The Good
- Tour de France results as they happen
- Twitter integration
The Bad
- Slow
- Interface requires a lot of tapping
The Tour de France is one of the most anticipated cycling events of the year, and the Cycling 2010 app ($0.99) will help you follow it in a unique way -- with “tweets” from some of the event’s top racers.
Cycling 2010 app features
The Cycling 2010 app posts results for both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, which is held each July. Results are posted at the end of each stage, and they can be sorted by team, top contenders, or country.
The app includes a number of features that we thought were lacking from the official Team RadioShack app, namely Twitter integration and a full calendar of cycling events. The calendar lists all the major races throughout 2010, and the completed events are listed with the winner (along with their team and country).
Our favorite part of the Cycling 2010 app, however, is the Twitter integration. There are a boatload of professional cyclists on Twitter, and this app consolidates all of their tweets into one feed -- and you don’t need a Twitter account to view them. Tweets are included from riders, teams, and media figures, and while you can see which users have updated their Twitter feed most recently, you still have to tap on each name to see their Tweets. That’s not a dealbreaker, but it does mean you'll do lots of tapping.
The Cycling 2010 app also includes a section where you can predict the winner of the Tour de France. Cast your vote and then you’ll see the poll results for all the app’s users. At the time of this writing, nearly 40 percent thought Alberto Contador would end the Tour with the yellow jersey, while another 30 percent think Lance Armstrong will take it.
The app is pretty slow, and I found myself tapping some buttons repeatedly just to make sure it was responding (hint: there’s a loading icon that appears in the middle of the top navigation bar).
The Bottom Line
The Cycling 2010 app works well with no glitches, and it includes some unique features lacking from other cycling apps, like tweets from the top teams and riders. We like the feature set, but the app’s slow performance is a bit of a bummer. Overall rating: 3 stars out of 5.
What You’ll Need
The Cycling 2010 app works with the iPad, iPod touch, and iPhone, and it requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later. In addition to English, the app is also available in French, Spanish, and Italian.