For another way of experiencing the Tour de France cycle race, and as an example of how internet technology is advancing, see Google's Live Tour Tracker., where you can see a map of where the Tour is going on the day, and track its progress in real time (usually the race starts about midday and finishes sometime after 5.00pm (UK time). You can also check out the "biostats" of selected riders - heart rate, stress - and how fast they are going.
More Tour technology is availabe with ITV's daily podcast of the Tour at http://download.itv.com/tour/podcast.xml or www.itv.com/tour in addition to the daily coverage on ITV3 or ITV4 every evening and some live coverage at weekends.
Today (Wed 5th July) the Tour heads out of Belgium and southwest towards the town of St Quentin (02 Aisne, Picardie), self-styled Capital of Haut-Picardie, and twinned with Rotherham in the UK. My recollection is of a rather unexciting northern town with an impressive Basilica dominating the town centre. This is a vine-free zone!
