I’ll bet you $5 that by the end of the Tour you’re watching. I’m not ridiculing your concerns, not in the least. I just believe in the healing powers of a bang-up Tour.

you are bad accustomed, when I see a portuguese rider, i do a party.
Unfortunately, our hope for this year, Hugo Sabido… don’t goes.

But maybe you just need to find a non-US rider to cheer for. Evans, if you need an English speaking rider to cheer for, is a good bet. You mentioned that he doesn’t attack and only follows wheels, but that is just not true, especially this year. But there are many other riders to cheer for that don’t speak English but have riding styles that you may like. If you want to watch it and find someone to pull for, you will.

We need to get you pumped with the fun that is about to happen!

Not positive how to do that exactly as I too am going to miss Levi being there and I love Horner and DZ. Then take out Bobby and Michael Barry and some sentimental favorites to watch for on the stages has gone down but I am still super excited for this. I love C and Will so I’m psyched to see them riding. I’ve never been one to need an overall GC guy to follow but love animation and really love seeing the young guys make some noise and get noticed. Watching C over the years take his pulls to get his leaders up front has kept me glued.

I was glued to CSC for 3 years so I have favorites there with Andy, Frank, Jens!, Fabian, Stuey – okay well basically I love watching the whole group. Then Columbia has been growing on me all all spring so I’m excited to see what they do. And of course I love the G-Men guys and even though I don’t expect final podium results they’re going to give us some great stuff to watch for. C loves being the underdog and he and team are stoked and ready to have some fun. I enjoy results but I LOVE seeing guys have some good fun while giving it their all and doing the best they can. This is huge for some many riders this year. Newbees, youngin’s, more tuned and ready to go after it.

Every year, every race has someone that didn’t make it or is injured so for me it’s not really about a favorite although I have plenty I love watch racing. Heck I’m even falling in love with sprint stages (okay well that last 10K, but still). This year I think I’m more excited about all of the unknowns. The Olympics is throwing some peaking and craziness that we normally wouldn’t see. I think the favorites will be the top 10 but it is so open with young talent that I think some pretty awesome spoilage is going to happen and in good ways this year.

Maybe look for some youngin’ to follow.
Always fun getting in on the early stages of careers and watching them grow!

Bweeg thoroughly dominate this Tour.

I don’t mean literally. I just wonder if that isn’t a least partly the reason the Tour seems boring to you this year. In fact, I wonder how much a less drug-addicted peleton will reduce attacking.

Anyway, I’m still suspicious as hell of Astana, and their Golden Boy. I think it’s a smart move to keep the Kazaks home. Might prevent another ruined tour.

So count me in. I’m psyched for this tour. If we make it through without another drug blow-up, I’d say it’s a whopping success. Plus, I always root for the French anyway. I like a good underdog.

Like any sport, whatever gets you going is better in some years then others.
Relax and go ride your bike more this month, or you could even catch up on all those things you need to get done so you can watch the Olympics with peace of mind.
Besides, the next Giro is just around the corner!
AKA – Vuelta a Espana
A lot of the people you want to see race will be there, and it should be a blast to watch.

but cycling is one of the most entertaining sports around.
I don’t need a Dutchman in Tour to be involved thouroughly, so I don’t understand John’s point.
The great thing about cycling is the tactics, seeing the stage evolve and especially in the Tour, seeing the start of the stages as well. Apart from that, the Tour will be quite different this year with no 8 sprintstages before the fun starts. They did do a good job in mixing up the first 9 stages, although the second week is quite pale with 4 transitional stages (if you can call that ‘a transition’). Basically I can root for any achievement during the Tour, be it an American, Spaniard or German doing a fantastic job on the day. Don’t need a fellow countryman to spice things up, yet I understand the trill of rooting for one of your ‘own’.

Then again: Who’s a spoilt brat? Seven times Armstrong, isn’t that enough? ;-)

It seems just about every year there is a crisis before the race … but it is always exciting.

Remember 2006 when there was no Lance and then no Basso or Ulrich? It seemed pointless for a moment.

But the race is bigger than the racers.

I can’t wait.

in the pro cycling world. Once you get to know the riders, their stories and foibles, see the majestic scenery, the drama in the racing, the argy-bargy sprinting, the lactic acid killing me suffer face in the mountains, the sheer beauty of the man & machine duo in the TT, well you’ll be sucked right back in.

Add to that, the insightful comments and discussion on PC, and yes sometimes the silliness of our posts too will be the cherry on top.

So watch the first few stages with an open mind and join the madness that is the Tour de France.

The course itself, I mean, especially the climbs—and what each has done to the world’s best riders in the past. Add something as “simple” as the weather; we have some spring classics riders who are great in the rain, but if the heat hits, do they wilt or bloom? There are always a few who thrive when the mercury rises, and win my admiration.

Admittedly, we’re missing one of the “star climbs,” namely the Ventoux. But we have the Tourmalet. This is where Steines, having nearly been killed trying to make his way through the snow in (May? June? Winter?) falsely assured Desgrange, "Crossed Tourmalet. Very good road. Perfectly practicable. Steines" thus introducing the first really major, high altitude climb into the tour…before racers used shiftable gears.

I want you to watch, and while watching, think of the 1910 Stage 9, which “featured four major climbs (including the Portet d’Aspet) over its 289 kilometres” and stage 10, with “326 kilometres over five climbs: the Peyresourde (1,569 metres), d’Aspin (1,489 metres), the Tourmalet (2,115 metres), the Aubisque (1,709 metres), and – in case it were thought too easy – the Osquich at 390 metres to finish it off.” (see reference link above).

You know the whole story about the rider who had to work the forge himself to fix a broken wheel, back when the riders could accept no help? That was on a descent from the Tourmalet.

I’ll let someone else rhapsodize over the Alpe d’Huez (I think some of that has been done over at the “stages” posts.)

I won’t tell if you skip some of the sprints, but your bike race fan soul wants you to watch the famous climbs… plus enough of the stages before so you know who’s where… and of course, you won’t be able to stop watching afterwards.