The Tour de France starts today! Not that there is any way to watch it on TV here, but there are still some online sources to follow the race. This year promises to be a much more exciting race, with no 1 clear dominant favourite (eg, Lance Armstrong). Hopefully no more doping issues will mar the racing.

Here are some interesting figures taken from www.cyclingnews.com
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As one of the world's largest sporting events, the Tour de France boasts a huge impact and infrastructure. Here is a look at the numbers behind Le Grande Boucle:

4,500: accredited people (organization, teams, media, publicity caravan, service)
2,400: vehicles (including 200 vehicles in-race and 135 trucks in TV technical area at finish line)725: staff in Tour race organization
1,300: hotel beds reserved each night for Tour race organization and teams
189: professional riders in the Tour Peloton (21 teams of nine riders)
280: team staff members45: motorcycle patrolmen of the Garde Républicaine
10: policemen of the Tour permanent task force
23,000: police officers along the Tour roadside for traffic control
1700: accredited journalists, photographers, TV cameramen, consultants and producers
185: countries with TV coverage of the Tour
51: countries with live TV coverage of the Tour
4,500,000,000: people will view the Tour de France worldwide on TV
3,200: hours of total TV coverage
12,000,000: roadside spectators (81% French / 19% other)
15,000,000: free gifts handed out during the Tour de France
34: stage cities
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