Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Roll on a roll with OLN, Tour
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
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Bob Roll has a pretty good take on the psyche of elite endurance athletes.
"Most endurance athletes are pretty cerebral," Roll says. "They're not the class clown."
Roll, a longtime professional cyclist, doesn't belong in that category.
When he was racing, his sense of humor and exuberance set him apart from most of his peers. And his knack for being able to "do it and explain it" have helped him forge a career as arguably America's premiere bike racing commentator.
"People want an authentic voice," said Roll, who made a brief stop in Western Virginia this weekend to be the guest speaker at the kickoff dinner for the Wilderness Road Ride and Mountains of Misery cycling doubleheader in the New River Valley.
Roll was a hit.
"He was hilarious," said Ed Hokanson, one of the event's coordinators. "He had us rolling."
Is it any wonder? After all, this is a guy who once appeared in a TV commercial in the buff -- strategically covered, of course -- riding a stationary bike.
Roll has been a common face in U.S. cycling since the early 1980s. A member of the original 7-Eleven cycling team, he rode the Tour de France four times, the Giro d'Italia three times, and the brutal Paris-Roubaix eight times. He was also a force in U.S. racing both in road and mountain biking.
Roll still rides for fun, but the only racing he does is around airports. The Durango, Colo., resident took 196 flights in 2005. He was waiting to jump on the 61st of this year when I caught up with him Saturday morning at the Roanoke Regional Airport.
Roll didn't draw a second look as he strode into the airport wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a ball cap. But while he may not get recognized too often in public, he has seen his profile rise considerably in recent years thanks to his position on the Outdoor Life Network's cycling coverage team, a group that has really made its mark with its live daily coverage of the Tour de France.
While Brits Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen provide the bulk of the play-by-play during the race, Roll offers color and insight.
It's a great combination and deserves at least some of the credit for the telecasts' increasing popularity each year.
Tour de France coverage is the network's most popular offering "by a million miles," Roll said.
Last year's race coverage drew about 1.6 million viewers a day, up 30 percent from 2004. That's a hiccup compared to ratings for the Super Bowl or "American Idol," but it's great for a cable network.
Of course, Lance Armstrong deserves a lot of the credit for the event's growth in popularity.
As viewers tuned in to check out Armstrong, Roll helped tutor them on the intricacies and excitement of tour racing.
"Live coverage has been the most fantastic thing for the sport," said Roll, 44. "People can finally get a feeling for the sport as the race is unfolding."
Daily results are just a tiny part of the big picture.
"The appeal of stage racing is like a soap opera," Roll said. "Once you get to know the characters, you start to care about what happens to them.
"And this is real."
The question on everybody's mind right now, of course, is what will happen now that the star of that soap opera has left the show.
Can any American racer begin to fill the void created when larger-than-life Armstrong bid the Tour de France adieu after last year's race, his record seventh consecutive win?
The country has a handful of potential contenders, Roll pointed out. They include George Hincapie, a longtime Armstrong support rider who last year showed potential as an overall contender. Other potential stars include Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer and Bobby Julich, all of whom have done well in big stage races, as well as up-and-coming youngsters Dave Zabriskie and Chris Horner.
While cycling fanatics are sure to keep watching, will those guys be able to attract more casual fans?
"We won't know until after the Tour," Roll said. "When we see the numbers."
If the numbers are down, it certainly won't be Roll's fault. The race is already great, and Roll makes it even better.
