# How to follow pro cycling



## adam_mac84 (Sep 22, 2010)

I have recently (past year) gotten into cycling... Well, gotten the addiction. I very much enjoy watching racing etc when it is on TV. However, I don't have VS network, and had to resort to watching the different tours via torrents on cyclingtorrents.net. I have exhausted my privileges of downloading (since i can't upload).

Anyhow, i try to go to velonews.com, but it seems like following pro cycling is not like other sports where there is one league that moves around to venues or tours, but rather tons of different events/possibilities for teams or individuals to be at. Id like to be more privy to the names and 'drama' that is going on in professional cycling.

I know this is probably very infantile to many of you, but I would like to follow the sport more, and just seem to 'spin my wheels'.

also, if anyone knows other ways to get hold of torrents, please let me know


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## thechriswebb (Nov 21, 2008)

Well, the pro cycling forum here is one good place to keep up with the "drama."

Cycling is a little bit more difficult to follow than other sports. You basically have to learn and memorize what all of the big races are and know when they are happening. If I don't have any other access, I go to the race website to find out what is going on during the race, as some of them will give you live updates online as the race is progressing. I have followed many races this way from my android. 

I don't own a television, so I get my sister (who lives in another state) to record races for me and send them to me in the mail. 

I don't know where you live, but Universal Sports streams some of the big races live on their website. I watched every stage of the Giro this way a couple of years ago. It was awesome (but the commentary wasn't that great).


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Steep Hill does an excellent job of distilling pro cycling events down to just the stuff that really matters. And it has links to on-line live video sources too.


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## frpax (Feb 13, 2010)

cycling.tv


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## sometimerider (Sep 21, 2007)

http://www.cyclingnews.com/ is my main source of info. It has complete results for all major races; for the bigger ones, it often has live, text based, updates during the event.

If you follow it long enough, you'll eventually get a pretty good idea of the events, teams, and characters involved at the international level. (I suspect velonews also does a pretty good job at most of this.)


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

Go here to watch live stream, and free, pro racing -

http://www.cyclingfans.com/

Someone mentioned cycling.tv - that one is the biggest rip-off going. You pay lots of money and all you get is grief.


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## 32and3cross (Feb 28, 2005)

cyclingnews.com is the most complete English site with results for most of the races and good coverage and stories.


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

32and3cross said:


> cyclingnews.com is the most complete English site with results for most of the races and good coverage and stories.


And then there is -

http://www.velonation.com/
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/
http://www.bikeradar.com/


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## wiz525 (Dec 31, 2007)

i use cyclingfans.com for most of my live cycling events. but i'd be careful on some of those links. i think i've had 2 viruses come in via those sites. (i.e. fromsport.com) so i try not to watch those sites unless i'm on my mac.


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## Undecided (Apr 2, 2007)

frpax said:


> cycling.tv


Have they radically changed scope of coverage in the past six months? If not, then they're not of much value for following road racing. I did subscribe for three years, but by this past Spring, they were pretty much useless.


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## 32and3cross (Feb 28, 2005)

Mike T. said:


> And then there is -
> 
> http://www.velonation.com/
> http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/
> http://www.bikeradar.com/


all those are ok but none of them do comprehensive covage like CN does esp with results. Velonation os OK BIke Rader is the sister site of CN (owned by the same company offices in the same building). Pez is a fanboy site.


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## iliveonnitro (Feb 19, 2006)

I had a really hard time in 2006 when I first got into following pro cycling. In my opinion, the best way to learn the important riders is to follow the classics and each grand tour.

Steephill.tv usually has live feeds, many in english. If it's not in english, follow along on velonews' live feed. Actually, do both. The classics are in spring, the grand tours are 3x/yr. Enough names will be thrown out that you'll pick it all up after the first year. Just read every news article you can on cyclingnews and velonation.


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## gh1 (Jun 7, 2008)

And if you dont mind paying a little you can get good quality feeds of TDF on versus.com and the Giro was on universalsports.com. I think i paid around $40 last year for those two tours combined.


