It's that time of year again.

If you follow my writing here, as I'm fairly certain pretty much no one does but there may be a few of you out there, you're probably asking yourself, "What the hell, July is almost half over and she hasn't said word one about the Tour de France?". To be fair, it was kind of a later start this year than usual. It's true though that I haven't been following cycling as much in the last couple months as I normally do. I got much more excited about the Classics this year than the Tours mostly because I was in Europe in the springtime and actually got to go to one of the best of the Spring Classics, the Paris-Roubaix. I didn't even watch the Giro (though I hear my favorite, Zabriskie, rode well even in the mountains which makes me happy). I am watching the Tour, of course, and I am excited about it, maybe even more than usual, or at least in different ways than usual.

If you watch the Tour in the US you probably watch it on Versus (formerly the Outdoor Life Network). They made a big deal, in their opening coverage, of the fact that there isn't a single former Tour winner in this year's pelleton. Landis is, of course, still awaiting the results of his doping case and therefore can't compete. Basso and Ulrich are both out voluntarily (retired) though under suspicion of doping. Last year, being the first post-Armstrong year, it was said that the field was wide open and anything could happen. I think that might, if possible, be even more true this year. Anything can happen.

What I love about the grand Tours is the drama. All sports are dramatic, of course because sporting events have built in conflict. Cycling though is especially dramatic and the cameras catch it all. In the Tours that drama is drawn out for three weeks, every day. You get to see partnerships made and broken and rivalries played out. I'll likely have more to say about the race itself when it gets into the mountains, but for now I'll just say that you really should watch the Tour de France. It's a good show.