Interview with Alessandro Curti, Head of Graphics at EMG Italy

EMG Italy and RCS Sport have renewed their partnership for the production of the leading Italian cycling events, with a strong focus on technological innovation, editorial quality and integrated management. Giro d’Italia 2025 will feature advanced systems including live data-driven graphics, drones, artificial intelligence and pixel tracking.

More than 120 professionals are involved, along with a mobile production unit for the international feed and tailored streams for digital platforms. The aim is to deliver an increasingly immersive and technically refined television experience.

“Last year we implemented a number of new graphic solutions, and this year we’ve continued along the same path,” says Alessandro Curti, Head of Boost Graphics in Italy, the international broadcast graphics division of EMG / Gravity Media.

“This year’s project involved advanced technologies, new data collection systems, and a significant expansion of the features dedicated to the live television production of cycling’s flagship event, the Giro d’Italia.”

RCS Sport has entrusted EMG / Gravity Media Italy with the international production and distribution of its cycling events, while all graphics operations are managed by its subsidiary Boost Graphics.

This collaboration allows for early-season trials of new tools during events like the UAE Tour, Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Sanremo, which are then fully developed and deployed at the Giro. Other RCS races follow: Milano-Torino, Gran Piemonte and Il Lombardia. Since last year, new additions include Sanremo Women, Giro Donne and Giro Next Gen, expanding the calendar of covered events.

The Giro represents the culmination of all graphic innovations tested throughout the season.

Among the key developments this year are new solutions that highlight athlete data: in addition to biometric parameters (speed, cadence, power output in watts) previously limited to a few riders, the 2025 edition features a greatly expanded dataset.

Additional information such as weather conditions, cultural content and historical notes on each stage location have also been integrated, some of which are provided directly by the organiser through dedicated tools developed to enhance their graphic representation.

“For biometric data collection,” Curti explains, “we’ve developed a new system in collaboration with VELON, an external partner of RCS. The data are captured by sensors mounted on the bikes, transmitted via mobile networks using transponders, and sent to a central data hub. From there, the information is transferred via API and internet connection to the Boost Graphics operations centre, where it is processed in real time and provided to the main production director.”

Boost Graphics has also developed a custom application for collecting and managing this statistical data.

Almost every bike (within technical limits) is equipped with a transponder, and the transmitted data is processed to create athlete-specific biometric graphics, enabling dynamic comparisons between riders in breakaways, in the peloton or among general classification contenders.

All of this is integrated into the live graphic flow for the international feed. The transponder signals are first received by the VELON hub and then sent via mobile network (which can present challenges in mountainous terrain) to Boost’s graphics hub, where the system processes the data with minimal latency. Graphic operators select the most relevant content in line with the narrative choices of the live director. The data feed is continuous, but only pertinent elements are broadcast, using templates created during the off-season.

Live images are accompanied by informative graphics, from weather and biometric data to group composition and breakaway formations. A single graphics coordinator maintains direct contact with the director to ensure editorial consistency. Three Boost Graphics OB vans are stationed at each stage finish, staffed by personnel managing timing (in partnership with Microplus), intermediate sprints, stage results, secretariat tasks and photo finish.

“One of the key innovations in 2025,” adds Curti, “is the introduction of the ‘Red Bull kilometre’, a new intermediate sprint that required the development of dedicated and branded graphics. We’ve also expanded our technical infrastructure: six OB graphic vehicles in total—three at the finish and three along the course to manage the intermediate sprints. Two additional graphic workstations have been installed on one of the OB vans to reinforce operations.”

The intermediate sprint vans are responsible for collecting and transmitting the sprint standings in real time, including graphics and official statistics.

Personnel are distributed across three intermediate sprint positions, two photo finish stations, one secretariat, one for race radio, one for GPS, one for pixel tracking, and three operators for central graphics—for a total of 13 specialised roles.

The Pixel Tracking system, used exclusively on helicopter footage, allows real-time tracking of rider positions within the race, with dynamic on-screen labels showing name, bib number, and jersey type. One operator is dedicated to this task, and the footage is also used in post-production.

Finally, to integrate with RAI’s graphics, EMG / Gravity Media Italy has assigned a dedicated operator and equipment within RAI’s OB van, ensuring unified and consistent graphic management throughout the race.

