Google Earth To View The Tour de France

It's the next best thing (or one of them) to being there.
The complete route of the 2006 Tour de France has been mapped in Google Earth. You can zoom in to the Paris finish or pan/tilt around the mountain roads. When the race starts in July, Google Earthers can track individual racers as they complete the daily stages.

Here's what you do: Go to this link and download a "network link" for your computer (Mac or PC) . Place that link in your existing Google Earth folder (if you've already downloaded the application). Once the link loads, you will see the route details for each stage.

According to Google Earther Frank Taylor:
"In the 2005 Tour de France there were some attempts to actually track some of the biker's in real-time using network links in GE. I hope we'll see more of that. Also, I was hoping someone will link to web cams at strategic points showing the racers."