So I was just watching part of this year's tour de France and I realized how much the event has fallen out of popularity. I mean when Lance Armstrong was biking it was something constantly featured on Sportscenter, and actually discussed as a real sporting event by people who would normally have no idea the race existed. It appears though that Lance essentially was the sport and that without him no one cares that the race is ongoing, let alone who might be doing well.

I think some of this was also caused by the fact that in the year following Lance's retirement, the winner of the race was stripped of his title for cheating, proving even more how difficult a feat it was for Lance to do what he did clean. Much like baseball this tarnished the reputation of the entire sport, yet unlike baseball Cycling never had much of a following to begin with and certainly didn't have new young "players" to hold the interest of those that may have watched the Tour in the past.

Basically I just noticed this recently and wondered if anyone else out there still watches the Tour or if it really has become a no-name event.