NorthGeek

How to follow the Tour de France online

Today is the first rest day of the incomparable sports spectacle that is the Tour de France. If you haven’t already been watching this epic battle on the roads of France (and neighboring countries), between the colourful members of the peloton, and within the Astana team of race favourites Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador, now is your chance to get on the wagon leading up to the finish in Paris on July 26th.

Don’t have TV? Or want to know the best online resources across video sites, social media, and photography? Here is a list of the standout sources for live and on-the-ground coverage of this year’s magnificent Tour.

Streaming Video:
There’s nothing like the sights & sounds of the race. Watch the excellent US coverage of the Tour from Versus on Veetle.

Aggregator of news & videos:
SteepHill.TV is the best place to go for an up-to-date collection of news bits, videos, and streaming video links. If the Veetle stream goes down, try another one here, or even check out other international coverage, eg. Eurosport.

Cyclingfans.com also has a collection of news, video streams, and short video clips (as prompted by commenter Janet, below).

Text based ticker coverage:
VeloNews has a great live text feed, perfect for your mornings at work.

Twitter accounts:
Some of the racers are actively using Twitter, eg. @LanceArmstrong @LeviLeipheimer @bradwiggins @markrenshaw1 @ghincapie @mickrogers @ChristianVDV @andy_schleck @TheDPate . This is a great way to get an inside look into the riders and teams. These are the riders to follow, and Mashable has a list of other cycling Twitterers to follow.

However, you can also get some great on-the-ground coverage from @JulietMacur

and @TdFblog

Twitter search (the online forum of 2009):
Be sure to follow the Twitter group, aka search stream.

Maps:
Check out the interactive map of the Tour on Versus and stage maps on LeTour.fr’s route descriptions.

Bonus — bikes:
Check out their hot rides: the bikes of the 2009 Tour from Bicycling Magazine