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Space Technology

Mapping The Tour de France Riders From Space 173

Posted by timothy from the we-are-from-france dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "It was just a matter of time before someone gets the idea of using satellite localization to map the positions of the cyclists of the Tour de France. In a first test on July 21 during the ascension to l'Alpe d'Huez, ten riders were equipped with receivers and tracked by the EGNOS European satellite positioning system, a preparatory programme for the Galileo system. The European Space Agency (ESA) reports about this first test in "The best view of the Tour is from space." It's highly possible that all riders can get receivers as soon as next year. And this data will be available on the Web, so you will know in real time the exact location of your favorite champion. Read this summary for more details and a computer-generated image showing the respective positions of Lance Armstrong and Richard Virenque, the top-ranked climber, while climbing to the top of l'Alpe d'Huez."
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Mapping The Tour de France Riders From Space More

Mapping The Tour de France Riders From Space

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  • Drugs and Bikes (Score:2, Interesting)

    by mfh ( 56 )
    This story would be a whole lot better if it included a biorhythm readout of the steroid or drug content of each rider! I was listening to the CBC radio in the car again today and they had a very insightful discussion about the Belgian Christophe Brandt who withdrew [www.cbc.ca] after testing positive for the narcotic methadone. It seems that the Tour is being marred by this drug controversy.

    However the tracking system they are planning for next year seems quite a bit better than what is currently available, like this [www.cbc.ca]

    • Re:Drugs and Bikes (Score:2, Insightful)

      by icedivr ( 168266 )
      The strange thing about Brandt's withdrawal is that methadone is typically associated with treatment of heroin addiction. I don't think there are any performance-enhancing effects to methadone, and it's certainly a rare occurrence to hear of someone in professional athletics testing positive for it!

      • Re:Drugs and Bikes (Score:3, Interesting)

        by dago ( 25724 )
        yes, and the famous "pot belge", which was widely used amongst clyclist, contains antalgics, cafein, cocain, amphetamins and ... heroin.

      • The strange thing about Brandt's withdrawal is that methadone is typically associated with treatment of heroin addiction. I don't think there are any performance-enhancing effects to methadone, and it's certainly a rare occurrence to hear of someone in professional athletics testing positive for it!

        From here [caryacademy.org]:

        Methadone was used just like morphine for war victims who had severe injuries, or that were close to death. Methadone effectively numbed the pain of severe wounds, and for that reason spread quickly.

    • Re:Drugs and Bikes (Score:2, Informative)

      by MJN222 ( 66958 )
      The sports world in general is being marred by a drug controversy. There's a huge inquiry in the US about BALCO, a lab that allegedly distributed steroids to a lot of athletes. The type of steroid was THG, which was until recently undetectable in drug tests.

      As far as cycling is concerned, the drug scandal revolves around EPO, which increases the amount of oxygen in the blood and boosts endurance. The scandal reached a peak in the late nineties when a LOT of riders tested positive, among them Richard Virenq

    • Re:Drugs and Bikes (Score:5, Interesting)

      by selderrr ( 523988 ) on Sunday July 25, 2004 @12:26PM (#9795131) Journal
      there we go again... Brandt was tested positive on Methadon, a substance that DOES NOT HELP cycling better. It's some sort of pain killer.

      Additionally, the dose was miniscule. So small that it is impossible to have any advantage or even effect whatshowever. It is very likely that he's the victim of eating something which contained some Methadon without his knowledge. (did you know for instance that tap water in many cities contains high traces of Oestrogen ? Does that make you a transexual ?)

      Those athletes work and live on the edge where NONE OF US HERE has ever been and will ever be. Cycling, especially the Tour de France is the most intense and demanding sport on earth. Those guys burn up to 12.000calories in one day (insert lame joke here) andthey have no choice but to nurse their bodies at perfection. That includes vitamins and food supplements that are on the edge of what's allowed. But ON THE EDGE is not equal to OVER THE EDGE. Each of these guys goes as far as his doctor tells him. The slightest mistake tests them positive.

      Don't be one of those bystanders booing 'cycling is all about dope !'. The sport is insane, the competition is insane, the food is insane too. There are surely some dopeheads, as in every sport. But armstrong for instance, gets tested EVERY DAY. Also at home, at unexpected times. Outside racing season.

      irst come to live in a racing country (I'm from Belgium) and experience cycling first handed. There's probably less than 1% of the /. population that would make it up alpe d'huez... even with all the dope they wanted.

