ManBearPig

I started cycling the year before Lance won his 6th and then 7th TDF. It was the perfect period of time in the sport to begin riding and watching LA provided the perfect motivation. I remember being glued to the TV to see the inevitable outcome. I turned on the TV this morning and watched some of the stage, but it just doesn't have the luster anymore. Especially after the Landis ordeal, which provided a further buzzkill.

Also, I just don't have a knack for keeping track of all the players. I have friends who follow racing like people follow baseball, with a sharp recall of all the big names, the teams they ride for, their stats, and so forth. I have never had that for baseball and not even for cycling, even though it's something I do regularly.

I imagine for some people the TDF is more interesting with LA gone because maybe they thought he was over-hyped or something; but for me, that was really a magical time to start getting involved with the sport.

Hammertoe

I started watching the Tour (or what I could get of it) before Greg LeMond...

The early 7-Eleven Team and LeMond provided the perfect motivation...

The Race is bigger than any one rider or Team...

If you watch you will find your motivation...

InVisib0L

I agree with the idea of a magical period when Lance was riding. The whole doping thing screwed everything up because they don't even air TDF in the States anymore.

Surferbruce

i feel sad for cyclists who can't get excited for the tour.

bhchdh 

Each stage is aired on VERSUS ( was OLNTV ) at least 4 times a day, including live morning coverage.

InVisib0L

Sorry, I meant on CBS like they did back when Lance was riding. I don't have cable at home...

hoodooguru

Incorrect,
it's on 4 times a day, every stage. It's a beautiful thing.

OnTheRivet

Honestly with Lance gone I was hoping the "Lance groupies" would lose interest and move on to a new fad, hopefully now I won't have to endure anymore idiots in football helmets with horns running along side the riders carrying a Texas flag. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

ILUVUK

I started watching the Tour when Indurain was winning, but strangely didn't start cycling (road cycling) until a couple years back. I enjoy the Tour as much now as I did then.

SunFlower

my guess is you only had to "endure" it on television.

euphoria

still the greatest sporting event in the world, sorry there isn't a huge pop icon to fawn over

ILUVUK

That and the World Cup...I still get awfully excited to watch that!

bigtea

[QUOTE=Hammertoe;7004963]I started watching the Tour (or what I could get of it) before Greg LeMond...

The early 7-Eleven Team and LeMond provided the perfect motivation...

The Race is bigger than any one rider or Team...

If you watch you will find your motivation...[/QUOTE]


So did I. "Watching" it before the 90's meant a 30 minute or less segment on "Wide World of Sports". Daily coverage was a two paragraph afterthought in the back pages of the sports section of the newspaper. The Tour works on many levels...a great sporting event, a beautiful cycling travelogue of France, and a legacy that goes back beyond my grandfather who fought in France in WWI.

I'd rather see the real time heart rate and wattage of a domestique against the beauty of the French countryside than the RPMs and oil pressure of a NASCAR rig making loops around a track in Alabama.

Who cares who is racing? They'd kick your butt any day, anywhere, any how. Enjoy the Tour for all that it is.

slacker00

Maybe he was referring to the CBS coverage, which is national. I don't think CBS is covering the TDF this year. Not everyone gets Versus.

Chris516

I, indirectly, agree with you. Since the doping scandal, it is hard to tell the well known riders from the no-names.

As for LA, he definitely got me more interested in hardcore cycling, than at any other point in my life.

Now, I just watch the TDF for the sheer joy of watching cycling. With the route changing every year, it is almost like, taking a trip through France, without ever leaving the couch or, looking at travel brochures.

Demit

Lance is a doper.

Slackerprince

Everyone who knows, knows it.

botto 

ri_us

I started watching cycling in '86. When Lance came around I was afraid that some of the sport's increase in popularity would disappear when he did because the media put nearly 100% of their energy into covering him, and almost no one else.

Have you made an effort to use the websites to lear the stories about the other athletes. I think some of the new ones (Cavendish, Schleck, Ricco) are great. The problem is, the commentators on Vs won't help you.

Slackerprince

VeloNews has a HUGE Tour de France Official Guide that will inform you of all the teams and players and covers everything concerning the Tour.
Here is the link:

https://tour-de-france.velonews.com/m...e/detail/77760

That will get you started with getting excited and informed about what's happening this year.
Stalk a friend who has VS. on cable, and bring beer or cake to pay your way.
There are several Americans, if that's who you like, that are poised to win a stage or two, including George Hincapie.
Get stoked and enjoy.

Slackerprince

sfcrossrider

There were doping scandals in the 90s as well (remember the 98 riders protest). The tours magical period was watching Lemond fighting, and winning against his own team. Now that was bad@ss. If an American hadn't been winning most people in the states wouldn't know what TDF is. That doesn't make it magical, it just makes American audiences fickle.

Merckx will always be roads undisputed king.

qmsdc15

TdF used to be on network TV weekends and evenings and Giro, Vuelta was shown live every day on OLN. Cheaters destroyed interest in bike racing in this country and the TV coverage reflects that fact.

DrPete 

Is there, some reason, you're, using so many, commas?

Stallionforce

Unfortunately the residue lingers. At every opportunity Phil and Paul (and the others) are drilled to mention U.S. Postal and Discovery, and particularly 'Lance', at every opportunity, and to plug Garmin and Columbia to death. I'd much rather watch an impartial commentary. It really saddens me actually. I get depressed watching.

I never felt a magic "aura" about the Lance era. He was not a patron like Indurain, Hinault, Merckx, Anquetil. He focussed everything to win one race and although that slightly increased interest in the sport in America, it did a disservice to cycling in general: the best rider should be racing in a wide selection of races; and a grand tour winner should attempt to win either or both the Giro and Vuelta.

Rather than missing Lance, I think what the Tour is missing is a classic agon, a classic struggle between two super-cyclists and leaders. The Lance era was not just Lance; it was Ullrich too; it was their duel. And same for Lemond/Hinault, Anquetil/Poulidor, Bartali/Coppi. This is why I think the Giro is a much more exciting race. Yes, it's rough around the edges and not as polished a spectacle; but the Italians in contention f****** hate each other and it makes for amazing racing.

It is conceivable that Valverde and Contador could emerge as combatants in the coming years but I fear both are so polite it won't reach the sort of vindictive crescendo necessary for great racing. And Evans? My God. Did you see him watching Valverde all day today?

Oh to get access to British Eurosport coverage...

patentcad

Correct.

Thankfully it's also much bigger than the pinheads who organize the race too.

But it's not bigger'n Texas.