Cycling on Flemish tv

It is all I expected it to be. Take this afternoon: at 2:30 they went live to Paris-Brussels, which they joined with 100 km to go. Except for a brief check-up on today's Vuelta stage (they were going to return to the final kilometers of that race after the finish in Brussels) they showed it non-stop until the finish. Tom Steels was there to give the perspective of a (recent) member of the peloton (Dirk de Wolf did the same thing the past 12 days or so in the Vuelta), and the commentary was unfailingly expert, to-the-point, and low key. The cameras were where you wanted them to be at all times, and the replays were always relevant too. Coverage in country that really knows the sport, for an audience that doesn't need any hype, that would not accept any hype or other bs. I could not watch the whole time, and by the time the finish of the Vuelta came around had to go on a little ride of my own, but it was great to be right there with the peloton in the rain. The image of a victorious Robbie McEwen gasping for air as he crossed the line was a perfect conclusion to what (sorry, friends in the U.S.) will probably soon be a pretty normal weekend afternoon in my living room.