      • Re:Drugs and Bikes (Score:3, Informative)

        by Isldeur ( 125133 )
        there we go again... Brandt was tested positive on Methadon, a substance that DOES NOT HELP cycling better. It's some sort of pain killer.

        Additionally, the dose was miniscule. So small that it is impossible to have any advantage or even effect whatshowever. It is very likely that he's the victim of eating something which contained some Methadon without his knowledge. (did you know for instance that tap water in many cities contains high traces of Oestrogen ? Does that make you a transexual ?)

        This is redi
        • like i said : it it doesn't help you cycle better... shall I repeat it again ? Do you think that an athlete on heroin would perform better ? Maybe for sprinters, who need to unleash all their energy in 10 seconds and not feel the pain they are inflicting on their muscles, but for cycling, where you're on a bycicle for 6 hours, it's all about being clear in the head and knowing how to plan the race. narcotics are the last thing you want.

          I really can't imagine that Brandt would take Methadon in such small d
        • It certainly does help. In the past, they used to use alcohol instead. But the dehydrating effects of alcohol (and ignorance of same) caused a rider to die. This was a few years ago now. Like it or not, drugs of one sort or another have always been used on the Tour, and probably still are today.
      • It is very likely that he's the victim of eating something which contained some Methadon without his knowledge.

        I'm sorry, I should have posted this the first time. Do you know that methadone is

        1. a tightly controlled substance, and
        2. a thick dark green syrup.

        ? That said how many people do you think go around having "methadone sandwiches"?? Jesus.

        • Re:Drugs and Bikes (Score:4, Insightful)

          by selderrr ( 523988 ) on Sunday July 25, 2004 @01:38PM (#9795543) Journal
          you clearly have no idea what top athles eat. Do yo really think these guys eat sandwiches during the race ???

          Please dude, inform yourself before making a joke. racing food is developed by laboratories that also work on food for astronauts and fighter-pilots : i.e. eating under extreme conditions.

          As i said in my previous post : top-athletes like Armstrong & Ullrich burn up to 12.000 calories in 6 hours. That would be about 100 sandwiches i guess.... No way you can intake such amount of energy trhu ordinary food. They eat liquid food & powerbars during the race. Food that is made in proportion to what their body needs and can absorb. There are dozens of vitamin and mineral additions in it that we probably don't even know. They have a team of doctors and food specialists to balance the diet and add whatever the body seems to lack (they have blood taken before & after every race to balance the diet). Do you really think these racers have time or energy or interest to follow tat up ? They blindly trust their doctors and hope nobody messes it up. Armstrong will never take any drink from a spectator offering it, even during the heaviest climb when he badly wants to drink. The risk that there's something forbidden in it is just not worth it. Do you think that these guys would just go hupla and as you phrase it "have a methadon sandwich" ?

          puhlease...
        • Drugs in the environment is a potentially serious problem in the world (no matter what the pharmaceutical company lobbyists tell you). Animal feed often contains very large amounts of antibiotics and hormones that find their way into the food supply and the environment in general. Pharmaceutical companies market these uses of their products very aggressively to farmers and ranchers to increase production and profits. Not all of these substances are metabolized and humans get dosed with them when they eat

      • Re:Drugs and Bikes (Score:4, Informative)

        by macrom ( 537566 ) <macrom75@hotmail.com> on Sunday July 25, 2004 @01:31PM (#9795501) Homepage
        I think the point of testing for methadone in cycling is two-fold :

        1. Methadone can be a painkiller, which means that perhaps a cyclist could push harder despite the pain and cramping from lactic acid buildup in the muscles.

        2. As mentioned above, methadone is most commonly used to treat heroin addiction, so the presence on methadone NOW could possibly indicate the use of drugs previously in the year.

        Regardless of how it got into his system, they have to follow the rules. Accidentally ingested methadone? That's a tad far-fetched, don't you think? What kind of team chef is this guy working with that allows drugs to fall into the pot of pasta? And what kind of team doctor wouldn't be on the lookout for the banned substances when keeping an athlete on a medical regimen?

