Tour de France Question

[pooks]

Dumb question -- and I'm sure I could look this up, but am pretending that I'm performing a public service by asking here, so that others who are as ignorant as I am can find it:

When is the Tour, and which US network carries it? This is my first year to have access to cable in a very long time, and I can't wait!

[jobob]

Versus (formerly OLN)

http://www.versus.com/tdf/

[Zen]

Which means premium cable only.
Us poor people don't get to watch.

[7rider]

The When is July. Four years ago, the Prologue was on our wedding day. Oh.....DH was a tortured person that day!! :rolleyes:
If you don't have Versus, you can get real time (text) updates at:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/
and (I believe)...
http://www.velonews.com

[PinkBike]

"23 days in july"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
july 7th thru july 29
prologue in london saturday july 7th (this is a stage that does not count as a stage)
stage 1 is sunday - london to canterbury
there are 20 stages (plus the prologue) with two rest days (jul 15 and 24)
stage 20 is the ride into paris, the famous ride onto the champs-d'elysees

it is available daily on the versus channel (formerly OLN) which is a premium channel,
but usually the weekends have network coverage

i'll be watching and DVR-ing

[Kalidurga]

The When is July. Four years ago, the Prologue was on our wedding day. Oh.....DH was a tortured person that day!! :rolleyes:


And he still married you?? If that's not proof of true love, I dunno what is ;)

I get my TdF fix during the day by using the links Regina provided for real-time webcasts, as well as dailypeloton.com (http://www.dailypeloton.com/default.asp). Later on, to catch up on anything I've missed during the day and have some serious laughs, I check out Schmalz (http://www.velocitynation.com/).

Will Thor SMASH! again this year? Only the Schmalz knows... :cool:

[Eden]

Which means premium cable only.
Us poor people don't get to watch.

bwaaaa ha ha ha ha - DirectTV is where its at baby - not a premium channel for us! my DVR hates tour month - so much work for it....

[NJBikeGal]

I love that the Tour is in the summer...just as I am finishing my summer semester of teaching! This means that I can get up early, grab a cuppa and sit and watch the guys race. Then, head out on my own to ride a measly (compared to their day) 30+ miles!

Only 2 weeks until the start of the race...I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that Dave Z (http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/12456.0.html) ends up on the CSC roster!

[Jiffer]

Does anyone know if there's a big American contender this year? Or more than one?

I know Floyd Landis wants to do it again, but it obviously aint happening THIS year.

[jobob]

As far as I know, the only American among the bona-fide CG contenders is Levi (tho he's a short lad ... sorry, couldn't resist :D)

[maillotpois]

Harsh, Jo. Really harsh!

(However, having met him, I can attest that he is only a little larger than my 11 year old daughter.)

[Trek420]

Article about Levi in local SF paper

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/23/HOGPNQI1C31.DTL

[margo49]

I used to messenger in London. And I have done that route to Canterbury too. Can't wait to see it all again.
I watch on Eurosport who broadcast in umpteen languages. And guess who is one of their French commentators - Richard Virenque. He is sometimes invited over to the English too. Lucky me!
Could we ask DoW and Python and anyone else to be on the route and hold up a sign saying Team Estrogen??

[Kalidurga]

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that Dave Z (http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/12456.0.html) ends up on the CSC roster!

I'm with you, Sarah. Bjarne Riis needs to make that decision soon!

[NJBikeGal]

I'm with you, Sarah. Bjarne Riis needs to make that decision soon!

Yes, indeed he does! That's got to suck...not knowing if you're doing the biggest race of the year or not! I'm hoping that the Dauphine 5th place finish put him on the roster. What a great race that was for him!

[pooks]

I used to messenger in London. And I have done that route to Canterbury too. Can't wait to see it all again.


I admit -- I know nothing about any of the racers, but want to see the route. I'm sure I'll discover the racers during the process of ogling the scenery!

I don't think we have Versus, though. I've never heard of it. But I'll check and see what I can find out!

[NJBikeGal]

I admit -- I know nothing about any of the racers, but want to see the route. I'm sure I'll discover the racers during the process of ogling the scenery!

