The 2014 Tour de France has arrived, welcoming in the month of July as it has for over 100 years.

For me personally, I’ve only been following the Tour since the likes of Greg Lemond and Lance Armstrong raced. Back then it wasn’t easy to follow even though Americans were competing and winning.

Now it is incredibly easy to watch. There are hours and hours of live televised coverage available and even more of written coverage, commentary, and analysis of each day’s stage plus all the inherent behind-the-scenes talk and speculation about the riders and the race.

High drama.

For the last 4 years I’ve written my own daily analysis of the Tour: the 2010 comeback Tour for Armstrong, the incredibly exciting 2011 Tour, the incredibly dull 2012 Tour and the disappointing but less dull 2013 Tour.

Although I hadn’t planned to blog about the 2014 Tour de France, here I am.