        While I don't agree with the comment in reference to Lance Armstrong, Greg LeMond was somewhat on target when he said, "In cycling, there are no miracles, only explanations." There's an explanation for the methadone in Brandt's blood and someday the truth will surface.
        • Accidental intake of drugs is easy. Just ask Silken Laumen, the Canadian rower who took the wrong cold medication durring the PanAm games. She got it cleared with her team doctors, who basically screwed up. Canada had to give up the medal (I think it was for the Coxless 4s). Since it was an obvious honest mistake, there were no long term repercussions against Lauman. This was after her '92 comeback from having her quadracept severed from her thigh. She went on to win a bronze in Barcelona.

          http://www.

      • Re:Drugs and Bikes (Score:3, Informative)

        by michael_cain ( 66650 )

        Those guys burn up to 12.000calories in one day (insert lame joke here)

        A lot of people don't appreciate how big a role nutrition plays in Tour performance. The typical rider consumes about 7,000 calories per day; almost all of them lose weight over the course of the race. About 70% of the body's energy production uses carbohydrates; so they need about 5,000 carb calories per day; your muscles and liver can store about 2,000. So lots of the calories have to be ingested while riding. A typical rider wi

      • (did you know for instance that tap water in many cities contains high traces of Oestrogen ? Does that make you a transexual ?)
        No i wasn't aware. Do you have any sources? I'd be fascinated.
        ----
    • Why do we complain when an athlete uses a drug that is prescribed when 99% of the civilized world uses legal drugs on a daily basis? Both for medicinal and recreational reasons. ( yes, caffeine and nicotine qualify as recreational drugs.. )

      Since the drugs are available to ALL the athletes the playing field is STILL level.. just the bar is much higher..

      I think if we just need to off this hypocritical anti-drug kick and let them compete.

      • Re:Drugs and Bikes (Score:4, Insightful)

        by IWannaBeAnAC ( 653701 ) on Sunday July 25, 2004 @01:37PM (#9795532)
        But, if it was allowed to take drugs then there is a problem because a lot of drugs that are short-term performance-enhancing are very bad for you. But, some people are determined enough to win that they don't care if the drugs will kill them.

        But, the result would be that athletes have very short life spans (including many that would die while competing), and people who care about their long term health would not be able to compete effectively.

  • Clarifications (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 25, 2004 @11:35AM (#9794868)
    They are tracked with GPS receivers. EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System) is the European equivalent of WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System). These systems reduce the distortions introduced by atmospheric effects by measuring the distortions at a number of base stations with known locations and transmitting the distortion map via geostationary satellites.
    • Just to add a little information, wince 1 MAY 2000, when Selective Availability was disabled, autonomous GPS using the L1 Coarse Acquisition code has had a typical error of 6m about 90% of the time. This is more than sufficient to track these guys both in terms of spatial positioning, and in terms of speed.

      Use of EGNOS, correctly compared with WAAS, will enhance the position accuracy to about 1m error, but velocity accuracies won't be enhanced very much.

      It'd help if the FUD about GPS had not been includ
    • Virenque was already across the line at 5:12 PM, a full 27 or so minutes ahead of Armstrong (Richard having left the gate at 4:31 and Lance having departed at 4:59). The movie makes it look like this was positioning of the two concurrently during the race , but it is only showing a comparison of Richard's and Lance's efforts on the course. Of course, Lance dusted him!
    • I also suspect they aren't using EGNOS at all (at least almost certainly not an especially high proportion of the time). You need a good view of the equatorial horizon to use SBAS (Satellite Based Augmentation System - i.e. WAAS or EGNOS) since unlike the GPS satellites, the SBAS satellites are geostationary. I very much doubt that these guys have a consistently good view of the southern horizon, especially given the mountainous terrain they're on.

  • Wins Again (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jfinke ( 68409 ) on Sunday July 25, 2004 @11:37AM (#9794884) Homepage
    On another note, Lance won again. It was actually a pretty riveting end to the Tour de France.
    • A couple news articles about it:

      AP story [myway.com]

      Sports Illustrated/CNN [cnn.com]

    • Re:Wins Again (Score:4, Informative)

      by ShinmaWa ( 449201 ) on Sunday July 25, 2004 @12:33PM (#9795168)
      Having stood along with the crowds along the Champs-Elysee on the last day of the Tour, I don't know if I'd call it "riveting".

