MAIN Recreation Sports Tour de France 2010

In 2010, watch for 97th Tour de France kicking off on July 3 and continuing on for 21 stages to the Champs-Elysees Paris finish on July 25, 2010.

Among Tour de France firsts this year include a bigger field of rivals, with a route that puts less emphasis on mountain top finishes and time trials.

Starting in Rotterdam, Holland and cross Belgium and France, the world's most famous bicycle race ends with the traditional Paris finish after covering almost 3,600 kilometres.

Tour de France on TV

In the U.S., cable channel Versus provides live coverage, while Canadians can tune into TSN.

Across the pond, Eurosport covers the race from start to finish, while in Australia live coverage and next-day highlights are featured on SBS.

Tour de France 2009 Winner

The Spanish flag continued to fly over the Champs-Elysee as Alberto Contador emerged the strongest rider throughout the race to take the win — following similar triumphs for fellow-Spaniards Oscar Pereiro in 2006, Contador in 2007 and Carlos Sastre in 2008.

Coming in second overall was Norway's Thor Hushovd and in third was the USA's seven-time Tour de France champion, Lance Armstrong. At 37, Armstrong became the second-oldest rider to place in the top three overall, behind Raymond Poulidor of France, who was 40 when he finished third in 1976.

Tour de France around the Web

Elsewhere on the Web, get the complete picture of the 97th annual Tour de France in 2010 with video presentations, photos, up-to-the-minute blog reports and more on Tour de France stats, records and history ...

Tour de France 2010 - The complete route map, news flashes in real time, plus updated classifications, positions, gaps between the riders, video and photos of the competition. In English and French.

2010 Tour de France Live Dashboard - A treasure trove of online information on the route, stages, teams, photos and worldwide TV schedules.

BBC Sport | Cycling - Complete news coverage including feature articles, video clips, photos, a complete rider list, rider and team profiles, and a Tour de France Guide to Bikes.

Yahoo! Sports - Cycling - The lastest Tour de France news off the wires of AP, Reuters, and more plus feature stories, photo gallery.

Bicycling.com - The cyber version of the print publication with feature articles, special Tour de France coverage along with the latest updates, standings & photos, plus more on general cycling tips, online forum, related links.

also see in Recreation -> Biking

also see -> Sport Cycling | Olympic Cycling