Have You been Watching the Tour de France?

This is only the second year I have been able to follow the Tour daily and it is always interesting. The current leader by over 100 seconds says there is now way he will win, the three time winner says he is tired from a long year and not that into it, the Schlek brothers want someone else to come and attack on the mountains instead of wait to win it during the final time trial, and a slew of people including major contenders have crashed and left the race with broken bones. In other words, except for the antics of Hushov, Roy, Hoogerland, Sanchez, and Delage you have not missed the interesting parts. Thursday, Friday, and especially Saturday are bound to be interesting. Two hard mountain days are followed by an individual time trial. For lack of a better description, the Tour is wide open this year. Any of the top eight guys could take it. They are all tired and none have shown he is particularly strong.

I find the Tour so interesting because it is unlike any other sporting event. A stage event like this for runners would be slow because the advantage of drafting is low compared to cycling. Plus you can't race up three ten mile long climbs in a day running and expect to do that the next day as well. It is similar to a mountaineering expedition, but those often hinge around one day that involves 16+ hours of climbing. Unfortunately, besides me who would watch a 12 hour summit push in real time and still complain about commercials?

Anyway if you happen to be around a tv this week, particularly the end of the week, there will be some good programming.