The Critérium International in Corsica

The cycling season is well underway: between the Tour of Oman and Tro Bro Leon, this March France Télévisions entrusted us with coverage of the Critérium International in Corsica, organised by Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O). Our Extender 1 coach and our HF team were present on the Isle of Beauty to film the cycle race.

This year more than ever, the Corsica Critérium International certainly challenged our expertise in sports broadcasting. The route, which already includes numerous steep inclines, was this year complemented by fog and rain. Our proprietary GPS and autotracking system came into their own, providing almost two hours of fawless live coverage. This equipment was developed by our R&D team, and is used to optimise the HF reception of bikes and helicopters over very long distances. In this case, it provided the director, Jean-Maurice Oogh, will some excellent images of Porto Veccio shot by the helicopter which was unable to cover the last few miles of the Col de l'Ospédale due to fog. The helicopter travelled tens of miles to offer unbeatable aerial views of the town in perfect complement to images from the race shot by our 3 bikes and 2 fixed cameras. In addition to "traditional" autotracking systems optimising the connection between air and ground, we also used a system of antennae that tracked the bikes or helicopter when they strayed outside of the standard reception range, resulting in more reliable images.
The 82nd Critérium International included three stages, covering a total distance of 104 miles on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 March 2013.
France 3 provided live coverage of the racers from 15:20 on 24 March. The day before, we had recorded the flat stage and time trials.