Italian World Tour Races

What we did

For the opening of the World Tour Italian races, organizer RCS Sport worked closely with EMG Italy, which managed the entire production, coordinating and implementing all technical decisions, providing personnel and equipment.

What we used

We covered all cycling races that took place from spring time in Italy: Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milano-Torino, and Milano-Sanremo.

One of the most significant innovations in cycling production this year was the Milano-Sanremo. For the first time in cycling television production, the event featured simultaneous coverage of two races: the men’s competition, with complete coverage from the start in Pavia to the finish in Sanremo, and the women’s race, Sanremo Woman, which was broadcast live for the final two hours, starting from Genoa.

The main challenge was deploying a unit capable of managing a full dual production, with double control rooms, equipment, personnel, dedicated EVS systems, and the necessity to share some resources, such as the finish line cameras and post-race coverage.

The requirement to provide two separate feeds for broadcasting and commentary significantly complicated communication management during the dual production.

For connectivity, the international EMG Connectivity department was involved and for satellite coverage, three EMG Netherlands SNG stations were engaged.

Also noteworthy is the extensive work by Boost Graphics, which deployed three units to provide all live graphics in English and Italian (with the Italian version used by RAI, which integrated it on-site).

Outcome

This edition of Sanremo saw RCS push us well beyond the already high standards of major live cycling productions. From a technical standpoint, we consider this one of the most complex live RF cycling productions ever managed, not only due to the significance of the race, with millions of passionate viewers, but also because of the course complexity and, above all, the simultaneous live dual production.