By scenery, you do mean boys with GREAT legs in tight shorts, right...or were you actually talking about SCENERY?! :p


I don't think we have Versus, though. I've never heard of it. But I'll check and see what I can find out!

It's likely to be a high numbered channel if you have it. It's 60 for me and 76 down at my in-law's beach house.

If you go to the Vs website (http://www.versus.com/), you can punch in your zip code and it tells you the station number if available. Good luck...I hope you get it! :)

[SouthernBelle]

Versus isn't a premium channel for me as I have basic cable with Charter. & it's Ch 39, lumped in with all of the sports channels.

[pooks]

We've got it!

Looks like Time Warner Cable includes it as basic.

(However, it didn't show up when I put in my zipcode on the Versus site. I noticed that one suburb of Dallas was listed with TW as Channel 31, and that's the only Time Warner there. I went to that channel and sure enough, it's there. So I'm thinking it must be standard in the entire Dallas area.)

[equus123]

Putting in my zip code on the versus website says that it's not avail. in my area. But as my girlfriend and I were scrolling through the channels one evening because NOTHING was on (and mind you this was in June - Giro!) and then bam....146....Versus in all it's glory. My reaction was pretty funny....

"omg. OMG! :eek: Versus! :D "

"I COULD HAVE BEEN WATCHING THE GIRO ALL THIS TIME?! :mad: "

[margo49]

"omg. OMG! :eek: Versus! :D "

"I COULD HAVE BEEN WATCHING THE GIRO ALL THIS TIME?! :mad: "

Another one comes over to The Dark Side!

[margo49]

By scenery, you do mean boys with GREAT legs in tight shorts, right...or were you actually talking about SCENERY?! :p

:)

You mean there is a diff ???
I have a very wholistic philosophy when it comes to this kind of thing!

[PscyclePath]

Dumb question -- and I'm sure I could look this up, but am pretending that I'm performing a public service by asking here, so that others who are as ignorant as I am can find it:

When is the Tour, and which US network carries it? This is my first year to have access to cable in a very long time, and I can't wait!

Versus (formerly the Outdoor Life Network (OLN)) runs semi-live coverage in the morning, and re-runs each stage a couple of times during the day. You'll see a lot more of the race itself if you watch the first coverage, the evening repeats get edited down to a lot more fluff with the announcers and "special features," and a heftier dose of commercials.

Best coverage I've seen so far is actually the web coverage on Cycling News, http://www.cyclingnews.com. I'll take their play-by-play any day over OLN/VS's village idiot, Al Trautwig, any day.

The race this year is even more wide open than last year, and who would think that Operacion Puerto would still be hanging over everyone's head this year?

Rooting for Levi, but secretly thinking that it will be Vino's year to shine...

Tom

[pooks]

I'm thinking I'll be cheering Levi on, because that was my grandfather's name!

(Um, what is Giro? What am I missing?)

[DDH]

I'm ticked that I have to by digital cable to be able to see this. If Dallas gets it for basic cable then I should too. (throws temper tantram while posting) LOL :D

[pooks]

Oh wait -- sorry, my mistake. We do have digital cable. I called it basic because we have no extras -- no Showtime, HBO or other extras.

Sorry for the confusion!

(However, I'll ask a couple of friends who don't have digital if they get Versus, just in case!)

[Thorn]

And not to forget that Eurosport, http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/cycling/, will broadcast audio over the internet. If you're in Europe you can get the video feed, as well.

Towards the end of last year Eurosport's web site had some serious problems with external hacking. I stopped using their site because of it. They've since switched to using Yahoo. The site no longer causes my browser to enter infinte loops. The Dauphine was covered by a second string announcer who was...uh..just awful. Couldn't pronounce any names right, wasn't even consistently wrong in pronunciation and his color commentar was limited to Rider X is "having a bad/good day at the office" and "let's just watch"....uh...I'm on audio only!!!