      The last day is mostly for the cameras and the crowds. The winner is already known and has practically no chance of losing at that point. The leaders don't even bother trying to win the stage and come in waaaaay in the back of pack, often over 20 seconds behind the stage leader. 20 seconds doesn't seem like a lot, but that actually puts them at the back of the pack. Lance is known to drink champaigne and chat with reporters while "racing" on his last day.

      This year, Lance came in 114th.

      The last day of the Tour is a lot of fun with the crowds, the booths, the parades (lots of parades) and the music, but its not "riveting". However, I did get lots of great photos and movies as they passed me over 20 times!
      • Yes, the overall leader was determine, some would say, several days ago. However, this year, there was a break away group that led for several laps upto 35 secs. This is much different than usual where everyone sits back and then at the final moment lets the sprinters dual it out. But, I am not a biking expert, just what I have seen, heard, and read.

      • Having stood along with the crowds along the Champs-Elysee on the last day of the Tour, I don't know if I'd call it "riveting".

        I definitely agree in general: the final stage is usually a day of photo ops, and a last chance for a sprinter to claim a stage win.

        The outstanding exception in recent memory was the 1989 Tour, when the final stage was a 24.5 km time trial and, as it turned out, the decisive stage of the race. I still remember a friend calling and telling me that Greg Lemond [cyclinghalloffame.com] had miraculously

      • the yellow jersey was decided well before the end, but the race for the green (points, best sprinter) was decided at the finish today.

        Often the most exciting finishes late in the race don't involve the big contenders for the yellow jersey, since they aren't willing to take the risks others are..
      • > The winner is already known and has practically no chance of losing at that point.
        > Lance is known to drink champaigne and chat with reporters while "racing" on his last day.

        Actually, it is a custom, that on the last day there are no attacks on the leading positions, because, as you said, the winner is usually known and such attacks would only be a sign of bad sportsmanship.

        After 6 victories it may seem so, but chatting and drinking champagne is also not a habit of Mr. Armstrong is especially know
        • Well he deserved it.

          There are few sports where the athletes impress me as much as in cycling. Take the time trial yesterday 50km/h average for 55km while climbing 700 meters during that stage.

          I doubt I'd be able to reach 50km/h unless rolling down a hill

  • Tracking teams and other uses (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Infonaut ( 96956 ) <infonaut@gmail.com> on Sunday July 25, 2004 @11:43AM (#9794918) Homepage Journal
    I find this interesting because it opens up the possibility of being able to track not only individuals, but teams. Knowing where a dominant rider is in relation to the supporting members of his team is vitally important in understanding the overall situation. I envision an applet that continuously checks the positional data and would allow me to watch the relative positions of riders from various teams using color coding.

    Sometimes events inside the peloton go unwatched by commentators who are paying more attention to the leaders who have broken away from the main group. It would be nice to be able to see the jockeying that occurs between teams and individuals.

    The data feed could also be used to help keep track of riders as they go after the green (points) jersey. This is a really exciting part of the Tour de France that never really gets as much attention as it deserves.

    Let's hope this data gets put to good use. Kudos to the ESA!

    • The data feed could also be used to help keep track of riders as they go after the green (points) jersey. This is a really exciting part of the Tour de France that never really gets as much attention as it deserves.

      The only downside is if a rider needs to change his bike in the middle of a stage. Any and all positional data for that rider will be useless..

      • They'd probably require the receivers to be of a standard shape with removable modules. It would then be the rider's responsibility to ensure that they stuck their transponder-thingy into whichever bike they are riding.

        Alternatively, and this is the more obvious solution: strap the receiver to the cyclist! (They already have heart rate monitors attached to them, one more piece of kit shouldn't be too bad.)
    • Wonder how this will affect one of the major benefits of being able to go last: you know the pace of the people in front of you and where you are relative to them. This kind of nicks that completely (course it's not that much of an advantage when you got a guy on a cell phone calling in times)
      • If you watch the TV transmissions, you will note that, with time trials, they already have a split screen thing view with a live update of the gap in seconds, in terms of overall classification, between leading riders. However they do this will be enough for a rider to know within a second or two anyhow, so satellite tracking will add little there, except for the ability for everybody to do this sort of thing between any riders they choose.
    • I wonder if this information would aid plotters. I remember hearing of one person that was prevented from getting his 6th straight win because someone attacked him. Now it would be easier for people to know where to go to attack their favorite rider's opponent.

