Tweeters blamed for disrupting BBC's road race coverage

SPECTATORS using Twitter at the men’s road cycle race over the weekend have been blamed for disrupting the BBC’s coverage of the event.

Games officials claimed incessant tweeting jammed the network used to provide crucial race timing and positional updates to broadcasters from the athletes’ bikes.

Viewers at home were left baffled by the commentary from a team including British cycling greats Hugh Porter and Chris Boardman.

Fans were not informed about timings and positions during the race – while it was unclear who had even won bronze after the race.

One viewer complained: “Horrible BBC coverage of the Olympic cycling road race.

“Erratic time splits, wrong names and inaccurate position calls. Frustrating.”

Another tweeted: “The #olympics2012 cycling road race coverage contained literally the worst commentary I have ever heard. Embarrassingly bad coverage.”

Former Olympic gold-medal cyclist Boardman apologised to fans, writing: “Folks, got to apologise for issues today, gutted.

“Tomorrow we aim to have stuff like information and a monitor we can see for commentary.”

One million spectators turned out to watch the race on Saturday, one of the few unticketed events in the Games.

The BBC claims the problems were beyond its control as the coverage was via the Olympic Broadcasting Service (OBS) which supplies footage and data to all the TV networks.

The International Olympic Committee yesterday said tiny GPS transmitters in competitors’ bikes had been jammed by spectators using smart phones to access social media sites.

Before yesterday’s women’s road race, IOC communications director Mark Adams had even urged spectators to refrain from using their phones when the riders passed.