Dish Network's extensive programming in sports and related outdoor activities is well respected in the television arena. The Outdoor Life Network is one of the rising stars within the lineup of Dishnetwork's offerings. Their signature event?The Tour de France'is one of the main reasons for their increasing following. Also note that OLN will be changing their name later this year to Versus. The broad coverage of the Tour is anchored by four of the best commentators from the world of cycling: Al Trautwig, Bob Roll, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen. Both Roll and Sherwen are former riders in the most grueling event in sports, Trautwig is veteran broadcaster with decades of experience in covering over one hundred different sporting events, and Liggett is completing his third decade of covering the Tour de France. There is no more complete team working today. Lance Armstrong is not a member of the commentating team, but is regularly scheduled to talk about specific issues within the Tour itself, such as the team time trial, Eddy Merckx, and the strategies used on the road by the best teams. These small video clips offer excellent insight into cycling.

OLN (Outdoor Life Network) also covers many other cycling events, such as the Tour of Italy, and the very popular Paris?Roubaix. For sports fans, especially cycling fans in Europe, some cycling events are so important they are compared to the Super Bowl, the World Series, and the World Cup combined into one! These are rabid, fanatical fans!

Also of note about Outdoor Life Network, is that they will be changing their name later this year. OLN will be changing their name to Versus in the fall of this year. They will also launch four new television series, including one that concentrates on a Mako Shark fishing tournament.

The tour is always a completive race. The closest finish was Greg Lemond's when he won by only a spare 8 seconds. Lance Armstrong usually won (he won seven straight) in the range of four to six minutes ahead of his nearest competitor. Unfortunately, two of Lance's greatest rivals from previous years are not in this year's tour. Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso are not included in this year's tour. They were not permitted to start the race and under a cloud of suspicion of drug use. Although the naysayers and hater's of Lance continue to accuse him of using banned substances, the fact is that Lance passed hundreds, if not thousands of drug tests, and never tested positive for any banned substance. Dish Network will continue to carry Outdoor Life Network and it's stellar coverage of the biggest cycling event in the world of sports.