  • APRS (Score:4, Interesting)

    by j1m+5n0w ( 749199 ) on Sunday July 25, 2004 @11:44AM (#9794929) Homepage Journal

    This would be a good use of APRS [wikipedia.org] (automatic position reporting system). The basic idea is that you plug a gps into a handheld HAM radio, and the radio transmits your position at periodic intervals.

    -jim

    • Yep. I think it would be a great tool for coaches and the coverage to get location and other telemetry from the riders in somewhat real time.

      I noticed OLN was putting heart rate information from (I think) Robbie McEwen in the final sprint. However, I doubt they were using APRS, as the updates were too fast - they most likely used some constant carrier method. Wasteful of bandwidth, but broadcasters have never been known for efficiency of communication.

      I think for small local races, APRS could be a boon for

  • little slow on the button? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RestiffBard ( 110729 ) on Sunday July 25, 2004 @11:45AM (#9794931) Homepage
    Hey, slashdot, how about moving a little quicker on the submissions now and then. This info would have been nifty about 3 days ago. Seeing as I just watched Lance roll through Paris I suppose we're now just early for next year.

  • Extrapolation (Score:2, Informative)

    by toetagger1 ( 795806 )
    Would be nice if they used some sort of extrapolation of the original data points to make the animation more smooth. Currenlty, they just place a picture of the rider at each data point, which doesn't looke very attractive. Would be nice to see an animated picture of the pike and rider as well. But then again, this is a proof of concept for the Galileo project, and not a tool for the media.

  • Excellent... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This is a TERRORIST ATTACK waiting to happen! They will be sorry when the SCUD MISSILES are taking out riders with CENTIMETER PRESICION!
  • Bikes are no more affected by drugs than Baseball, Football, Soccer, track and field, swimming, you name it, there are drugs. It's only the sports that crack down on drug use that fight with the immage problem, such as the Olympics and Tour de France.

  • weight (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mattr ( 78516 ) <{mattr} {at} {telebody.com}> on Sunday July 25, 2004 @11:56AM (#9794991) Homepage Journal
    I wonder how heavy those things are, and how much it will cost them timewise in the aggregate. Imagine nearly killing yourself on small things that add up to a win or lose at the end, but always know you have this dead weight. Or are the cyclists happy about it because it is better for the fans? Do they weigh everyone's gps units to make sure they are the same? I can see people shaving off the edges of the silicon..

    • Re:weight (Score:2, Informative)

      by lessthanjakejohn ( 766177 )
      Lance's bike is too light for the tour specs anyway, they have to add weight to make it conform. I imagine that all the necesary equipment can be stufffed inside the tubes of the frame or no? If not, the disadvantage is not in weight, but in aerodynamics

    • Re:weight (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Fenris Ulf ( 208159 )
      Since riders are already adding weight to their bikes to meet the minimum weight rules, perhaps they'll just integrate one of these with each of the team bikes.
    • Last year, Lance won by a very small margin - 61 seconds out of almost 84 hours.
      That's 0.02% difference between him and 2nd place.
      Someone calculated that that was a difference in mass of 54 pennies carried over the entire course.

      Yikes.

      Hope their hardware's tiny.
      • That sort of calculation is only really relevant when the rider is time trialling (i.e. going flat out over a known distance) in some form or another. Most of the race is tactical, using drafts from other riders, watching known threats and reacting to them, etc. In any case, there is a minimum bike weight, and bikes need to have lead weight added to them to make this weight. GPS receivers could be part of that added weight.
    • The article says that the receiver was mounted in the team cars for 10 select riders, not physically attached to the riders themselves. On a time trial, each rider gets a follow vehicle to help with any mechanical issues or crashes, and the follow vehicles are usually very, very close to the rider (it looks like 10 to 15 feet). So any weight would be fine, since it'll be dragged around by a gasoline motor.
    • The weight is irrelevant, as long as every rider carries the same weight.
  • "These EGNOS receivers were put in the car of the team director following the cyclists" So really, they were monitoring the team cars, and not the riders. This sounds similar to the DARPA Grand Challenge, OnStar, etc.
  • http://tinyurl.com/4u8sa

    There are issues related to possible conflicts.

