Grass Valley Drives Lyon Video’s Tour of California Coverage

The 2010 Amgen Tour of California is the largest cycling event in America and will begin with its first-ever visit to the picturesque town of Nevada City, CA, home to the long-time U.S. headquarters of Grass Valley.

Grass Valley is one of several corporate sponsors of the “Tour de France-style” cycling road race this year and will host a number of events to kick off the festivities. The 2010  Tour of California is presented by AEG and features the world’s top professional cycling teams competing along a demanding course from May 16-23.

Television coverage for the Versus TV network and the international feed will be provided by LYON Video. LYON will supply two mobile units: Lyon 1 (Versus) and Lyon 10 (international feed) for the coverage. Lyon 10 will operate with four LDK 8000 Elite HD cameras, a Kalypso Video Production Center, Trinix and Concerto Series routers, and a Jupiter router control system. Lyon 1 will take the cameras feeds form Lyon 10 and supplement the feed with five of its own Grass Valley LDK 8000 Elite cameras to create a customized feed for Versus. Lyon 1 is also equipped with a Kalypso Video Production Center switcher, Concerto Series router, and a Jupiter router control system.

“This is the first time we’ve won this event and we’re very excited to be part of such a wide reaching race the takes place in California,” says Chad Snyder, Account Manager for LYON Video. “We feel that the advanced design of Lyon 10 and its flexible ability to deal with international video formats has allowed us to answer ‘yes’ most of the time when asked if the mobile unit can accomplish a task. That’s due, in no small part, to Grass Valley technologies.”

From Nevada City the race will head south to Sacramento, and travel through Grass Valley and Old Town in Auburn, CA. Heading out of Auburn, the cyclists will cross over the Auburn-Foresthill Bridge – the tallest bridge in California and the third highest in the US. A mostly downhill stage, which will certainly favor the sprinters, will be abruptly interrupted by a grueling climb from the American River to the town of Cool. Sacramento streets will once again see the teams finish with three blistering fast circuits around the State’s Capitol building.