Okay Pete 
I like him as a commentator, he adds a lot of insight to a race, particularly the classics and sprint stages. I’ve met him and ridden in a group with him and found him quite loud and entertaining, but don’t know him so not going to pass any judgement on him other than my thoughts on his commentary.
That escalated quickly.
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Just listened to the latest DNF podcast which is Cillian stat man Kelly and 2 other journalists. They were discussing commentary in general and Adam Blythes heavy breathing when Harry says “like once you’ve noticed Robbie McEwen is a complete c**t you can’t not notice it. He’s not a nice man”.
No idea if it was based on personal experience or not but obviously reminded me of this thread!
I did say:
Watching Dwaars and CK is driving me insane. Jasper Phillipsen “not been looking that chipper of late”… erm he won Gent Wevelgem? “27km to the next cobbled sector”… 3km later on a cobbled climb. Hopeless. I don’t care if Robbie is nice or not, get him back on the mic 
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Eurosport used to offer a choice of audio feeds and when CK came on comms I switched to ambient mic, French (GCSE level understanding) or Dutch/Belgian (Duolingo).
The price hike plus adverts plus CK means I’m now either on Tiz or other hooky streams so often Sporza etc.
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I’ve got a Flobikes subscription and VPN which lets me access most races now, but sadly no choice of audio feed. Kirby or silence, I’m getting tempted by silence
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Labelling someone a **** is just an opinion. There’s not much to discuss here. I suspect RMcE is a strong personality. I mean geez he was a world class sprinter. He could have been Sam Bennett, but he probably wouldn’t have 16 Tour stage wins. It wouldn’t surprise me that he’s a bit abrasive in person.
I really miss the GCN app days and the ambient-only audio option. It was a delight.
Silence is too silent, and now I only have SBS, which I do struggle with…
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I met him at a function and also at his Gran Fondo. He was full of life and not objectionable at all. Like all great sprinters he has a lot of self belief but what’s wrong with that?
I lost my wallet on the Sunshine Coast a few years ago and Robbie McEwan found it, he contacted my daughter via Facebook to let me know that he had left it at his local cafe (where I dropped it) in the safe for me to pick up. I was devastated at the time as the wallet meant more to me than what was in it.
I saw him there a few months later and said thanks, he was more than pleasant to me….
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Love a commentator preference diverge. Jose is awesome but I switch off sound if Hannah or Ant come on comms. Hannah is like an AI agent trained on Colemanballs Phil Liggett WCP DVDs. Ant is either describing exactly what you saw 5 seconds ago or reading UCI press releases.
More Dani Rowe or Marty MacDonald please
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I like Dani Rowe and Marty Mac too! I agree it is amazing how many people will love a commentator I want to throw into the sun and vice versa.
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What I really want is EC commentary option - like Spin Cycle and How the Race Was Won doing Mystery Science Theater 3000! (Please @caley_fretz) That I would pay €40/month for
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I always liked Robbie as a commentator.
But I really liked him when I read the story about Lance Armstrong saying Robbie was a bit rough in a sprint finish, and Robbie said…”You tell Lance Armstrong to shut his mouth, or I’ll put my fist in it!”
Perfect response to an asshole.
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Carlton is like the old man at the end of the bar…..he just blabbers non-sense into the air, as people slowly try to move away from him. Its especially bad when he’s solo commentating.
Robbie is better than average, but that’s a low bar. If every race could be commentated by Rob Hatch and Matt Stephens I would be happy. Also really like Hannah Walker.
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I initially disliked Hannah Walker because she has a bit of a local radio news reporter delivery*, but that’s actually how she speaks normally and I really rate what she has to say.
*And I absolutely hate the sound of my own voice, a fucking dull monotonous drone, so not criticism from a position of strength.
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I know what you mean….it sounds like she tries to sound like a commentator at times. I think she’ll get better at her delivery as time goes on, but the content of what she is saying is top notch.
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Once you’ve noticed Marty Mac constantly reading out lists and commentating on a loop you can’t unnotice it.
If you’re just joining us welcome aboard, here’s the top 20 (reads out the top 30, which is scrolling across the bottom of the bloody screen).
Lists the last 10 years winners.
And her’s the make up of the front group (lists the top 20)..
Hot dog turns.
Micro rests.
And repeat.
We ‘ve actually had live DM chats with a co commentator we vaguely know who is just as frustrated with it and tries to cut him off and talk for longer to stop it.
The weird thing is I’ve watched lower tier races where he’s solo comms and he’s been absolutely brilliant, balancing insight with action, and it only started as a thing a few years ago.
I enjoy José Been who’s really dry, but a bit too obsessed with world wars related stuff when races pass such areas (which is most of the spring classics).
It’s interesting to listen to other nations comms even when you don’t understand the language - the Belgian Comms were less worked up than Rob Hatch at the end of Dwars, but the Italians often turn it up to 11.
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