Professional Cycling - TdF dvds

I've never bought a TdF DVD, but all I see is 4hr or 12hr versions. Are there any complete collections? As in every minute of every stage?

And if I was to buy a dvd, which year would be the best to buy/watch? I haven't watched a lot, but I'm leaning towards 2008 because CSC won.

2008 was good, so was 2007. 2006 was good when it happened but the doping scandal has ruined it for me.

You might try '98, '99. When Postal/Discovery dominated, the question was rarely who but by how much.


I've not seen any "complete" collections; they would be very large indeed. I'm sure someone in the past has recorded everything off their television and burned it to discs but it would be illegal to sell that.

if there are any without any editing, i haven't come across them. it's usually just the 4 or 12 hr ones.
some of the older ones are 8 hrs max. the really old ones (the lemond years) are about an hour.

personal preference starts with the 2003 tour (12 hr) because of ullrich's near win, beloki's unfortunate
crash, vinokourov's relentless attacking and lance's challenges to win #5. best recent tour with lots of
protagonists.

next is the 2007 tour (4 hr) with contador's emergence (and juan mauricio soler's too). the first big
mountain stage where rasmussen takes off and the rest of the big boys cat & mouse it up the mountain
is both fascinating and frustrating-screamed at the video more than once imploring someone to make an
attack that would stick.

even though it wasn't a particularly close race. i enjoy the 2000 tour (8 hrs) too; some great mountain
stages in this one like ventoux, vars/izoard and courchevel-excellent scenery.

2005 (4 hr) is probably next if for nothing else other than rasmussen's "incredible" time-trial
& the csc vs discovery team time trial and the 4 hr version seems well-edited (enough to satisfy).

the 1998 tour is interesting enough with the pantani victory but also comes with a 3rd disc highlighting
the previous ten years of the tour de france. some great footage of tours not likely to see the light of
dvd any time soon.

also picked up the greatest tour of all time-1989- with lemond vs fignon. excellent video but sadly, it's
only about an hour long; watching it just makes you desperate for more. still, better than nothing but
wish it was at least 2 hours-4 hours would be fantastic!

my favorite race video though, has gotta be the 2005 giro d' italia! Close gc up to the last stage,
phenomenal racing, beautiful scenery and at 5 hours just long enough to satify. Plus, the giro dvd's
are cheaper than the tour dvd's. the 1998 giro dvd is a nice one too with pantani's overall & super
mario cipollini in fine sprinting form. it seems like wcp (world cycling productions) has settled into
the 5 hour format for the giro which is usually long enough. will be interesting to see if they stick
with that for the recently concluded 2009 "lance" giro.

well lucky me! i get to answer my own question! looks like we'll get the choice of a 4 hr or
8 hr giro d'italia dvd package in a couple of months. given this year's course & the final
outcome, i'll opt for the 8 hr. should i add lance to my holiday card list for making an 8 hr.
giro dvd possible?