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## gh1 (Jun 7, 2008)

thechriswebb said:


> Well, the pro cycling forum here is one good place to keep up with the "drama."
> 
> Cycling is a little bit more difficult to follow than other sports. You basically have to learn and memorize what all of the big races are and know when they are happening. If I don't have any other access, I go to the race website to find out what is going on during the race, as some of them will give you live updates online as the race is progressing. I have followed many races this way from my android.
> 
> ...


You dont have a TV so how do you watch recorded races? Computer?


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

for online reading and following what is goin on, along with the drama of things behind teh race, i use cyclingnews.com and velonews.com. i prefer cyclingnews, but am still having trouble with their new format. they do a good job of live updates during the major races, so if you dont have access to a tv or the feed you can read along with the race. you an also pick up on jokes and jargon doing this.

when teh season starts and you dont have access to the races on VS or universal sports, check this forum for links to the live feeds.

there arent races in which EVERY team participates. however, you have the three grand tours: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, Vuelta a Espana. most people will tell you the giro and tour are the ones to really watch. the past two years the giro has had better racing, but the tour has had better drama (in my opinion).

the spring classics are mostly one day races. these are cold, gutsy, dirty races that are steeped in history and bier. lost of excitement in these. flanders and paris-roubaix will be the most visible, but there are others that are great to watch.

before the classics are some week-long stage races. paris-nice is kind of the big one here. usually viewed as kicking off the season. at least it is the one you will hear most about. tirreno-adriatico and milan-sanremo are goin off in italy. 

and there are races between the giro and tour that are viewed as previews of the tour. suisse, dauphine are the biggies.

they have added some tours here and there as well. tour of california, tour of quatar, and tour down under. tour down under is when people in the states start to pay attention nowadays. that started wehn armstrong got back in the game. this year there are some words between cavendish and griepel, mostly carry over from last year. so we already have some drama, momma!

i found a sched. it says 2011, but also 2010.
http://roadcyclingcalendar.blogspot.com/


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## Hula Hoop (Feb 4, 2009)

at a distance.


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## LostViking (Jul 18, 2008)

As you can see, there are multiple venues for following the sport - I use a mix of these.
Watch racing on VS whenever I can, catch recorded online feeds when I can't watch races on TV, Check steephill.tv and CyclingNews.com almost everyday and often a couple of times a day + hang out here...I've learned a lot about the dynamics of the sport just by reading and particpating in these forums. Some people here actually ride professionally - they can give you a lot of inside scoop on how things actually go down on a day-to-day basis.

If you can, go watch a live race somewhere. I plan on going to stages of this year's big three in Europe.


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## ewarnerusa (Oct 11, 2007)

Mike T. said:


> Go here to watch live stream, and free, pro racing -
> 
> http://www.cyclingfans.com/
> 
> ...


+1, cyclingfans.com is a great source for road and cyclocross live race feeds in text, audio, and video. You just have to not mind which language they may be in. 

The universalsports.com Giro package was great last year and I definitely plan on buying it again this year. The only issue is if you are going to watch an event replay that you don't know the outcome of yet, you will find spoilers all over the place if you go to their homepage. I suggest using the address http://www.universalsports.com/premium/ as your bookmark, that way there are no spoilers. This is only useful for their pay/premium products.


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## bnoojin (Mar 24, 2002)

*old school*

it may seem passe in the digital age, but over the years I have learned a TON about cycling from Cyclesport and Procycling magazines. caveat; it's not as good as it used to be, but that's the same for all printed forms of info. 

I've read riders bios too, Lemond's, Hinault's, Armstrong, Indurain...

books and mags aren't dead...yet.

welcome to this side of things.


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## roadie92 (Jan 21, 2008)

Twitter is an excellent way to stay up to date. www.steephill.tv and www.pezcyclingnews.com are two of my favorites.


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## 55x11 (Apr 24, 2006)

adam_mac84 said:


> I have recently (past year) gotten into cycling... Well, gotten the addiction. I very much enjoy watching racing etc when it is on TV. However, I don't have VS network, and had to resort to watching the different tours via torrents on cyclingtorrents.net. I have exhausted my privileges of downloading (since i can't upload).
> 
> Anyhow, i try to go to velonews.com, but it seems like following pro cycling is not like other sports where there is one league that moves around to venues or tours, but rather tons of different events/possibilities for teams or individuals to be at. Id like to be more privy to the names and 'drama' that is going on in professional cycling.
> 
> ...