“It’s a complex but cohesive team effort,” concludes Curti, “and I would like to thank Antonello Grippo, Cycling Project Manager, in particular. The result is a graphic system that is richer, more precise and more dynamic—one we’re especially proud of, as it truly serves the television storytelling of the Giro d’Italia.”

© 2025 EMG Italy / Gravity Media – Presspool PressOffice RobertoLandini

The internationa tv production of the race is one of the most complex live event to deliver

The Giro d’Italia, often dubbed “the toughest race in the world, in the most beautiful country in the world,” is one of cycling’s Grand Tours alongside the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. Just like the race itself, the operation of bringing the Giro d’Italia into the homes of television viewers worldwide is a complex and massive undertaking. An intricate network of personnel and equipment comes together to produce the international broadcast signal for the Giro, which spans 3,404.8 km across Italy in 21 stages. This year, EMG/Gravity Media orchestrated the entire operation,commencing on May 4th and culminating in Rome on May 26th.

Television Production: A Collaborative Effort

RCS Sport, the event organizer, entrusted EMG Italy with the entire television production for the third consecutive year.Beyond the international live feed of the race, the CLEAN signal for the national broadcaster (RAI) and the Clean Clean signal for Eurosport distribution, daily highlights, news feeds, a weekly magazine, and social media content were also produced, with a total of 60 embedded ISO video and audio signals distributed.

The production team faced numerous challenges, including managing a crew of over 120 people who traveled from one stage to the next each day and transporting the TV compound, which consisted of regia vehicles and support vehicles for graphics and connectivity. Maintaining signal transmission throughout the entire race route was one of the most demanding tasks, requiring 10 motorcycles, 2 helicopters, an aerial repeater system at 6,500 meters to receive and retransmit audio and video signals to intermediate signal reception/distribution points and satellites. Another challenge involved laying and protecting cables in historic city centers – approximately 45 km of fiber and copper cables that had to be protected and retrieved at the end of each stage – running from the regias to the cameras positioned at the starts and finishes.

The graphics package, entirely provided by EMG Italy’s specialized graphics department, Boost Graphics, incorporated real-time race statistics with precise timekeeping information to determine the riders’ standings.

Technical Details in Brief:
Continuous Refinement for an Enhanced Viewing Experience

Each year, considering the immense popularity of the Corsa Rosa in Italy and worldwide, the production is refined, also from a technical standpoint, to offer viewers and fans an increasingly content-rich experience.

Among the most notable innovations in this edition was the use of pixel tracking graphics, a system that leverages GPS data tracking technology and artificial intelligence. This system, already successfully employed in other international cycling races, was used for the first time in Italy. It allowed for real-time tracking of riders and the display of useful information such as their position in the standings, elapsed time, and distance to the finish line. Additionally, aerial footage enabled viewers to follow each rider visually along the route, providing an even more comprehensive and engaging view of the race.

A Complex Machine Behind the Spectacle

Behind the spectacular Giro images we enjoy from the comfort of our homes lies an incredibly complex organizational machine, the heart of which is the TV compound. Here, approximately 15 regia vehicles gather, dedicated to the host broadcaster feed of the race and an equal number for television broadcasters seeking to integrate international images with their own footage.

RAI plays a significant role in this operation, being the only broadcaster with a true mobile television studio on site,complete with five cameras and four motorcycles provided by EMG. These motorcycles carry journalists for live reporting from the race. Eurosport, on the other hand, has a camera at the finish line with a reporter for interviews and a journalist on board a motorcycle who provides live commentary along the route, coordinated by the Paris video center.

The EMG/Gravity Media group, responsible for bringing the Giro d’Italia to cycling enthusiasts worldwide, divided the roles within the group’s countries as follows:

EMG Italy:

EMG Connectivity:

EMG Belgium + EMG France:

EMG Netherlands:

Boost Graphics:

Aerial Camera Systems (ACS):

Long daily live broadcasts

The total duration of the live broadcast, which varies in length depending on the stage and weather conditions, averages six to seven hours each day. The international feed produced by EMG starts 30 minutes before the start of the race and continues for 45 minutes after the stage winner’s finish, including the daily jersey presentation ceremonies.

