The World Cycling Championships Are Gone: Rai Under Fire

Anger and controversy over what happened in the final stretch of the men’s road race at the World Cycling Championships in Montreal: with 38 km to go, just as the race was heating up with Van der Poel and Roglic attempting to break away from the pack, commentator Francesco Pancani suddenly made this announcement: “We’re switching to TG2; we’ll continue on RaiPlay 3.”

The live TV broadcast of the World Championships was thus interrupted; the full version of TG2 began, and viewers were left confused, because RaiSport channel 58 was airing the Serie C match between Pescara and Spezia. Only viewers who were already watching the stream were able to continue following the event.

Social media was flooded with angry posts and insults: ““It’s a disgrace—Rai forced to fall back on the streaming channel 40 km from the finish line of the cycling World Championships despite having 30 channels available,” “We pay the license fee and this isn’t decent service,” “A disaster during the decisive stages of the World Championships—what idiots,” “Unbelievable—Rai cuts the live broadcast 30 km from the finish.”

It was precisely during that half-hour of “blackout” that the race was decided: American Brandon McNulty managed to launch the decisive attack, breaking away. Rai 2 resumed live coverage of the event at 9:00 p.m., when there were only 15 km left to the finish line and the outcome of the race had already been decided. The silver medal went to Michael Matthews in the sprint, while Italy’s Giulio Ciccone finished in ninth place.