There seems very little interest in North America for the Tour de France. Since Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis, the Tour de France has very little mention in the American sports pages and sport sites.

However, if you follow cycling and want to keep up with the Tour de France, Google is tracking the event:

“…Google has released street-level images of the Tour de France 2008 route as part of its Street View feature, giving followers of one of the world’s greatest sporting events the opportunity to see the same scenery as their favourite cyclists.”

link: Google launches virtual Tour de France map

There is just an enormous contrast between coverage of this sporting event. In North America, most sports fans would be hard pressed to name even one participant in this year Tour de France. Meanwhile, in Europe, these athletes are national sports heroes and international celebrities. Kudos to Google for focusing on this international event.

Catherine Forsythe