Highlights of 2012 – Part III

Time to sing the praises of the little guy. It’s Stage 7 in the Tour of Turkey and Iljo Keisse attacks the breakaway and tries to go for the stage. Was it the best race of the year? No but somehow the result and the commentary marry together to make a great video.

Eurosport’s Carlton Kirby gets carried away here, abandoning journalism and observation for cheerleading. Was it too much Turkish coffee? But this is no criticism, the video is a celebration of passionate sports commentary and the action and suspense are genuine.

As for Keisse, he’s long been known as a track specialist, notably a six-day rider. But his career was going round in circles in the courts too after a positive test for a stimulant which was appealed, overruled and had more twists than the Poggio before finally resuming competition.

It was a small moment where a close result joins with TV commentary to make a memorable moment of the year. Unlike other sports cycling is not contained to a stadium and even in the biggest races there are not enough TV cameras to track everything so there’s always an element of the unknown and sometimes a vacuum to fill. Even in this instance we see Kirby unsure on the final corner when the bunch approaches, is that Keisse standing by the barrier or not.