Anyone know if it will be available in HD?

Doubtful. OLN broadcasts the tour in Canada and they don't have a HD channel.

There won't be any English HD coverage, there may be French HD coverage, I seem to remember a French channel providing HD coverage last year. It may have only been available on Videotron and maybe Bell, I can't remember. CBS will have a 1 hour highlight show after the final stage which will be in HD. I am hopeful that once the new Sportsnet channel launches, the Tour de France will end up on it next year, which would mean HD coverage.

Here (http://www.versus.com/blogs/2010-cycling-events/tour-de-france-tv-schedule/) is the Versus schedule, OLN will be airing live coverage at the same times. Tape delayed coverage may differ a bit.

Just like before, I'll probably end up watching live streams over the internet.

OLN will be airing live coverage at the same times. Tape delayed coverage may differ a bit

As far as I can tell, there will be NO taped coverage on OLN this year, no evening show. Of course, you'd be hard-pressed to know this for sure, as there is no sign of the Tour anywhere on the front page of OLN's website. When you click on Schedule, you find the live broadcast at its appropriate times, but if you click on that, you get a page that says "Show does not exist."

It appears the Tour has become OLN's unwanted bastard stepchild, and they just want to get through it as cheaply as possible.

I remember seven or eight years ago being able to watch the Tour almost continuously through the day on OLN; the live show in the morning, repeated right afterward, then the evening show. I never had to use my remote during July because the tuner was always on OLN.

Don't get me started how OLN has declined to pick up VERSUS' Cyclism Sundays to build the audience for pro cycle racing; casual Canadian viewers could be excused if they wonder what pro cyclists do the other 11 months of the year as the only race we get is Le Tour.

And the lack of HD is ridiculous. Surely if there was a will, there would be a way for OLN to make an arrangement to throw the HD broadcast over to Sportsnet; it's not like we need to see the umpteenth replay of Connected at 5:30 in the morning PDT.

I wish I could share your hope that the Tour in HD might find a home on a new national incarnation of Sportsnet, but given Rogers' shabby disregard for one of its few marquee sporting properties I don't have much confidence; North American sports stations can't really see past their obsession with stick-and-ball sports. I hope I'm wrong. I'd love to be able to see the Giro, the Vuelta and the Spring Classics on tv as well. Searching for Euro feeds and torrents on the web is very wearying and time-consuming.

It appears the Tour has become OLN's unwanted bastard stepchild, and they just want to get through it as cheaply as possible.

The only time I ever even think of watching OLN is during the Tour - and I only watch a bit of it during the night time packaged replay. I assumed the Tour was the channel's biggest event of the year. Curious to know what else OLN has on I just tried to find it (I have Shaw Direct) but couldn't. I went through the 500s but couldn't find anything called OLN. I can't access the Shaw Direct website at the moment so I'm now wondering if I still have the channel. A (very) quick check of the OLN website turned up nothing about where to find it on Shaw Direct.

OK, it turns out OLN is in the 400s, ie with the sports channels. Going through their schedule it doesn't look like a sports channel to me.

I wish I could share your hope that the Tour in HD might find a home on a new national incarnation of Sportsnet, but given Rogers' shabby disregard for one of its few marquee sporting properties I don't have much confidence; North American sports stations can't really see past their obsession with stick-and-ball sports. I hope I'm wrong. I'd love to be able to see the Giro, the Vuelta and the Spring Classics on tv as well. Searching for Euro feeds and torrents on the web is very wearying and time-consuming.

Ditto!

I guess we'll have internet HD coverage of these tours before any of the north american sports stations cover them.

So will any of you be trying to watch the TDF online this year? Shaw wants to charge me $11 for Tier2 when all I really want is OLN so I can watch the TDF in SD (yuck!) so I think I'll try the online route this year. Any suggestions?

The Giro and Vuelta are available on Universal Sports in the US, which is availble OTA as a digital subchannel in many cities including Buffalo and Seattle (and as a result Toronto and Vancouver).

It looks like Nels was right - I see from the TV listings that OLN is only showing the Tour de France once per day on weekdays (twice on weekends), so you have to record it in the morning if you can't watch it live. I always preferred the first broadcast anyway, as I can't stand the American guy (Bob Roll) who did all of the added commentary in the rebroadcasts. I just want to hear Phil and Paul do their thing.

I noticed too that they only have the live show this year. Its the only time of year that I watch OLN (other than the Departures TV show)

Wish we had it in HD :P

I too prefer Phil & Paul, so that is the broadcast I record anyways. I would tune in on ocassion to the evening rebroadcast though for the extra features.

So I was watching the Tour de France on OLN this morning when I noticed a little 'A' button icon on the screen....so I pressed the 'A' button and up came all of this information on the screen. Things like the history of the race, and which riders and riding for which teams...handy stuff really.

I wonder if this is a sign of things to come from Rogers....where the A button does a little more than just get us into On Demand content....

It is advertized in the commercials for live broadcast. I tried pressing the A when I was watching my PVR this afternoon and nothing happened. ;)

Very weird race today with all the crashes and the "protest" at the end. It'll be interesting to see if anything changes by tomorrow.

So I was watching the Tour de France on OLN this morning when I noticed a little 'A' button icon on the screen....so I pressed the 'A' button and up came all of this information on the screen. Things like the history of the race, and which riders and riding for which teams...handy stuff really.

I wonder if this is a sign of things to come from Rogers....where the A button does a little more than just get us into On Demand content....
I noticed this too, and as an ex-pat of the UK who's used to Sky Digital and its "red button" service, I won't pretend that I didn't get a little excited.

Was of course immediately let down and had to laugh in embarrassment for Rogers as it doesn't compare.

Not to derail, but does any North American digital service have anything that compares? To think Sky Digital and its red button service is over 10 years old, and digital cable is only just dipping its foot in the interactive layer pond is insanely laughable.

Enjoyed watching the race today. Big day for Canadians...

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2010/07/06/sp-tourdefrance.html?ref=rss

It was a great day for Victoria's Ryder Hesjedal...

Several riders had to really dig deep after punctures or mechanical failures. I thought Armstrong's ride to get back precious minutes after a puncture was especially noteworthy - a lot of work done by Popovych, but Armstrong had to leave Popo as he rode solo to bridge a huge gap.

Thanks, 57. I couldn't watch today, and it sounds like I missed a good stage! Was anything mentioned about the finish line "protest" yesterday?

Nothing happened due to the "protest". I guess most agreed it was OK and meant to keep the best riders all together.

However, when people punctured or had mechanical issues today, it was every man for himself, unlike what we've seen in the mountains where the leaders will most often wait if a contender flats or falls, out of courtesy.

Another link. http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5juzyA1ALedcRRUV2J8yinnHHfy0Q

Didn't get to see today's stage because I wasn't home all day and I was catching up on the World Cup tonight. I wish I had have saw it though. Hesjedal is a pretty good cyclist, wasn't he at the front for a while at the 2008 Olympics too, before he faded?

Hesjedal is a pretty good cyclist

I don't think we've heard the last from Ryder this Tour. He showed tremendous resolve and fortitude to stick with that elite group once they caught him, and he even tried to break for the win just after the red kite. Awesome ride!

And don't forget, he's very good in the mountains; he won a mountain stage in last year's Vuelta.

Today's stage was absolutely epic, surpassed by only Stage 7 of this year's Giro in the mud of the Strade bianche. Chapeaux to the organizers for throwing a Classics wrench into the "sprinters' week" of Le Tour!