Any followers of the Tour de France?

My wife and I really enjoy watching the tour. We love the sprint finishes and have in recent years been pulling for Mark Cavendish to win these stages. This year he had his old lead-out man Mark Renhshaw back, so it was looking good. Cavendish' crash on the first stage and subsequent leaving the race was a disappointment for us. Watching still enjoyable though.

 

Oh yes, I'm following it every year.
I think I've seen every one since Miguel Indurain won his first of five TdF's.
It is an amazing team sport with tremendous amounts of tactics and team-effort.
As a Norwegian I have been following our top riders with extra interest.
Thor Hushovd and Eddy Boasson Hagen has won some stages and a green jersey or two.
Good stuff!

 

I'm waiting to see how Richie Porte is doing now that he is bearing Chris Froome's task for team Sky.

 

Now Contador is out due to a crash yesterday on a tricky decent. This could be Vincenzo Nibali's chance. Yesterdays finish showed a lot of heart. I watched back when Lamond won but coverage was difficult to get back then. I started up again with Armstrong. It has been a heart breaking roller coaster ride developing fondness for so many riders only to find the issues of doping raising its ugly head. Marco Pantani, Ivan Basso, Vinokourov, Armstrong, Landis, Ulrich, just to name a few. Watching the epic battles that were the stuff of legend only to be later tarnished. But I love watching them especially the sprint finishes. Guys like McEwan, Cavendish, Griepel, and Sagan just don't come along that often. After busting their guts for 100 miles and then in the last couple hundred meters exploding and there is nothing anyone can do to catch them. amazing to watch.