A major challenge is to ensure smooth coverage for areas not directly connected by cable or fiber. For this purpose, state-of-the-art and proprietary wireless transmission systems are used. Once the live broadcast is over, EMG Italy also plays an important role in the production of highlights, using two Avid editing stations connected to the EVS network to create daily clips and a weekly magazine.

Andrea Basso, Head of TV productions and media rights for RCS Sport events, says: “This year we have chosen a Dutch director and assistant director, Koen Van Mourik and Tjarko Stikkers, who we already know well because we have already worked with them on some editions of the Tour of the United Arab Emirates. They are used to working together, are very synchronized and have an even fresher and more dynamic vision of the race. In their coverage of the Giro, they used the new graphics package created by Boost Graphics much more than in the past.

With each edition, we have always tried to improve, so we have constantly worked on small and large details of the production and introduced improvements that guarantee a television product of ever higher quality. I can also say that the “core operating group” that EMG Italy has placed on the Giro project has grown a lot and today we can certainly boast a specific expertise that has been refined over the years of working together. RCS Sport has also invested a lot in the “storytelling of the territory”, selecting the points of interest that are regularly provided to the team of aerial cameramen and enhanced during each stage”.

The Director’s Perspective: Koen Van Mourik’s Insights

Koen Van Mourik, the director, expresses his enthusiasm for the project, stating, “It was a very exciting job!” He acknowledges the Giro’s reputation as a grand spectacle and the aptness of its title, “the toughest race in the world, in the most beautiful country in the world. It was a great opportunity to work again with Tjarko Stikkers and the international team that EMG has made available. The team is truly highly qualified in every segment of production and is multilingual, spanning English, French, Dutch and… a few words of Italian. Overall, the event was very well prepared from the beginning of the season and then a camera plan was used on each stage that we confirmed on site before the start. Obviously, there are always small operational aspects that we cannot foresee before each stage and we are forced to make changes at the last minute.For example, we are often not sure of having the space we would like for camera placement and sometimes we have to compromise and adapt to the actual conditions, solving with small changes compared to the original plan.

In general, we always have a large pre-production meeting where we explain to the operators what we want to achieve and what we expect from them. Then we discuss the small daily adjustments to the story and emphasize the focus we want to narrate before each stage and on that specific day.”

The technology involved

“From a technological point of view,” Koen Van Mourik continues, “we have extended the use of drones, following the trend in other cycling races where aerial shots certainly allow for greater spectacle, especially in some of the more difficult stages to follow.”

The use of drones had already been inaugurated by EMG Italy in the previous edition during the Tarvisio-Lussari stage,but in 2024 their use was significantly expanded due to the excellent perspective they allow, for example in mountain stages.

Koen Van Mourik confirms: “What we have tried to do is to bring together different elements that can better tell the story and entertain the viewer as much as possible. We are, in fact, aware that cycling can sometimes be monotonous; therefore,we have combined spectacular images of the beauty of the places, and have accompanied them as much as possible with sports data, statistics and graphics. In addition, we have reused a particular effect, a kind of zoom-in on some details of the image following a practice that was already used in the past. For a number of years this “effect” has not been used anymore but we have reintroduced it with great satisfaction: for example in the second stage there was a broken bike that we were able to document in detail,really managing to get into the details of the story.”

Cycling is definitely a sport where it is really possible to integrate many “collateral” elements into the narration of the competition itself. In the storytelling of this sport, the figure of the director is fundamental in determining the pace at which the spectator enjoys the show and experiences the event. This can certainly be done to a greater extent than in other sports, such as football, where the main camera must necessarily follow the ball. Here there is much more freedom.

Koen Van Mourik nods: “Mine is a good job, because I have a lot of freedom of expression: in fact, even if the race itself is certainly and always the main focus of the narrative, as a director I can continually choose and decide what to propose and really add impactful visual elements. In practice, the direction must find the right mix of technical information and spectacular storytelling.

When asked about what could be interesting to improve, I think I can answer that, although the new graphics package that also includes the tracking implemented this year has been really very valid, I believe that it is precisely in this direction that we can raise the bar even further and involve the data even more, in future editions. In addition, for the first time we have used a second stabilized camera, connected in RF, at the start/finish line that works at high speed and describes mainly the start phases. I believe that, always to develop the level of authorial creativity, precisely thanks to these cameras we could increase, in the future, the clips that describe what happens before and after the race and propose more images taken from motorcycles in super slow motion. In addition, capturing as much as possible the excitement of the fans on the roads would add an extra dimension to the beauty of the race and the show”.