Some people dislike their first-string commentators, but I enjoy it as background noise at work, particularly, the British-isms that don't translate so well. DH has dubbed the commentator as "weenie bits" because riders win, lose, and miss by "a weenie bit" :eek:

[NJBikeGal]

Discovery has announced the tour team. No surprise that Levi and Big-George-Hincapie are on the roster (http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/12498.0.html)! Saunier-Duval has also announced their team...Iban Mayo is (surprisingly, considering his recent questionable test result) on the list, as is David Millar.

Yo...BJARNE...get your butt on the ball, here!!! We're WAITING!!! :confused:

[RoadRaven]

Sky Sport is showing every stage live plus re-runs... think I will need a baby tv on my desk for those 3 weeks... do you think my students will mind if I take it into the class room???

[kiwi girl]

RR - does that mean you have Sky at work?

The America's Cup has interferred enough with my sleep patterns - I'll only just have a chance to recover before the TdF

[Fredwina]

I'm thinking I'll be cheering Levi on, because that was my grandfather's name!

(Um, what is Giro? What am I missing?)
The Giro'd Italia (tour of Italy) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giro_d'Italia) is the considered the second most prestigious bike race, followed by the Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuelta_a_Espa%C3%B1a)

[margo49]

. The Dauphine was covered by a second string announcer who was...uh..just awful. Couldn't pronounce any names right, wasn't even consistently wrong in pronunciation and his color commentar was limited to Rider X is "having a bad/good day at the office" and "let's just watch"....uh...I'm on audio only!!!

Some people dislike their first-string commentators, but I enjoy it as background noise at work, particularly, the British-isms that don't translate so well. DH has dubbed the commentator as "weenie bits" because riders win, lose, and miss by "a weenie bit" :eek:

This is the one and only David Duffield.
An *institution* not a commentator. Perhaps an acquired taste. Perhaps you have to be a bit of a Brit. But he has a huge following to the point where people inundated Eurosport's TdF forum when he was *not* commentating on the TdF 2 years ago. It was a disaster as far as a lot of us were concerned. Many of us even thought he had gone to that Great Commentary Box in the sky as he is nearly 80. He has a tremendous knowledge of cycling and cyclists going back past his favourite rider of all time Fausto Coppi. He is very involved in British cycling and there is a ride in his name (CTC, I think).
He will be in the London studio for this TdF doing the intro every day and some phone conversations, I believe.

[crazycanuck]

I'm cheering on Robbie..:) the other robbie..Robbie Mcewan..not the singer Robbie williams..

C

[Keely]

I'm going to be having a sleepless July again this year!!! SBS (http://tdf.sbs.com.au/) (Ch 28Down Under) shows the racing live. This year they have 2 daily shows at reasonable hours giving updates and showing the finish of each stage. Can't wait!!!:D

[hurleygirl]

Add me to the "sleepless July" list.

In addition to my normal office job... let's add

Anywhere from 3-5 hours of almost daily Tour to watch (I TiVO the live morning coverage because it is waaaay better than the "expanded evening broadcast").

And I'm training for a triathlon on July 22nd.

I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to manage this - except to burn up some vacation days.

[NJBikeGal]

So...perhaps a poll? How many riders will actually compete in the tour this year?!

Petacchi has been suspended by Milram for a questionable test result at the Giro. Kessler has been suspended by Astana for an "adverse analytical finding of testosterone." Di Luca has to go before CONI for a strange test result from the Giro...situation TBD.

Looks like we'll have a rather small showing! Zabriskie signed (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/jun07/jun28news) the UCI rider's antidoping commitment paper this week and he's not even sure that he's racing! Cancellara on the other hand, said that the document is a load of horse poop and he is 100% against the actions of the UCI. This is going to be an interesting tour!

[Kalidurga]

In typical 'Dave Z' sardonic humour, he told Cyclingnews, "I am for 100 percent transparency and am willing to wear a GPS locater so that doping control officers can find me 24/7." Calling from his home in Spain, Zabriskie told Cyclingnews, "If they wanted to do a GPS locator system I would not disagree, I think it would be easier than filling out the athlete location forms."

DZ rocks :D If he doesn't end up on the Tour roster, I'm gonna have to flood CSC's website with complaints.

[chickwhorips]

good ol' Dave.

