Conversation:

I once ran an online trivia game, the question one day being, "What single sporting event has the largest live (non-TV) audience?" I don't think anybody guessed the Tour de France, the correct answer. I live in Texas which has a few serious cyclists, e.g. Lance something, but I doubt that one person in a hundred knows much about the race.

It did inspire some great movies, e.g. "Breaking Away" '79, a funny coming of age movie with Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern. More recently, the French animation "Triplets of Belleville" '03 is a typically strange French creation, but very original and entertaining, IMHO. I even paid close to retail for the DVD (don't tell anybody ).

non-t.v audiene is growing as a huge ommunity world wide

Do you mean for the Tour de France? People going to see the race in person?