  • Riiiders froooom SPAAAAACE! (Score:4, Funny)

    by isomeme ( 177414 ) <cdberry@gmail.com> on Sunday July 25, 2004 @12:13PM (#9795077) Journal
    Man, if Lance beat riders from space, I have even more respect for him. Those guys have, like, photon torpedos and shit on their bikes!
    • I thought maybe the Greys had entered a Riders From Space team. Instead it was about some LoJack systems for bicycles.

    • Photards (Score:2)

      by mfh ( 56 )
      > Man, if Lance beat riders from space, I have even more respect for him. Those guys have, like, photon torpedos and shit on their bikes!

      He'll have to avoid the photards. They have photards -- the red-shirts who get stuck in the tube when trying to load... they get stuck to the enemy's field generators and cause brown-outs.

  • Le Tour Humaine (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Mechanic: "Alright Lance, lets go through the checklist before you start the time trial."

    Mechanic: "Two pound carbon fiber frame?"
    Lance: "Check."

    M: "180 gram tires?"
    L: "Check."

    M: "150 gram Titanium cogset?"
    L: "Check."

    M: "5 pound GPS transmitter on your helmet?"
    L: "Uuuugh! Cccheeeck!" (Falls over.)
  • Wired had a story about Lance Armstrong's equipment and how they consider shaving 2 ounces off the weight a major improvement. Why would a rider want to carry additional deadweight, even if it is a 2 ounce GPS?

    • Re:extra weight? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by perly-king-69 ( 580000 ) on Sunday July 25, 2004 @12:23PM (#9795121)
      On that (Alpe D'Huez) stage Armstrongs bike was 2grams less than the permitted UCI minimum weight of 6kg. Not a large amount, but they actually had to add weight to his bike.

      • Re:extra weight? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Corf ( 145778 ) on Sunday July 25, 2004 @12:39PM (#9795187) Journal
        which they did by substituting the titanium bolts on some of his equipment with stainless steel instead. How's that for gram-counting? It's amazing the difference people think one or two extra grams saved will make on their riding.

        On the flipside, every bit of rotating weight you shave off the wheels counts far more than relatively stationary weight on the frame or componentry. Those wheels Armstrong rode up Alpe d'Huez with were around 1000g for the set; compare with the Ksyrium Equipes [mavic.com] on my road bike at 1670g. Truly use-once-and-throw-away event-specific stuff... anyone over 200lbs gets on those, they fold up like pringles.

        • every bit of rotating weight you shave off the wheels counts far more than the relatively stationary weight on the frame or componentry

          I suggest you do the maths and confirm this for yourself.

          "Rotating mass" (mass moment of inertia) is only significant when accellerating - a massive flywheel will not make the bike any slower at constant speed in the flat. With the magnitudes of accelleration possible on a bike, and the size of the wheels, the difference in accelleration possible with a set of bling-blin

          • hmm... (Score:1)

            by Corf ( 145778 )
            ...I'll state flat-out that I'm no good with maths, but I've ridden a few different wheelsets in my day, and it's pretty easy to tell the difference. It really depends on the event; aerodynamics definitely figure more than weight in a time trial, at least one where you're going fast enough for slipstream to come into play (unlike Alpe d'Huez). Those carbon disc & 5-spoke wheels are tank, relatively speaking.
      • Actually the minimum weight is 6.8 kg. Just search google if you don't trust me :-)
  • This is already done for NASCAR drivers. PitCommand [nascar.com] uses differential GPS to track all 43 NASCAR Nextel Cup drivers every race. It also uses sensors to monitor throttle, break, and RPM.

    Although it is a pay service, you can see a demo here [nascar.com] (recent version of the Java plugin required).