The director’s final comment: “It was great working with the truly international team put together by EMG Italy and RCS for this great event, which brought together so many specialists from so many parts of Europe. The excellent organization of everything allowed everyone to really give their best in every segment of the production, to create a performance at the highest level.”

© 2024 Presspool PressOffice RobertoLandini

The penultimate day of the 2023 edition of the very famous Giro d’Italia saw the cyclists engaged in a special stage, the Tarvisio-Lussari, for an uphill time trial, unique in terms of type of route and importance in awarding the title .

Davide Furlan Outdoor Production Director of EMG Italy says: “The 2023 Giro turned out to be more demanding than expected for all the participants, for the athletes who still had to deal with Covid which forced them to withdraw (like the Belgian Evenepoel) and for the RCS organizer who had to come to terms with these withdrawals and with the numerous controversies exposed by the media for the choice of paths (too hard according to some).

Challenging also for the injured athletes due to the numerous falls, due to the slippery asphalt due to the constant rain and – consequently – also demanding for our television production which, due to the adverse weather, had to manage the daily set-ups of the stages in extreme conditions. It must be said that the experience gained by the technical team present has reacted to these difficulties in an impeccable manner and the preparation for the event in recent months allowed for perfect and punctual production”.

BETTIOL Alberto from Tarvisio to Monte Lussari (ITA/18.6km) of the 106th Giro d’Italia 2023 ©kramon
Specials of the 2023 edition

This year the Giro has decidedly unique specificities rarely encountered for TV production in World Tour races: for example, 9 stages which, due to their length, exceed the flight autonomy of the radio link plane. This forced the production to use a second twin aircraft, essential to maintain the continuity of the live transmission of all the radio signals of the 10 motorcycles and 2 helicopters.

Another unique feature of this year was the special stage on the penultimate day of the Giro, the Tarvisio-Lussari uphill time trial. This portion of the Giro required a truly unique organizational and productive effort for everyone, obviously combined with the sporting effort of the athletes engaged along the ascent to the Sanctuary.

In this stage, all of EMG’s experience was brought into play: it was a question of producing a time trial and uphill cycling race, the time trial thrives on specificities linked to the presence of intermediate points for recording the times, in these precise points the timing photocells and a video camera that records the moment of passage must be positioned. This workflow is quite simple to manage when positioning takes place in places where it is possible to park an SNG satellite unit and where a stable internet data connection is available. In the Lussari stage, on the other hand, this aspect was decidedly more complicated, due to an impervious 8km mountain path just 3m wide, in the middle of a dense forest totally devoid of 4G coverage, and where it was known that it would not have been possible to use of Ka-Sat technologies.

Added to this is the further complexity of the fact that all of EMG’s TV Compound for international production was positioned downstream of Mount Lussari at 700m above sea level, while the arrival of the stage was positioned at the top of 1700m above sea level, and all the techniques were connected in fiber at a distance of 6.5 km.

A unique set-up, in the woods

“The envisaged set-up”, resumes Furlan, was the result of a mix of experiences acquired over the years from numerous productions of the Ski World Cup, the Olympics and the Winter Universiade. These extreme situations allowed us to think of a very similar technical set-up, in terms of distances and environment, and a system of fixed cameras connected through the use of dark fibres. To these were added three stations with SNG for the intermediate timing points, and an internet network was generated nearby thanks to the installation of some repeater links on the adjacent mountain, with an up-down capacity of synchronous 60-70Mbit .

ULISSI Diego (ITA/UAE Emirates) from Tarvisio to Monte Lussari (ITA/18.6km) of the 106th Giro d’Italia 2023 ©kramon

The network was used to send back-up images, to connect the timing network with the server at the TV compound and, last but not least, to generate a technical coordination call on the cloud between the Master gallery and remote SNG stations.

The fundamental communications for the camera operators and for all the technicians in these remote positions in the woods were guaranteed by the aerial link which radiated the frequency of the “Ordini Regia” channel in the valley, and by a double circuit UHF bridge installed on the stand alone via fiber at an altitude of 1700mt. The technical system for communications, especially in these conditions, is a fundamental piece for the entire production, and also in this stage the work done by the EMG team was perfect and reliable as required”.