I really think you ought to get Versus, or become friends with someone who does.


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## vismitananda (Jan 16, 2011)

steephill.tv is all I need to keep me updated.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

Lots of riders have blogs and twitter... some are more corporate than others but that's a good way to get to know the sport better. 

Chris Horner, case in point. 
http://blog.oregonlive.com/horner/index.html


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## dot (Mar 4, 2004)

why no one mentioned the pirate bay?


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## vismitananda (Jan 16, 2011)

dot said:


> why no one mentioned the pirate bay?


Pirate bay is a good source, are they still under lawsuit?


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## dot (Mar 4, 2004)

vismitananda said:


> Pirate bay is a good source, are they still under lawsuit?


no idea, they're accessible from my country and I'm downloading lots of rare movies with original soundtracks, impossible to buy these movies here legally anyway. I've seen lots of road raceing video shared but I'm not interested in them and never tried getting any.

http://www.cyclingfans.com for me when I want online coverage. I don't even own a telly.


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## vismitananda (Jan 16, 2011)

dot said:


> no idea, they're accessible from my country and I'm downloading lots of rare movies with original soundtracks, impossible to buy these movies here legally anyway. I've seen lots of road raceing video shared but I'm not interested in them and never tried getting any.


It's also accessible in my country, and I downloaded lots of materials from them too.


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## orange_julius (Jan 24, 2003)

bnoojin said:


> it may seem passe in the digital age, but over the years I have learned a TON about cycling from Cyclesport and Procycling magazines. caveat; it's not as good as it used to be, but that's the same for all printed forms of info.
> 
> I've read riders bios too, Lemond's, Hinault's, Armstrong, Indurain...
> 
> ...


Books and mags indeed are useful. One recent book that I highly recommend is "Armstrong's War". My non-cycling wife enjoyed it tremendously and she gained a lot of insight into cycling and its protagonists (and antagonists). 

Unfortunately that book is outdated now, and covered mostly Tour de France pretenders. I would love a similar book for spring classics contenders.


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## bnoojin (Mar 24, 2002)

I haven't heard about that one. is it LA-centric?

agreed about spring classic contenders. I suppose a book is risky because of how quickly it dates. 

I read mags to develop to get a good background on the different riders, then as the races approach, supplement with online reading about up to date form, mentality etc. I've heard echoes of how in depth the media coverage is of races and riders in Belgium and Italy, make me want to relocate or learn Flemish.


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## orange_julius (Jan 24, 2003)

bnoojin said:


> I haven't heard about that one. is it LA-centric?
> 
> agreed about spring classic contenders. I suppose a book is risky because of how quickly it dates.
> 
> I read mags to develop to get a good background on the different riders, then as the races approach, supplement with online reading about up to date form, mentality etc. I've heard echoes of how in depth the media coverage is of races and riders in Belgium and Italy, make me want to relocate or learn Flemish.


Are you replying to my post? 

If you are, it is LA-centric but covers very good amount of ground w.r.t. other TdF contenders. I wasn't looking for an LA-centric book and I was quite pleased with the coverage, if that helps. 

Not sure how things are in Flemish but from reading Sportwereld occasionally, that particular news outlet assumes a lot of reader familiarity with the subjects of interest. 

So did you just discover a hidden market opportunity or what??


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## bnoojin (Mar 24, 2002)

orange_julius said:


> Are you replying to my post?
> 
> If you are, it is LA-centric but covers very good amount of ground w.r.t. other TdF contenders. I wasn't looking for an LA-centric book and I was quite pleased with the coverage, if that helps.
> 
> ...



yep. your post. I'll check out the book. I like the history of the sport also. need to find some good TdF sources. not just coffee table books but a bit more in depth.

can you read dutch? on Google translator its pretty jumbled "english".

not sure what you mean by market opportunity.


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