A case of surviving the treacherous cobbled roads - so far in the Tour De France

It is difficult to imagine how a sport as visually and monotonously boring as cycling can capture excitement on the shores of the UK. Well it certainly has got my eyes peeling and certainly a good few others, as British success in the track format and outdoor racing has led for further coverage by press and broadcast media.

ITV4 stretched its daily coverage of the Tour De France to live programming as well as its traditional highlights slot, good for people on freeview. Thus far, the Tour, the most prestigious competition in cycling, has seen a number of crashes, main contenders faltering, even in flat stages, and a British champion in serious contention in the main (general) classification. Whilst renown veterans like Cadel Evans or Lance Armstrong are struggling to assert themselves in the peleton, younger and fresher talent will look to get in front of the pack.

The trend from the last couple of Tours - your Alberto Contadors, Bradley Wiggins's, Andy Schlecks, Mark Cavendish and this year's emergence onto the big scene Sky's Hagen Boasson and Geraint Thomas, have given the event a tremendous spectacle. These are explosive, powerful riders, and to see these soon-to-be household names of the sport jossling for the Yellow Jersey - the highest prize given - is liberating. Contador has won the Tour the last two times he has graced the surfaces of French terrain.

Partner these combatants with usual suspects Thor Hushovd, Armstrong, Evans, Petacchi, Cancellara, Alexandre Vinokourov, Andreas Kloden, then this year's Tour should be an excitingly close affair.

So what has the stages been like so far? Being an armchair viewer, even if the television cameras are giving audiences the coverage around the peleton, in front of it or behind, it is qute difficult for the less informed to know what's happening. Easily understandable. When Cavendish is sprinting for a stage victory, why does he need three of his teammates in front of him? Can't they go for glory themselves? Why isn't Contador or Armstrong not at the front usually? But bike racing has always been about strategy and attacking at different points of the race to destroy your opponents. That is more likely to be seen on the mountainous stages. Stages usually get very intriguing with around 20km left. I usually watch it at that point, maybe slightly earlier.

At the early stages, GC contenders have been trying to limit their losses over their rivals. The race has been concertinaed to some extent: yesterday's cobbled stage, the most intriguing stage some people will probably ever watch, saw Armstrong, Contador and Andy Schleck's brother Frank, have serious problems. Amstrong and Frank fell off, with the latter declaring retirement from the race. Armstrong had to recover his time losses from his main rival Contador, who also suffered with a tyre deflation just metres from the Stage 3 finish. Other serious contenders like Evans and Wiggins, and particularly Andy Schleck, capitalised on their misfortunes by being at the front end of the race.

The race stands with Cancellara leading from Great Britain national champion Thomas. Don't expect Swiss' Cancellara to hold Yellow for too long, as when the riders reach the Alps, things do change dramatically. The contenders for the Green Jersey, particularly Hushovd, Petacchi and Isle of Man's Caverdish, won't need to worry about finishing the moutain stages in double quick time. They are concentrating on the flat stages, where they can maximise their speed in much less arduous conditions. It is all about picking up points in various sections in stages, something Hushovd is renown for doing so well as he tends to hoover up sprint points that Caverdish seems too lax to contend. This is until the finish line where Caverdish always performs, and where he can collect the most number of points, but sometimes that just isn't enough: Caverdish won six stages last year, but still lost out to the Norwegian, who only had won one stage.

Bring on the action...