I can't believe its that time of the year again. Phew! Seems like just a few months ago it was time for the tour and here it is again.

I have the DVR all set up and ready to go.

[Darby361]

After reading how you could look up Versus online to see if it is in your area... I have upgraded my cable! Turns out it is only available on the digital box in my area. Of course I tell myself, I will go back to basic in August... HA!
Trish

[Zen]

My cable service used to be Adelphia, it's now Comcast.
When it was Adelphia I downgraded to basic service. I looked to see what a digital upgrade would cost with comcast and I can get a deal for a year that will actually save me1/3 of my cable bill! Ha!

[NJBikeGal]

Astana names it's team...which will NOT include Eddie Mazzoleni - due to what, ladies?? Of course, DOPING allegations! I'm not sure whether to cheer these teams on for doing the right thing, or start crying because the sport is turning into a sideshow! :(

Astana has put Vino, Salvodelli and Kloden on the roster, of course. Should be a great year for Vino!

[Aggie_Ama]

Do not fret about missing the Giro, VS only showed abbreviated coverage of it. The tour is on every day but the Giro was only on Cyclism Sundays and I think maybe Saturday.

Darby- Not crazy we are getting an extra DVR (an extra $6 to the cable bill) so we can watch in the bedroom if we choose. :) We pay for Digital Cable only for Versus and Cyclism.

My parents recently gave us their 57" ginormous HD TV first words out of DH's mouth? "I can't wait to watch the Tour!!"

I hope Big George can win another stage, I like him better than Levi but he isn't Disco's leader. And if CSC doesn't put DZ on the team I will cheer against them!! :p

[margo49]

Just checked out the Route for the Prologue on the TdF Official website.
I know every inch and cobblestone of that route. Must of done it a zillion times as a messenger . Before some of these riders were born!!!
Think I will need to do ECG *before* the Tour even starts at the current rate of excitement...

[PinkBike]

http://www.team-csc.com/grafik/3168.jpg

Carlos Sastre, Fränk Schleck, Jens Voigt, Stuart O'Grady, Fabian Cancellara, Inigo Cuesta, Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriskie.

go DZ!!!!!
go jens!!!!!!!

[Kalidurga]

Carlos Sastre, Fränk Schleck, Jens Voigt, Stuart O'Grady, Fabian Cancellara, Inigo Cuesta, Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriskie.

go DZ!!!!!
go jens!!!!!!!

Ok, now I can get excited about watching the Tour! :D

[NJBikeGal]

YEE-HAW!!! Nice going Bjarne! I can relax, now...no more planning how to beat down the CSC doors to demand a reorganization of the roster! :)

That is a fantastic roster for them! I'm thinking we'll be seeing red, white, and black on the podium this year!

[chickwhorips]

Woo Hoo!!!!! I can let go of that breath I was holding.

[PinkBike]

it is a great roster!
i just dont know if sastre can pull it off. he always seems to come off just a bit short. you dont see the greatness like we saw in lance, ivan, gilberto, danilo, jan, etc, that extra toughness. and how is his time trialling coming along?
i still think it'll be astana or saunier or t-mobile. or discovery, but i dont see them having the team help in the big mountains.
CANT WAIT - IT'LL BE A GOOD ONE.

[Zen]

I gotta get outta here and get to Comcast before they close!!!

[Kalidurga]

That is a fantastic roster for them! I'm thinking we'll be seeing red, white, and black on the podium this year!

Yeah, just so long as it isn't Caisse d'Espargne (how the heck do you spell that team name?) !

[NJBikeGal]

Yeah, just so long as it isn't Caisse d'Espargne (how the heck do you spell that team name?) !

More importantly...how the heck to you SAY it! ;)

[Kalidurga]

We're not the only ones who like Dave, apparently: Road Mag blog: More Rosters (http://roadmag.blogspot.com/2007/06/more-rosters.html). Interesting that they mention Bjarne is out. No surprise, really, but I haven't heard anything about who'll be taking his place to coach CSC.

[Aggie_Ama]

I am sad to see Bobby JUlich is not on the squad, anyone know why?