More required Tour reading

For those of us desk-bound during Le Tour reading about the race is about as good as it gets during the day. Fortunately, there's a ton of excellent writing out there. I've already mentioned Martin Dugard's blog and here's some more good stuff to get you through the day.

Sam Abt has a nice Tour piece most days in the International Herald Tribune.

Check out this colorful commentary on the Tour and L'Etape du Tour from former pro Paul Kimmage.

And, as always, the cyclingnews.com live updates are always well written and entertaining.

Here's an excerpt from this morning:

13:17 CEST 67km/120km to go
Brard leads the peloton, resplendent in his tricolore French champion's jersey. Leader Pereiro is in fourth wheel, with the long mullet of Vladimir Karpets flowing in the wind behind him.

That's good shit.

Enjoy today's stage to L'Alpe d'Huez. It's a cool place...really a mecca for cyclists, both road and mountain bike. We were there in 2004 and here's a look back at our experience.