Press releases

Ismaning, 11 April 2008 – Starting signal for the "44th Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey 2008": From Sunday 13th April, PLAZAMEDIA will produce Turkey’s most important cycling race, in which competitors must cycle the 1,000 or so kilometres from Istanbul to Antalya in eight stages by 20th April. The pro teams lining up to compete include "Astana" with top German cyclist Andreas Klöden, "Silence Lotto", "Lampre" and "Saunier Duval Scott".

Leading full-service provider PLAZAMEDIA was commissioned by the Turkish Cycling Federation to host-broadcast the event, thus continuing  its internationalisation strategy into 2008. In close consultation with Turkish state television TRT, the General Directorate for Youth and Sport in the Republic of Turkey (GSGM) and the Turkish Cycling Federation, PLAZAMEDIA, as host broadcaster, is responsible for producing the world feed for all licensees worldwide. The company will produce the entire world feed in high definition (HD) and provide daily highlights via satellite for all licensees.

The top-quality production will require some 70 PLAZAMEDIA staff, numerous additional Turkish workers and 14 cameras. As well as seven tracking cameras in the home stretch, four motorcycles with special cameras and crew will accompany each stage of the race. Additional unusual angles will be covered by two helicopter cameras as well as a mini-camera mounted on one of the competing bikes to provide the cyclist’s view.
All pictures will be beamed via high-bandwidth wireless transmission to an aeroplane flying 5,000 meters above the main group of riders, from where these signals will then be transmitted to the OB unit near the finish.

Florian Nowosad, CEO of PLAZAMEDIA, comments: "Cycling is one of the biggest challenges in sports production generally. We must deliver exciting pictures of the race and the individual athletes and we also want to integrate the cyclist’s perspective so that the viewers get a genuine feel for the race. With its experience as host broadcaster of major international sporting events – and especially Formula 1 – PLAZAMEDIA is ideally positioned to do this. We are delighted that the Turkish Cycling Federation has entrusted us as a German company with the production of one of Turkey’s primary sporting events. On this basis, we want to further expand our business dealings in Turkey and further develop our international positioning long-term."

Deutsche SportFernsehen (DSF) will show the "Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey 2008" live on seven of the eight race days.

The DSF schedule is as follows:

Sunday 13 April, from 4.00 p.m.
Circuit race in Istanbul (76.2 km) - highlights
 
Monday 14 April, from 3.30 p.m.
1st stage: Izmir - Kusadasi (132.7 km) live
 
Tuesday 15 April, from 3.30 p.m.
2nd stage: Kusadasi - Bodrum (165.9 km) live
 
Wednesday 16 April, from 3.45 p.m.
3rd stage: Bodrum - Marmaris (166.8 km) live
 
Thursday 17 April, from 3.30 p.m.
4th stage: Marmaris - Ölüdeniz (177.7 km) live
 
Friday 18 April, from 3.30 p.m.
5th stage: Kalkan - Finike (100.1 km) live
 
Saturday 19 April, from 3.00 p.m.
6th stage: Finike - Antalya (115.8 km) live
 
Sunday 20 April, from 3.15 p.m.
7th stage: Antalya - Alanya (136.6 km) live