Windows 7: 2010 Tour De France

So, anybody here a cycling fan or paying attention to the race this year? It's been an interesting couple of stages thus far and the cobblestone racing was pretty wild...of course it did take a few big players out of the race which was a bummer.

I follow the tour religiously since the 60's. The cobbles sure took their toll this year. But today was a day of recovery - for most. But as in every year, the tour will only really start once they hit the mountains.

Yeah, I saw a dumb story on MSN today titled "Lance hangs tough in stage 4". I'm like, for Pete's sake...he had a flat tire yesterday and lost about 2 minutes total. Today was a group ride with everybody finishing together and getting the same time.

I'm just unsure why this would have been news? I would have only been surprised if he retired from the race... 2 minutes in the mountains can be a piece of cake. I'm more concerned with the more than 50 seconds between him and Contador and Schleck.

Whoa... didn't even know the Tour de France was going on LOL

Because Lance is the only name the vast majority of people know.

By and large, outside of Europe - nobody knows, or even cares about cycling.


I'm far from an avid follower, but are the spectators getting even more intrusive on the course ?

Not sure, think of all the excellent bikers from down under or from e.g. Columbia. And even in the US it starts to take on - just think of the tour of California or Georgia. The US is always 25 years behind the times - so it is normal that it starts late.

I understand why they would talk about Lance...and you are right...it is the only person many people know.

But the story was about as dramatic and newsworthy as, "Lance rides stage 4" or "Lance using 2 tires on his bicycle in the Tour De France".

Its MSN are you really surprised....

I watch the race somewhat, same with soccer, but everytime i bring either up to my friends they ignore it and bring up Football or Basketball which in my opinion arnt even sports anymore, who the eff wants to watch lakers and celtics play in the finals for the 14 time like really wtf lol.

True, but percentage wise - currently a lot of Americans would still be blissfully unaware that 'any tour' that involves cyclists exists. Or if they it did, they'd have no idea when or where these events take place.

However Lances' 'fame' has helped raised cycling's profile in America and bringing belated awareness to a much larger percentage of 'non-enthusiasts' than any previous rider has.

And given enough success in a field and gaining a large enough fan following, they end up being the ones who invented the game

Because mundane news is still 'news'

Yes i knew it was going on atm and no i don't watch it. I have better things to do than sitting and watching men in tight shorts cycle 200 kilometers a day lol