
Live from Giro d'Italia: Inside the travelling TV compound that needs to be ready for anything By Roberto Landini, Italian Correspondent
Friday, May 26, 2023 - 10:14
Print This Story
Stage 1 of the 106th Giro d'Italia kramon
With the Giro d'Italia in full swing, SVG Europe speaks to the team behind EMG's production of the three-week Grand Tour, to explore the logistics and planning that goes into such a long and challenging event.
Davide Furlan and Bruno Coudizer are overall project managers. Furlan's responsibilities include the co-ordination and technical control of the workflow between the various media and the TV compound, the satellite booking for all contribution feeds and the management of all suppliers and related budget costs.
Coudizer manages and co-ordinates all the moving parts, including the crew specialised in cycling production, the motorcycle crew and the Cineflex operators in the helicopters. Furthermore, thanks to his experience in sports production, Coudizer is this year taking on the role of assistant director.
The EMG Italy production team deployed for the Giro d'Italia is completed by Matteo Fragni, unit manager on site, Mario Lovallo, producer on site, and Isabella Leoni, together with Valentina D'Alia and Nicol Selvestrel and Salvatore Amato in support, who manage the booking of accommodation at each stage.
This year, says Furlan, the television production of the Giro d'Italia created by EMG is international; it's led by EMG Italy in collaboration with EMG Belgium and EMG Connectivity of France, and with the important addition of the graphics and timing divisions of Boost Graphics and Microplus.
EMG provides personnel specialised in filming on board motorcycles and in the radio frequency connection sector, as well as those who manage the aerial links for filming and all service communications and connectivity.
The entire budget and all service providers are managed in Italy, including helicopters which are an important workflow resource, frequency concessions and their co-ordination for all broadcasters, the logistics of the 143 people involved with planes, cars, vans, buses, trains and above all hotel rooms, as well as ground shooting and general co-ordination during all the movements between stages, he adds.
My job is to help co-ordinate production, Fragni intervenes. We started with pre-production in the months preceding the event, which involved organising the teams, all the logistics and the technology involved.
In addition to the Giro d'Italia, says Lovallo, I am busy following the other cycling events in Italy that have been taking place since March, such as Strade Bianche, the Tirreno-Adriatico and the Giro di Sicilia.
I mainly deal with the co-ordination of the television media present at the TV compound, including those of RAI and the integrated broadcasters. We arrive in the evening in each city hosting the stage and we set up the parking lot from scratch where all the television media operate. With the Giro d'Italia we need to be ready to react to the inevitable unforeseen events of all kinds at each stage, so being present to always guarantee the best solution for everyone is fundamental.
Producer Mario Lovallo and unit manager Matteo Fragni outside the Orion 209 OB
The EMG team is made up of those on the ground who take care of filming, including the camera operators assigned to the 4-5 cameras placed before the finish line and the other 7-8, placed after the finish, depending on the stages.
In addition, staff dedicated to camera controls on board the main gallery truck and those devoted to audio recordings are on site.
The control room of the Orion 209 OB has a set-up of 14 cameras on the ground in the finish area, and it is Belgian director Gunther Herregodts who decides which supports to prepare and where, after the morning inspection at each stage.
More on Giro d'Italia:
Live from Giro d'Italia: EMG's Gunther Herregodts and Bruno Coudyzer - For us, cycling is religion!'
Live from Giro d'Italia: RCS Sport's Andrea Basso on the latest innovations enhancing a complex production
Boost Graphics partners with RCS for timing, live graphics and data processing of the Giro d'Italia 2023
Grand Tour season spins onto screens as Warner Bros. Discovery presents its global Giro D'italia coverage
Most of the time the cameras are placed on typical mounts or hi-lo's at the side of the track, identical to those used behind football goals; these mounts elevate the operator and camera above the heads of the fans.
At some arrivals, shoulder camera shots are used to create impressive images and cameras are also set up on Magnum Duo mini mobile cranes, where the operator, remaining seated together with the camera, can choose the shooting height using a remote control that operates a hydraulic column. This allows for a higher shooting point above the heads of the public gathering to see the arrivals and above the umbrellas that have often been out thanks to rainy weather this May.
Daily live coverage
The Giro d'Italia is made up of 29 production days with 21 live race stages during which the whole team starts in the morning with a meeting around 8:30 and finishes around 19:30. They produce about eight hours of live coverage every day, before leaving for the next stage.
The work continues for at least an hour after the arrival of the cyclists to capture the award ceremonies where jerseys are awarded to the various winners.
In addition, EMG also produces a newsfeed on site with three-minute highlights edited for distribution dedicated to international takers. The contents are distributed via satellite and also via streaming, through a dedicated portal.
The TV compound
Around 20 trucks, including those from EMG operations and support, are par
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/09/2026
Media organisations interested in the Media Innovation Europe 3.0 Business Innovation Synergizer (BIS) can now consult a new FAQ document providing additional a...
04/09/2026
Eluvio will demonstrate updates to its Content Fabric platform at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand 8.MS5, and Future Tech Zone, Hall 14, Stand 14.A58, September 11-14). C...
04/09/2026
LiveU has joined the IBC Accelerator's Smart Stories consortium, a multi-vendor initiative developing an open standard for Story Context interoperability in...
04/09/2026
Telos Alliance will demonstrate new audio observability capabilities at IBC2026 (Stand 8.D37, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), covering monitoring of audio heal...
