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!!
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

[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]

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

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. Later on, to catch up on anything I've missed during the day and have some serious laughs, I check out Schmalz.

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

[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 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.

[Kalidurga]

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that Dave Z ends up on the CSC roster!

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

[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

[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!)