2011 marked the 6th year we have produced daily online video content at the Tour de France.  This year was a little different in that we only attended the 1st half of the race with the VeloNews crew. After the start of stage 11 we headed to the train station on route to Paris and flew back to Colorado the following day.  All told it was a very exciting first 10 stages of racing.  Much of the content we shot and edited can be found on the VeloNews site  – http://velonews.competitor.com/category/tour-de-france  Here are a few videos from our daily list, which included a daily diary with HTC – Highroad rider Bernie Eisel and a post race wrap with Ben and Andy:

This footage was recorded outside of the press room 6 kilometers from the summit of the Col du Tourmalet, about an hour before the finish of stage 17.  Roughly 10-seconds was used during ABC’s 30-minute TV program, which aired on July 23, 2010.  The video above shows the total amount of video footage collected and sent to ABC.  Here is the link to the online teaser for the ABC show – http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/landis-lance-armstrong-drugs-doping-steroids-cycling-tour-de-france-health-11240505

The 2010 Tour de France marked our 5th year covering the event for VeloNews.  This year the video content was showcased on a new endurance portal called Competitor TV.  We were hired for field production duties and to work a daily routine of recording pre and post race rider interviews during each stage of the race.  We were excited to be producing a Chris Horner daily diary again, and an added feature dubbed “the morning minute”, which featured Neal Rogers and Andy Hood discussing a single topic, usually decided on moments before recording began.  Our workflow consisted of recording and then encoding the usable video and sending  the files to the Competitor studios in San Diego for inclusion in the highlight and extras shows.  You can see all of the content produced for VeloCenter during the 2010 Tour de France here – 2010 TdF VeloCenter

Fans on the Col du Petit Saint-Bernard climb in Italy

2009 seemed to be the tipping point in online video coverage of the Tour de France. Looking at the following link shows the vast number of outlets for live (over 30 live video feeds) and archived video featuring everything and anything Tour related.  http://www.steephill.tv/tour-de-france

VeloNews TV raised the bar for the 2009 edition and produced a daily show highlighting each stage.  VeloCenter, which was hatched in February at the Tour of California, had grown from a small team on location to a two pronged approach with field production at the race and a desk show, editing and publishing being handled in Denver, CO.  Futuristic Films provided an additional location camera crew and handled all of the post production in their Denver studio.  The workflow hinged on being able to deliver video assets via FTP from France to Denver in a timely manner.

Post race production and editing

The first week was all about learning and perfecting the workflow while managing the constant logistical mess that is the Tour.  Our motto became “nothing is guaranteed until your head hits the pillow”.  By the second week everything was coming together and VeloCenter blossomed with its tight format of race highlights, rider interviews, analysis and in show features.  Here is an examples of a show feature that was produced by the team on location during the race:

One of the most impressive accomplishments was John Wilcockson’s award for covering 40 Tours de France.  The 2009 event was actually his 41st Tour, but organizers presented him his 40-year award this year before the start of stage 10 in Limoges:

By the end of the race the video team had produced 24 episodes of VeloCenter.  The following episode from stage 17 represents the capability and effort of everyone involved in the project:

Another Tour de France has come and gone and for the third straight year we have accompanied the VeloNews team and captured the behind the scenes action as it unfolded.  This year’s adventure began with a preview of the Garmin-Chipotle team at their training camp in Girona, Spain.  Memorable videos from this part of the trip were the re-branding of the team cars & buses – http://www.velonews.tv/?Art_ID=2177 – and a front row seat for a Garmin-Chipotle team training ride including Team Columbia riders George Hincapie & Michael Barry – http://www.velonews.tv/?Art_ID=2174.

Once the Tour kicked off in Brest, France, we were in full throttle production mode for the duration of the race.  VeloNews setup daily rider diaries with Garmin-Chipotle’s Magnus Backstedt and Team Columbia’s Geaorge Hincapie prior to the start of the Tour.  Magnus did not make the time cut on stage 7 and left the Tour the following day.  New Zealand national champion Julian Dean filled in for Magnus for the rest of the race.

George Hincapie syndicated the VeloNews video player on his own website, providing his fans with daily video content from the Tour de France – http://www.georgehincapie.com/video.aspx

Rocky Mountain Sports magazine also syndicated the VeloNews TV video player on the main page of their website – http://www.rockymountainsports.com

Here is a list of some of our favorite videos from this year’s edition of the Tour de France:
Stage 9: Post race – making sense of the chaos

Stage 10: Post race report from the Hautacam

Peloton Poll: Astana’s exclusion from the 2008 Tour

Stage 9: Pre-race with Caisse d’Epargne’s Alejandro Valverde

LeMond at the Tour, part 1: Solutions for the future of pro cycling

Stage 6: Stage winner – Sauner Duval-Scott’s Ricardo Ricco

Finish line press scrum with Garmin-Chipotle’s David Millar & Silence-Lotto’s Cadel Evans

…and of course the outtakes video: