Grassmarket

Some people are saying Clooney is a reliable proxy voice for Obama, who does not want his fingerprints on the dagger.

Vingegaard recovering, has Pogačar within his grasp, but everyone else falling away.

Final 20k, Pogačar has 35 secs over the group of all the other contenders plus the remnants of UAE.

40k to go today & a solid block of climbing to come. Pogačar goes off on his own with 31km to go!

Think today was supposed to be a crosswind echelon stage. Well, if you don't get that one thing.....

Maniacal extreme left. Cheka nostalgic.

European U-18 Championship Athletics next weekend.

We got: Tour de France, Women's Giro Rosa, Rugby League, lots of decent athletics meets on the circuit. No ! Then the World Orienteering Championships this weekend are here in Edinburgh - on Eurovision Sport - so shall be watching some of that.

Solution is for Joe to step down as candidate. Dr Jill Biden takes over. Hunter as Veep. Dream ticket.

Two good meets early this week. Istvan Gyulai from https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-continental-tour/where-to-watch?countryCode=GB&eventId=7189670 And the Cork City Sports, Part One of the annual double bill with Dublin on Friday. Apart from the Irish stars, always plenty Brits, Americans, antipodeans.

Seemingly the excuse is that the ITU’s own rules do recognise a duathlon as being legit in case of etc etc. And I guess the organisers have promised a certain number of gratis-to-the public events. But you’re right, they’ve had a whole year to sort out Plan B.

Thanks. I didn’t bother to do one this time because - is so easy but the official timetables are NEVER just the way you want them.

Best not look too closely at what’s floating in the water though.

Also competitors shoot in batches, so if your hero goes in the first batch it's impossible to know who has qualified until everybody else has finished, maybe hours later. Also, is there coverage of the modern pentathlon fencing round robin? Think that is the same deal.

Has never been shown in the past for sure, certainly not at London, Rio or Tokyo which did show everything else.. But archery & shooting qualifiers are truly the most boring sporting events ever devised. But it’s possible that your TV might send along a camera to cover some of your stars without covering the whole thing. I bet do that with their archers!

Next up is Monaco on Friday and we already have a lot of the entries established. https://monaco.diamondleague.com/en/programme-resultats-monaco-en/

Problem is that the French far left are utter headbangers & they’d bankrupt the country in a week.

It’s not for free, we in Europe are paying for you! Least you could do is send us a bottle of wine.

Wow, what a meet!

Traoré did his hamstring in the 200m. Of all the bad luck……

They are still building it, probably.

Wow, out of absolutely nowhere! I remember Blanka Vlasić spent years only just missing it.

Best 800m race since London 2012.

Going to be a nervous day, we have a gravel stage à la Strade Bianche or Tro Bro Leon. Comms are saying “This is the first time in TdF history etc” but of course pre WWI some mountain stages were probably ALL gravel.

This is a post I did a couple of weeks ago on the British Athletics Weekly forum. Here's the situation in , which I believe will be replicated in pretty much all countries BBC Mainstream Channels - Most important events chapped like thin slices of sushi and mixed up with each other along with plentiful blethering, montages, previews, interviews, reviews and news. Also will be constant channel changing, so if you expect to watch the Big Race starting at 17:59 on BBC1, you will be switched away to BBC2 , then have to sit through credits, blethering, an interview with Keely H, a feature on Keely H's dogs, Gabby, Denise & Jess's opinions about Keely and only then see the Big Race at 18:15 by time you will already know the result. BBC Red Button - A bit better, in that it will be full uninterrupted coverage of your match, session or whatever, with just a quick introductory voice-over before getting on with it. BBC iPlayer - Will only show what has previously been shown on one of the other BBC Channels. Usually slow to post, so if you want to see something that took place at 08:30 expect to wait to about 16:00 before it is up. Eurosport 1 and 2 linear channels packaged on Sky, Virgin etc. Usual Eurosport style. Big solid bleeding hunks of live action. Introductions and reviews don't overlap the main feature, but are shown before and afterwards, or at worst as picture within picture. Nowadays, lots more adverts than there were three or four years ago. Lots of repeats overnight. Familiar well-informed commentators & experts. Advert-free option available if you are paying for Discovery Plus. Discovery Plus Online - The only place to see every single thing being broadcast with dozens of streams going at the same time. Available on all major hardware platforms and devices. You'll need good broadband, multiple HDMI inputs on your TV and home wifi. Apart from the stuff which overlaps with Eurosport commentators will be from the World Feed. That should be OK for Athletics where it should be familiar voices. Also multi-tracks (usually without commentary) for all field events, uninterrupted long races etc. Commentary a bit less reliable for minority sports as New Zealand horse-racing commentators attempt to get to grips with canoe slalom, Australian Rugby League commentators do synchro swimming etc. But you will have to pay at least some kind of monthly fee for the length of the Games, possibly even a longer contract. So start looking out now for bargains and offers.