It is really a treat to be a cycling fan in America these days. As little as 4 years ago it was hard to get any coverage on TV other than a weekly melodrama that CBS or NBC would air giving you 30 minutes of coverage for an entire week of racing – and that includes the boring “story” pieces.

These days courtesy of OLN and the popularity of cycling thanks to Armstrong you can get a full, heaping plate full of Tour de France coverage. Simply put, it’s awesome.

Today the business of the 2004 Tour de France got underway. It was a nail biting prologue with Lance putting seconds into his biggest rival Jan Ullrich. However, he didn’t take the prologue. Instead that was courtesy of a 23 year old rider from Switzerland named Cancellara in his first tour. He was in tears as he realized he would be wearing the yellow jersey on the first road stage of the biggest bike race in the world.

The excitement of the Tour is now on and it’s so fun to watch. This year has a special tone since in only 14 short days Tammy and I will be there on our vacation watching the action go down as the race goes into the high mountains.