I may get hammered for this, but I enjoy watching the Tour de France, this will be my third year watching. I’m still confused on a lot of the tactics and what’s going on and why riders are doing what they’re doing, which stages are super important? ect ect. I could really use a beginners guide, has someone ever written something like this?
I’d recommend picking up one of the current magazines with Tour features. I know Outside Mag had a decent Tour preview last year, good for beginners (described the different colored jerseys, etc.). Velo-News has a good one for this year also, but designed for the more knowledgeable crowd. Find a good Barnes and Noble and spend the $6-$7, it’s worth it.
Kevin
Deckdrain, Check out the following:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/ You can follow each stage here live if you are not near a TV or OLN.
Look on the left hand side going down the page and you will see Major Races and the TdF 2005 right under that heading. There you will find: Complete stage maps & profiles, Tour preview, Start list, Stages, Mtn stages, News, Route preview, Reactions, Map, FAQ, Tour History, 2004 Tour .
The official Tdf 2005 guide can be found at Velogear and probably at your LBS as well:
http://store.velogear.com/20vetodefrgu1.html
As for tactics and what not; Phil and Paul do a pretty good job explaining this on the OLN coverage as they get a lot of new people to the sport watching during the Tour. You will also see most stages discussed here on the forum so you might learn a lot here. Don’t be shy on asking questions if you see something that you don’t understand. Good Luck.
I think Bob Roll wrote a Tour de France for Dummies-type book. Look for that.
FAQ http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/tour05/?id=FAQ
Mountain Stages http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/tour05/?id=mountains
All Stages(note TT on Stage 1 and 20, TTT stage 4)
www.cyclingnews.com is the best.
The official Tour site too:
http://www.letour.fr/2005/TDF/LIVE/us/-10000/r1_avantcourse.html
There is a link to rules and another to Tour history.
clm
Deckdrain,
as well as the great stuff at cyclingnews.com, you could always ask some of the coaches at cyclingnews (myself included) or at this forum if you have a specific question – i’m sure there’s some knowledgeable people here who can help answer your query. Or at a cycling specific forum.
cheers
ric
Is this the one that is being sold at Velo?
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=OD3MpbPBlf&isbn=076113798X&itm=3
looking to go somewhere where I can pick it up since it will hard to get it by saturday if I do delivery
Not to make it too simple, but there is a children’s book: Tour of the Forest Bike Race: A Guide to Bicycle Racing and the Tour De France
by H.E. Thomson
I’ve shared this with friends who don’t quite get it. It might be out of print, but your local library might have it. Amazon only has used sellers with no cover photo.