    Tracking race cars is more difficult than tracking bicycles due to speed. Tracking things at high speed is more difficult, because it is difficult to keep four satellites acquired. Also, race tracks have banking and gr
  • When I first read the headline, I envisioned a geostat satellite taking a visual survey of the tour de france. But if you RTFA its nothing but a souped up european version of WAAS + GPS, and the trackers are not even attached to the riders bikes to boot. Kinda disappointing... but at the same time not much of a loss. Cycling isn't exactly a play by play sport. The espn highlight reels more than suffice to capture the excitement and perhaps some mayhem when someone crashes the peloton. Do you really want to

  • I'd be more impressed (Score:4, Interesting)

    by infolib ( 618234 ) on Sunday July 25, 2004 @12:40PM (#9795197)
    If they started using the helicopter cams for the sprints. They're always filming the sprints from ground-based cameras in front of the riders with ridiculous amounts of zoom. You have no chance to see who's in the lead or who's coming up fast or falling behind. Instead you have to rely on the commentator stuttering the name of whatever rider's in the lead. Hey, it's not radio, it's TV - I want to see it.

    They've got the chopper hanging around all afternoon anyway, so what's the big deal?
    • If they started using the helicopter cams for the sprints. They're always filming the sprints from ground-based cameras in front of the riders with ridiculous amounts of zoom. You have no chance to see who's in the lead or who's coming up fast or falling behind.

      Aside from safety concerns, a heli directly in front of the sprinters would blow huge amount of wind in their direction, slowing them down and effectively changing the rules of the game.

      It is possible to distinguish the riders in a sprint simpl

      • As titusjan says in a reply below yours, they actually every now and then show the helo pics in replay. (I've seen that a few times, but forgot.) So, they don't seem to mind the safety. Besides, I don't want the pictures from the front - I want them from above.

        As for distinguishing the riders - I'm quite capable of that. I just don't know which one is in the lead, which is quite interesting the last 200m of the stage.

  • No GPS for Armstrong, please (Score:4, Funny)

    by John Jorsett ( 171560 ) on Sunday July 25, 2004 @12:47PM (#9795239)
    If Armstrong comes back for another try next year, he'd have to worry about giving some of the spectators his exact coordinates. Today: spit, tomorrow: precision guided munitions.

    • There was a moment where a small pack of Germans tried to knock him off his bike. It was during one of the time trials.

      What I'd like to know is, is this anti-American sentiment or is this done to most riders out there? In baseball players are harassed all the time, spit at, things thrown at them. Football the same. Basketball is a nightmare. This is all considered normal. What worries me is if this is out of the ordinary for cycling and specifically targeted at Lance. If it is then I'm glad Lance is sticki

      • No (Score:2)

        by Goonie ( 8651 ) *
        You might consider that the second and fourth-place riders were German, and the guy (Jan Ullrich) who ultimately came fourth has come second to Lance three times in the past so it's probably not so much anti-American as anti the guy who keeps beating our guys.

        The other thing you have to understand is that there were hundreds of thousands of people spectating on the time trial - the commentators were saying 900,000. The crowd looked dozens deep on both sides of the road, all the way up the 16-odd kilometre

        • i think you're probably correct one way or another about the motivation on the time trial. That was pretty hairy. Some of the earlier riders were dodging trash and even a fucking camp chair! One of the US Postal riders (Landis?) actually shoved someone aside on his way up.

          As to accidental interference, i saw some footage today from some of the earlier stages i missed. There was one point where some guy was way out on the roadway taking a photo and facing toward the direction of the race. As he went to mov

      • Eddie Merckx, a Belgian who was trying for his sixth Tour win, was assaulted by a French fan, who ran out and punched him in the ribs. It may not have been the sole reason he didn't finish first that year but it certainly couldn't have been shrugged off.

        A lot of the interference is accidental. The Alpe d'Huez was a nightmare this year. Afterwards, Lance said that he thought it was a mistake to hold a time trial there (or at least to open the mountain to so many people). That mountain is legendary for cycl

  • What do you mean "favorite champion"? THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE! [myway.com]

  • For the fans... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by fhic ( 214533 )
    ... it's not about data, it's about the riders.

    I don't want to see every bit of telemetry. I can't be there live, and sometimes I can't watch it on TV. (Work does tend to frown on that a bit.)

    So I want to see words. I want to read a description of how the sweat is pouring off Ivan Basso as he wobbles up the last agonizing meters of Col d'Madeleine and looks over his shoulder at Virenque, a hundred meters behind. I couldn't care less whether his heart rate is 200 or his cadence is 86.5. I want to hear a
  • Until I saw this story, I didn't even know that there _were_ Tour de France Riders from Space. In any case, I think it's a good thing they're being mapped.

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