Last kilometers

Along the last 2km of the route (normally in the stages of the Giro only the last km is covered), the following were positioned: a camera on Jimmi-jib at 1.7km, a camera on a drone to cover

a 300m piece of forest that couldn’t be scrutinized from the helicopter, due to the thick vegetation, numerous cameras, including ground and shoulder cameras, in an interview position and podium with all the necessary audio and intercom services. The stage had truly impressive television coverage, EMG supported the event with 29 cameras connected via RF, via satellite, via 4G and via fiber, 5 EVS Xt3 plus two Avids to complete the impressive production plant.

GEE Derek (CAN/Israel – Premier Tech) from Tarvisio to Monte Lussari (ITA/18.6km) of the 106th Giro d’Italia 2023 ©kramon

This setup put every element of the production to the hardest test with obvious technical stress due to the high number of connected “elements”, in a very difficult environment and with very tight set-up and test times. To this were added obvious editorial stresses to be able to tell a truly unique race of its kind, which was the epilogue of the entire Giro d’Italia 2023.

The “uphill” comment

“All of this” concludes Furlan, “was only possible thanks to the experience gained in many “extreme” productions made over the years by the EMG teams.

That’s why RCS has chosen to have us by its side as co-producers and not just as technical service for their important tenders.

Throughout the Giro, the EMG production unit was the Orion 209, while the Nova 126 unit was used for this special stage. This change made it possible to carry out the complicated set-up during the three days preceding the stage with a second dedicated crew. In these days the Orion 209 continued to flawlessly cover the other stages of the Giro along the roads of the Dolomites and then, together with its crew, was transferred from the three peaks of Lavaredo to Rome for the last stage and the grand finale with the finish line at the Imperial Forums, a worthy epilogue and a fair closing “walkway” for a truly prepared and professional team that was able to react even against the adverse weather conditions of this year. My many thanks go to each one of them for the result achieved, it was a great race, a great Giro”.

Logistics

Valentina D’Alia, who coordinates the Booking Department of EMG Italy for the Giro, also with Salvatore Amato and Nicolò Selvestrel, took care of all the logistics of the Giro caravan, i.e. all the reservations for the hotels, those of the 10 cars and 8 vans for travelling, the two mobile office campers located at the finish line, three vans for transporting goods. In addition, the department coordinated personnel transfers by train, administrative management of personnel, tracking of collaborator costs, packed lunches for motorcyclists, and much more.

There were four teams to manage and three workstations for all 29 days of the Giro, i.e. start, finish and intermediate positions. For the approximately 100 people involved (120 in some stages such as Tarvisio), it took care of the reservations of the transport vehicles of the Italian and foreign crews, for the Belgians and French, and of the overnight stays for a total of 173 hotels or accommodation facilities booked and 1,898 rooms.

“Some stages”, says Valentina, “like that of Tarvisio were particularly difficult not only for the uphill runners, but also for us given the scarcity of accommodation facilities – saturated or closed due to the off-season – which forced us to find accommodations in Slovenia”.

© 2023 Presspool PressOffice RobertoLandini

The great international cycling in Italy opened with the four well-known spring races in March. The first, the classic Strade Bianche, takes place every year at the beginning of the month on the hills of Siena and involves the arrival in the incredible setting of Piazza del Campo.

This unique race, which takes place partly on paved roads and partly on dirt roads, is followed by the Tirreno-Adriatico, the “Corsa dei Due Mari” in 7 stages, then by the Milan-Turin and finally by the best known and most important competition, the Milan-Sanremo.

Alongside RCS Sport

RCS Sport, the leading organizer of Italian sporting events of global renown, manages all these events on two wheels and owns the rights. Since the 2022 edition, the year of the turning point by choosing to detach itself from the historic partnership with RAI, RCS Sport has joined with the international EMG group in a total co-production path of all the UCI World Tour races in Italy and, to put it simply, the qualitative improvement project of all the competitions that count has started, where the best teams compete for prizes and fame.

This choice has the aim of bringing the Giro closer to the splendours of the Tour, using the technical and editorial expertise of EMG which has been producing the major races in the world for many years, and above all the most famous with the iconic yellow jersey which ends with the last stage in front of the Eiffel Tower.