04/09/2026
World Team Tennis (WTT) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports, the sports division of Versant. USA Sports will air all six of WTT's live mat...
04/09/2026
Gravity Media has appointed Alex Pannell as Chief Business Officer. Pannell joins from Appear, where he served as Chief Commercial Officer. He will be based in ...
04/09/2026
Dalet has announced new agentic workflow capabilities for Dalia, its AI platform for media organizations, ahead of IBC2026. The updates extend Dalia from an AI ...
04/09/2026
L-Acoustics has achieved EN 54 certification across a portfolio of loudspeakers,...
04/09/2026
EVS and Matrox Video have announced a technology partnership integrating Matrox ...
04/09/2026
NEP Group will exhibit at IBC2026 (Hall 7, Stand 7.B55, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), demonstrating software-defined production capabilities across NEP Platf...
04/09/2026
The Television Academy has awarded an Engineering Emmy to Dr. Roman Foltyn, Chief Engineer of FoMaSystems, and Curt O. Schaller for the development of the ARRI ...
04/09/2026
InSync Technology will exhibit at IBC2026 (Stand 1.A55, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), demonstrating its FrameFormer and NOVA conversion platforms for frame r...
04/09/2026
The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has signed a multi-year agreemen...
04/09/2026
Accedo and MediaKind have announced a white-label, end-to-end streaming solution for operators, combining Accedo's native application framework and cloud-ba...
04/09/2026
TAG Video Systems has announced TAG Blue, a cloud platform for shared monitoring visibility across video delivery chains, with AI-powered root-cause analysis. T...
04/09/2026
TwelveLabs has launched a video compliance platform for media organizations, inc...
04/09/2026
The Television Academy and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences ha...
04/09/2026
Powerful new soft synth announced
Traveler is the first software instrument to be released by KeySolutions Sounds, and it's an ambitious one! Said to co...
04/09/2026
Free virtual instrument range expanded
The latest expansion of e-instruments' free Fragments series introduces a packed-down version of the company'...
04/09/2026
Company recognised for second time
Two years after winning an Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Award for dxRevive Pro, Accentize have been recognised ...
04/09/2026
Bilbao - 3rd September 2026 -AgileTV, a leading provider of end-to-end TV and vi...
04/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/09/2026
ACEMAGIC First to Introduce Ryzen AI Max PRO 495 AI Mini Workstation at IFA 202...
04/09/2026
Krotos Brings Video to Sound Footsteps Directly into Premiere Pro and DaVinci Re...
04/09/2026
RED DIGITAL CINEMA Comes Out Swinging at IBC 2026 with Next-Generation Live Broa...
04/09/2026
Orty v2.0-web - the cold-outreach assistant moves to the web
Brie Clayton September 4, 2026
0 Comments
Orty today announced v2.0-web of its AI cold-ou...
04/09/2026
Lightware is expanding its LARA (Lightware Advanced Room Automation) platform with the GUDE Power Distribution Units (PDU) driver module. GUDE devices can now b...
04/09/2026
Lightware shares the second release in its ESG communications series. Following the first piece, which focused on the companys environmental performance, this r...
04/09/2026
Big Blue Marble supported a leading European public service broadcaster in delivering the Soccer World Cup 2026 streams, supplying more than 10 Tbps of bandwidt...
04/09/2026
Outstanding achievement in engineering, science and technology
Hitomi Broadcast has been recognised with an Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy from the Ac...
04/09/2026
California, Hollywood at a Crossroads
Andy Marken September 3, 2026
0 Comments
I'm doing everything alone. Crossing roads alone. Seeing the Eiffe...
04/09/2026
Berklee Announces Winners of 2026 SongwritersdB Songwriting Contest Students Luca Alexandru, Annika Wild, and Johanna James received the top prizes for origin...
04/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/09/2026
RT ANNOUNCE NEW DRAMA THE MURDER OF MR. MOONLIGHT
BASED ON THE DISAPPEARANCE...
03/09/2026
Yospace will be at IBC from 11th - 14th September (booth 5.C78). For more inform...
03/09/2026
NEP Group has announced leadership changes at Creative Technology Group. Founder and CEO Graham Andrews will step away from day-to-day leadership at the end of ...
03/09/2026
The NFL and TikTok have announced a multi-year partnership renewal expanding the league's presence on the platform. NFL posts on TikTok increased more than ...
03/09/2026
Grass Valley has appointed Ronny Van Geel as Vice President, Cameras. Van Geel began his career in 1999 at Philips DVS and moved into product management in 2005...
03/09/2026
Telestream has announced Vantage Super Resolution, an AI-powered upscaling capability for the Vantage media workflow platform, developed in collaboration with N...
03/09/2026
Solid State Logic (SSL) will debut the TCA Tour at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand 8.B45), a portable production system built from System T components in a desktop frame...
03/09/2026
DPA Microphones has announced the 6388 CORE Headset Microphone, making its debut at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand D60). The supercardioid headset features a physicall...
03/09/2026
Qvest will present a multi-vendor Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) showcase at IBC2026 (Booth 10.C24), demonstrating how the EBU's DMF architecture can be imple...
03/09/2026
Imagine Communications will showcase the Magellan PanelFlex control surface and other control portfolio updates at IBC2026 (Stand 1.B73, RAI Amsterdam, Septembe...
03/09/2026
Bridge Technologies will announce at IBC2026 (Booth 1.A71) that its VB440 production probe is now available as a software-based solution, deployable on commerci...