Since Cycle Sport has, in its words, issued "the only Tour guide that counts," I'd say it's time for the Podium Cafe to announce "the only Tour guide that you didn't waste $7.99 on." Yep, we're covering all angles of the Tour de France in our various previews... which, taken together look an awful lot like a magazine. And all for the low, low, LOW price of your productivity at the office. You may have already seen these, but in any event here's what you can read up on here at the Cafe in anticipation of the World's Greatest Bike Race:
The Participants:
- Our picks of favorites for the Maillot Jaune
- Gavia looks at the best young riders
- Ursula examines the dark horse favorites
- Gavia previews the sprinters
- Chris looks at the teams and their plans
- Live thread of the teams presentation
The Course:
- A rundown of the stages you can't miss
- A closer look at the opening stages in Brittany
- Compare this year to courses from previous years
- Our initial take when the route was announced
The Distractions:
- A listing of games you can play
- Our own special Le Tour-only Virtual Directeur Sportif (deadline: July 2)
- Podium Cafe Le Tour Quick Challenge (deadline July 1)
Three More Must-Have External Resources
- The massive Steephill.TV TdF dashboard
- The parcourse in Google Maps
- HIstorical information about the stages from James Raia
And this isn't counting all the team rosters, Gossip della Gavia, news, rumors, flowcharts, etc. I'll leave this post in the features for the rest of the week, so anyone who stops by can get the benefit of all the prep work being done here for the Tour. Feel free to use the comments to group other resources here.