Fifty Plus (50+) - How to Follow Tour de France?

So, is this televised and available on cable ... hopefully not the premium channels that I don't subscribe to? I'm not sure if I get ESPN, but I haven't seen any advertisements on the channels I watch. I use Comcast cable for both tv and internet.

Even googling "Tour de France" doesn't give much info on the times and tv coverage of when the event starts. So, how do I follow the event and am I able to watch televised coverage? Oh, and what day & time (EST) does it start?

Saturday, July 7 at 9:30 a.m. EDT on the weirdly named Vs. network. If you don't get Vs., I can't help you with TV.

VeloNews (http://www.velonews.com/) has pretty complete text coverage. By the way, the Tour starts at 3 pm London time

So, is this televised and available on cable ... hopefully not the premium channels that I don't subscribe to? I'm not sure if I get ESPN, but I haven't seen any advertisements on the channels I watch. I use Comcast cable for both tv and internet.


I'm pretty sure that the live updates (minute by minute) will be available on the official site
http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html
Maybe the "Stage by Stage" link?
I know we left the live updates running WHILE watching the race on TV a couple years ago.

You can also search through TV Guide
www.tvguide.com/ (http://www.tvguide.com/)

and through Comcast's TV planner
tvplanner.comcast.net/ (http://tvplanner.comcast.net/)

Can't wait!

P.S. We have Comcast with no Premium channels, and we get the Tour every year.
P.P.S. Check out the Flash animation of the route. Cool!

Good tips, thanks. Baroque, do you remember the name of the Comcast channel that would be showing the Tour this year, or least the channel it showed on last year?

On comcast, the channel to watch is Versus (http://www.versus.com/cyclysm/). Last year it was called Outdoor Life Network but they changed their name. check your local comcast tv planner to see what channel number it is there.

Good tips, thanks. Baroque, do you remember the name of the Comcast channel that would be showing the Tour this year, or least the channel it showed on last year?

Mine is the same as the others mentioned for Comcast --- it comes up with the call letters "VS" in your menu. It's a pretty high channel number in my area (56); above CNN (42).

I see a Prologue to the Tour show at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow on VS in my area.

Thanks Dogbait for mentioning that VS used to be OLN. I wondered about that.

Ditto! Just like the Grampster said, it's showing on Vs. and Comcast in Southeast Michigan has Vs. on channel 34. Thanks.

Both DirecTV and Dish Network carry VS. too.

I have Comcast in the Houston area and I don't see it listed anywhere on the 75 channels I have.

The TiVo is armed and ready. Should make for good times.

Hmmmm... I see it's on at 1:00 PM here. I'll have to run to the store in the morning for wine and cheese. I'm fresh out. Maybe a baguette too.

I have Comcast in the Houston area and I don't see it listed anywhere on the 75 channels I have.

Channel 49, Versus, at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning?

At least, that's what Comcast TV guide says for the Houston area....

Hah. Finally a chance to gloat at you lot :D

Here in Oz, SBS have every stage LIVE! Well, most of the stage anyway (we don't get the early bits of each day) ... and it's interesting that the 'live' telecasts all start at the same time where ever you happen to be in the country, but I can live with that. What I will find hard to live with is the racing happening between about 11 at night and 4 in the morning - my posts will gradually become more incoherent over the next three weeks. We also get a half hour, highlights show every day at dinner time.

Onya SBS :love:

Normally, we're the one's cursing the lack of sports coverage :rolleyes: If it can be justified here, I'm surprised it can't be in the US - cycling isn't what you'd call a front line sport here either, though the successes of our riders over the last twenty five years have helped that.

Richard

Na Na Na NA-NA


Riding out to see the 1st stage live.

Can't get out to the prologue as I pick up the new bike in about 3 hours and the rest of today will be spent sorting it.

As as for the next 3 weeks- We have 2 channells that will be showing it live in the day- but I can't think of a 3 week Flu bug and don't fancy breaking a limb- so will have to watch the days highlights that will be shown in the evenings.

Na Na Na NA-NA


Riding out to see the 1st stage live.

Can't get out to the prologue as I pick up the new bike in about 3 hours and the rest of today will be spent sorting it.

