. She told me she was making her own way up the Tourmalet. Fine. Went out with her, waited until she had want she needed. And she went.

Weds am: talked though what I should doo wiith the young French lad on reception duties. He suggested buying a Pay As You Go phone. But to go and watch the stage start first. I wandered up there, and it was blisteringly hot! Watched the caravan go out. By then I felt horrendous, so went back to town centre and found a Carphone Warehouse. Got a cheap PAYG mobile and got the girl in the shop to set it up for me!
By 10.30 (ish) i’d had enough. I was frightened of driving on my own, and about tolls and money etc. Spoke to the lovely people in the tourism office, and phoned the parents. Then started on a long drive towards Chartres.

Weds pm: after the first hour or so on the road, I felt a lot more comfortable. Still had to stop every other service station though… Eventually made it to Chartres, and stopped at the Comfort hotel, where luckily I had just enough money to pay for a room and breakfast. Weirdly enough I ended up having a McDonalds for “supper.”
Thank god i had a PAYG phone, and my mum bless her heart managed to book me a room in Hotel de la Chappelle (near Chevreuse) for the next 2 nights. Also had WiFi that worked.

Thurs: managed to eventually drive into Chartres and posted a postcard (for dear old Lady Hornby). Then drove onto the next hotel. I was pretty ill, it wasn’t pleasant and it isn’t worth going into details!!
The hotel manager gave me expert directions for driving into Paris on Saturday morning!

Sat: felt a lot better! Drove into Paris (how easy!) and parked at Porte de Auteuil at the big Carrefor supermarket. Couldn’t wait to meet up with Verity who arrived at the Gare Du Nord at midday. Walked to the hotel, got directions for parking that was a LOT closer. Walked to the Eiffel Tower.

LOL!! Took a pic or two!!

Finally Verity got a taxi to the Eiffel Tower. I have never been so relieved to see my best friend in my whole life. Finally i had someone to have a laugh with and hopefully enjoy the last couple of days in Paris!!

and we took another pic or two.
Then we walked back to the car, moved it to nearer the hotel. Our room wasn’t ready, so left our luggage there and walked up towards the Champs Elysees. Failed to find the Team Sky Fan Party, and we walked up and down for ages. Finally a text came though on my phone. Tim Baines and David Dunphy you are a legends!! I eventually rang Tim back and we got a taxi to the Frog XVI

We watched the last 7 or 8 (i think) and had a refreshing Bulmers!! then everyone started disappearing and we got a taxi back to the hotel. we decided to get to the Arc for half 6ish in the morning, as I was aware that there would be a lot of people!

Sunday: We got up to the Arc for 6.40am

And found the Team Sky Fan Zone pretty easily! It was quiet for a long time, and it was pretty chilly! (I wore my PJ bottoms over my shorts on the way up!).

Then we met Chris, the one with ‘the’ hat, who lent me his Sky Procycling softshell jacket…

but eventually people started to arrive. We had bought camping chairs, and it was a relief to sit down for a while! Met some lovely people (please friend me on Facebook or Twitter as I am useless and can’t remember your names!!)

And it got hotter and hotter!!! And more and more packed!!

The caravan don’t throw anything out on the Champs Elysees. But one PMU girl dropped a sprint hand…

which a very kind policeman picked up for me!! We had plenty of fun waiting… (thanks Fran Millar for the temp tattoos:

(did you know sunscreen spray seals them? even after 3 showers mine are still on my arms!!)

And then finally… (this isn’t the first pic, but it has both Cav and Wiggo in it)

It was mental! I have cracking pictures on facebook in an open photo album. feel free to tag away!

The songs were sung, the British were showing their best side, and it was quite frankly amazing. Now I have been to Cheltenham Festival, and that is merely ‘enjoyable’ compared to this. The atmosphere was incredible!! I just wish i had recorded everyone singing for Wiggo. The Team Sky Sportbrake Jag’s got massive cheers everytime they went past.

And eventually they rode toward the finish on the last circut… everyone was holding their breath and gathered around various peoples phones or listening to David Dunphy… then when Cav crossed the line first the place went beserk!!!

After a while, the teams began arriving to have their pic’s taken in front of the Arc. Champagne was being popped everywhere behind us (and it tasted beautiful!). Then Liquigas appeared, and people started chanting/ singing for Sagan, for Basso and for Nibali. It was amazing, even more so when Peter Sagan ‘ran’ straight at me….

and signed the PMU sprint hand I had got from earlier! Then Sky appeared… well you can guess how massively they were cheered!

and then Wiggo ran at me as well….

and everyone surger forward to congratulate him. I got a fair few bruises from it! And then Cav appeared (I don’t have a photo 😦 unfortunately) and he signed my sprint hand as well!

and as they rode away, people started drifting off…

We started wandering back to the hotel, only for Verity to realise she had lost her sunglasses, we went back but no such luck, they were gone. Then spotting a souvenir shop (or several) she bought another pair! Finally we walked the hour or so back to the hotel, first of all seeing this:

and then this…

you wouldn’t think it was gone 10 at night!

We were both very footsore and tired, and slept very well! Not sure what time we left Paris, but got to the Eurotunnel 6 hours before we were meant to go! And they let us get on the next train for an extra £1. Brilliant! We lined up and found ourselves behind the Spanish cycling team car, so we asked for a picture…

so thanks guys! and mr saxo bank tinkoff bank person who took the photo!

I had a brilliant weekend with some amazing people. It made up for the start of the week!

But most of all thanks to all you guys and girls on Twitter for the sheer amount of emotional support you gave me! You have no idea how much it means, and you helped me get through day by day.
Thanks also to my brother and especially my parents, the trip wouldn’t have been possible without your help!
Thanks to Tim Baines for texting me the pub info, and to David Dunphy for organising the whole Team Sky Fan shindig. It was amazing…

Now I am tired, and it’s backk to work tomorrow, but expect a blog from the Womens Road Race at the Olympics on Sunday as (thanks to Rhys White) I have a ticket for the Mall!!!

I have managed to keep smiling, even through the tears last week, thanks guys and girls…

Ciao!!

xx