The Tour Is Here

I've been pretty quiet about the Tour De France and have not been watching it, but as soon as July hits, I know my beloved Tour De France hits OLN. I find it sad that cycling is not a mainstream event in North America, or at least the marketing world does not see fit to advertise for it.

This years race is extremely different. In fact, the race actually goes in a clockwise direction on the map, instead of the normal route. But most notably, Stage 7 almost hits Geneva, Switzerland. It's just a stones throw away. I'd tell ya, if I were there still, I'd try to see that race!

Here are a few interesting facts about the tour.

The route

Running from Saturday July 7^th to Sunday July 29^th 2007, the 94^th Tour de France will be made up of a prologue and 20 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,550 kilometres.

These 20 stages have the following profiles:

• 11 flat stages
• 6 mountain stages
• 1 medium mountain stage
• 2 individual time-trial stages

Distinctive aspects of the race

• 3 mountain finishes
• 2 rest days
• 117 kilometres of individual time-trials (including the prologue)
• 21 Category 1, Category 2 and highest level passes will be climbed

12 new stop-over towns

London, Canterbury, Waregem, Villers-Cotterêts, Joigny, Chablis, Semur-en-Auxois, Tignes, Tallard, Mazamet, Cognac, Marcoussis

For me, watching the race go through the lovely French villages, watching the people cheering and searching the maps just interests me in the regions. There even was a stage in London. Swiss cyclist Fabian CANCELLARA one the time trial and I think held the overall for 4 days.