As as for the next 3 weeks- We have 2 channells that will be showing it live in the day- but I can't think of a 3 week Flu bug and don't fancy breaking a limb- so will have to watch the days highlights that will be shown in the evenings.

Finally, a reason to hate Staphan

Na Na Na NA-NA


Riding out to see the 1st stage live.

Can't get out to the prologue as I pick up the new bike in about 3 hours and the rest of today will be spent sorting it.

As as for the next 3 weeks- We have 2 channells that will be showing it live in the day- but I can't think of a 3 week Flu bug and don't fancy breaking a limb- so will have to watch the days highlights that will be shown in the evenings.


Life is really hard!:D

Channel 49, Versus, at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning?

At least, that's what Comcast TV guide says for the Houston area....
Thanks Baroque, I have the Houston Chronicle tv guide and it doesn't even show channel 49, no wonder I couldn't find it. I'll be tuned in.:D

I'm pretty sure that the live updates (minute by minute) will be available on the official site
http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html
Maybe the "Stage by Stage" link?
I know we left the live updates running WHILE watching the race on TV a couple years ago.

I tried that link and got a "forbidden" message. :mad:

We don't subscribe to cable, nor do we have satellite. This is about the only time I regret our spartan entertainment choices. Are there any on-line sites available that have video + text?

Try Eurosport for Daily reports but I will be watching it on satellite.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/cycling/tour-de-france/

Na Na Na NA-NA


Riding out to see the 1st stage live....

OK, that's it. Time for a "vote Stapfam off the island" poll. :)

Apparently there is a youtube "channel" for the tdf too.

http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html
I tried that link and got a "forbidden" message. :mad:

Yeah ---- it must be temporarily down, as I got the same message today, and the cached version doesn't work either.

Of course the French version still works
http://www.letour.fr/
[You can click on "Translate this page" for minimal English view]

Good opportunity to brush up on that high school French :D

For many links, see also
http://www.steephill.tv/2007/tour-de-france/

CBS TV will do a one hour show on Sunday July 15th at 2:00 PM EDST.
Most home in the Cleveland area don't get the Versus (OLN) station. Almost all of the systems don't offer it and the few that do, place it in a tier of limited interest. So around here the general public will only see the CBS shows. The Verus on-line streaming seems to be extremely limited, only the first 2 &1/2 hours Sunday morning.

OK, that's it. Time for a "vote Stapfam off the island" poll. :)

Bring back photos, and we'll let you back in.

OK, that's it. Time for a "vote Stapfam off the island" poll. :)

Can't do that till me and Tom have done Ventoux.

you could get highlights from..

http://cycling.tv/channels/free2view

Being a Brit I have a choice of channels to watch the whole thing live.

Enjoy

george

http://www.letour.fr/2007/TDF/LIVE/us/0/index.html

Hah. Finally a chance to gloat at you lot :D

Here in Oz, SBS have every stage LIVE!
We have it live here in North America too, but on a cable/satellite channel. And here on the east coast we get it at the very reasonable time of morning. At least it is reasonable for us retired folks.

I think a pie or crumpet on a stick mounted to the handlebar of stapfam's new bike could put him on the podium for stage one. Just sayin'.

We get it on the Vs. channel on Time Warner (formerly Adelphia).

Best way is to just go down to your local drug store.

Here is the schedule for live and repeat showings on Versus.
http://www.versus.com/tdf/article/view/758/?ss=tv&tf=Body.tpl

They also have lots of online features.
http://www.versus.com/tdf

Here are some other sites with TdF coverage.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007/tour07/?id=stages
http://www.velonews.com/tour2007/
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/feature/featureIndex?page=tdf2007
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc
http://www.youtube.com/letourdefrance
http://www.cyclelicio.us/2007/07/tour-de-france-2007-television-video.html
http://cycling.tv/flash/tour-de-france
http://www.letour.fr/2007/TDF/LIVE/us/100/index.html
http://bicycling.about.com/od/tourdefrance2007/a/tdf2007.htm

I see that Versus (VS.) is now broadcasting some of their programs in HD. I've never seen where a cable or satellite provider has carried VS. HD, has anyone else?

The main official tour page now has an English language link. Go to www.letour.fr and click on the Union Jack (British Flag), near the top, far right.
Or straight to it at: http://www.letour.fr/2007/TDF/LIVE/us/200/index.html