EMG TV helicopter capturing the race for live broadcasting – 17th Strade Bianche 2023 – ©kramon
Communication and production

“EMG needs no introduction in the international broadcast sector and EMG Italy is the reference for the Italian market for its multiple manufacturing capabilities in every sector of communication and production”, begins Davide Furlan, Outdoor Production Director. “Our proprietary technical infrastructures of absolute reference and our specialized professionals allow us to propose ourselves as a global partner, safe for every playground and TV market, and for different types of live events, in sports and entertainment. Having become a real Group through the process of unification of the Companies under the EMG logo, but above all having activated the connections between the different “ways and worlds of the Countries” to create “everyone’s style and policy” in this great international reality, brought us back alongside RCS Sport again for the first four important cycling events in March: Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-Turin and Milan-Sanremo.

These are events that have involved us with 125 technicians from a truly international crew, at the TV Compound and along the way we speak Italian, French, Flemish, Dutch and English. EMG Italy has the complete technical/production management and management control of the cycling event for the Group, a real pride and a great effort considering the multiple coincidences of other major events such as the Superbike World Championship, with stops in Australia and Indonesia, and with the Ski World Cup Finals in Andorra.

©kramon

World Tour cycling has a technical/editorial and production standard that only big companies like EMG can guarantee, there are many economic interests at stake and expectations are very high. For this reason, investments in technology and professionalism are constant in this Group, as demonstrated by the birth of EMG Connectivity a few months ago, the result of the union of the best internal world realities in EMG in the management of moving images, French expertise and equipment, British, Belgian and Dutch are now a single wireless reality.

Producing these great cycling events makes us very proud of our work: races that take place over a truly impressive kilometre radius, straddling different regions and with incredible atmospheric excursions, very high-quality images and sounds that travel along the most beautiful roads in the world LIVE shooting with impressive and inimitable stability for many.

In just one day you can easily pass from the snow on the passes to the scorching sun along the coasts, to rain and the wind at 120Km/h which in one test in particular (arrival in Sassotetto during the Tirreno-Adriatico) forced RCS to move the 2.5km further downstream (at the original high altitude finish the wind was blowing too hard). In any case, the stage was able to be seen because the reliability of the technologies and the experience of the EMG men were able to make up for and react even to the adverse and demanding weather conditions”.

PIDCOCK Tom (GBR/INEOS grenadiers) keeping the competition off in the final climb into Siena and racing towards victory. – 17th Strade Bianche 2023 – ©kramon
Mentions of other important production innovations

One of the innovations introduced by EMG Italy compared to last year was the use of the Group’s proprietary OL270 vehicles also for the SNG section, supplied by the Dutch division EMG Connectivity, an important topic that deserves dedicated in-depth analysis elsewhere.

These are state-of-the-art means deployed for connecting the satellites and the retransmission of the signals received from the motorbikes towards the intermediate stations and the TV compound, and vice versa. Furthermore, like last year, EMG Italy, as co-producer, is also involved on the editorial level and, in fact, the Belgian director Gunther Herregodts, an EMG collaborator, works on board the mobile vehicles, who has always signed important events such as the Tour of Flanders, the Olympics, and other historic UCI World Tours.

The setup on the ground

The Orion 209 main gallery mobile vehicle, deployed at each arrival, has a Kahuna mixer and 4 EVS XT-VIA stations with 14 channels each on board. Eleven cameras are placed in the final area, two of which in super Slowmo Sony 4300 HFR 8X configuration, here used as 3X, and a Pov micro camera is used for the photo finish.

They are used to narrate the last km, the arrival, the podium, the interviews, and for “colour” images. Each camera also picks up two audio signals in stereo, embedded audio. The Spring Classics involve a total of 125 technical crew professionals for production, including motorcycle operators, motorcyclists, drivers, train drivers, EVS operators, etc.

On board, the vehicle following each race are the director, the assistant director, the video mixer, three EVS operators, three camera controls, and two content editors for post-production which is created on two Avids in the EVS network via a NAS which makes clips instantly available for news feeds, magazines and highlights. Also worth mentioning is the entire social media section that RCS is expanding and enhancing to then reach full capacity with the Giro d’Italia.

© 2023 Presspool PressOffice RobertoLandini