I also wish the 'minor' sports were better known in America, and perhaps we are getting there....there is little space left on regular TV channels, though, after Basketball, football, baseball & hockey get through! OLN does show us some choices (as does ESPN, if you stay up till 3AM!)

as in all major sports, cycling is getting ambiguous about nationalities. An 'American' won the race, but NOT "America"...many riders from different countries made up professional teams, and they joked about the Aussie(McEwen) who now lives in Belgium being a Belgian if he won and an Aussie if he lost..*grin*. Guys from MANY countries performed well in that long race..three French riders did very well, as well as Germans, Spaniards, Italians, Brits, Dutch and others. (3rd place to Kazakstan!)

The only sour note for me, was those sprinters like Petacchi who rode just for a win or two and then quit...yeah, those mountains are work, but if that's all they can do, let 'em just enter sprint races...

ah, well, it was great fun watching, and I admire ANYONE who can ride a bike for 3 weeks that fast!