Watch the 2011 Tour De France streaming live and the highlights

The 98th Tour De France goes from July 2 to July 24, 2011. Almost every stage exceeds 100 miles and there are only two days of rest (July 11 and 18) covering a grand total of 2,143 miles. 😮

The races tend to start around 8am EST (5am Pacific) and if you want to watch it live here are your options:

Free, live streaming options for the Tour De France 2011 in the US

FromSportCom.com has a streaming video that seems to work without country restrictions.

Sports-Livez.com also provides a stream when the tour is underway.

Watch the tour on your TV

The most commonly available option is the Versus channel if you have it available.  Versus (NBC) has exclusive rights to the TdF coverage so you won’t find it on ESPN.  Here is the TV Schedule for the Tour De France 2011 on Versus / NBC Sports

Photo/Video Recap and Highlights

And of course, if you just want to see the highlights, here are a couple good sources:

Excellent collection of photos with captions covering the race up until the first rest day

Video highlights of the wins and crashes from NBC Sports

YouTube channel containing helicopter shots of epic parts of the stages