I read the complaints about TV coverage of the Tour of California that were published by VeloNews. The source of these complaints is VeloNews reader mailbag.

It seems like a lot of VeloNews' readers don't realize that the Amgen Tour of California purchased the time on ESPN2 and contracted the coverage out to a production company. This isn't too different from the way TV coverage was pieced together for the Tour de Georgia last year, but the organizers of that race didn't pay to get their nightly highlights on national television.

This is year one for the Tour of California and the organizer, AEG, has deep pockets. This event is bound to get better. Cycling fans will have to look at the current state of the highlight package as early growing pains.

Technorati Tags: Tour of California, professional cycling, ESPN2