[NOTE: This file now has “live tracking” of the race. Read more.]
Last year, shortly after Google Earth was released, a bunch of Tour de France (TdF) fans in the Google Earth Community (GEC) put up the complete route of the 2005 TdF. The race was still going on while they were completing it. This year, the complete TdF 2006 course 
has already been mapped in Google Earth well ahead of the July 1st start (see the official TdF 2006 web site). It’s a network link, so any refinements will get updated automatically, so save it in your “My Places” if you plan to follow the race. Once it loads, you will just see the tracks for each stage. For more details open up the folder and turn on each stage’s detailed placemarks showing the checkpoints. You can check out the satellite photos, but more importantly make sure you use the pan/tilt features in GE so you can see the mountains they go through. Thanks to ‘lucifer666’ at the GEC, who also did the Volvo Ocean Race network link.
Read other interesting Google Earth stories in the following categories: 3D Models, Flying, Sailing, Science, Sightseeing, Sports, Tips, and more.
About Frank Taylor
Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.
This is sure easier than trying to find the different spots in the Giro d’Italia.
Good link, and a lot better than my attempt last year.
great link – i recently became hooked on google earth, i find it utterly fascinating – that’s how i found this site in the first place. i still can’t believe how accurate the technology is, that i can track the tour de france from my office. (it’s even more amazing that my boyfriend tells me Google Earth gets its data from Tele Atlas, the same company that makes the map for the GPS in his car! No wonder he’s gotten lost a lot less since he got that thing.) Wow!
Hey Cindy…LOL! Very funny comment about your boyfriend getting lost a lot less since he got a GPS.
🙂
Here some information obaut how the route for this year Tour de France where created.
The core information is published of the site http://www.letour.fr.
That is basically a long list of cities, villages and road crossings. there is also an information on which road they are on. (Well all in French but thats how i grew up
GREAT stuff! It will make watching Le Tour this year a lot more fun!
Question: Since the tour organizers publish the “crossing times” of the riders based on a range of speeds, is there any way to S-L-O-W the “Play Tour” speed down to the cycling speeds so that it would move/track (aprox.) as the riders did?
Cool, I’ve added a Google Earth TdF link to our Tour de France dashboard/summary page: http://www.steephill.tv/2006/tour-de-france/
OMG This is glorious! You guys are my heroes!
Is there a way to see the profile of each race? Maybe attach a PNG as a photo for each stage?
I wish we could do a flying tour of each stage at an 80 degree camera angle, following the course, following the touring directions you created. But when I try, I get the straight down 0 degree view.
It would also be nice if we could get an elevation profile we could play with.
Thanks for creating this!
tOM
superb and well done for all the hard work.
But, and I dont mean to be critical, why is the route about 300 yards or so out (your route seems to be about 300 yards to the East of where the roads etc are shown on GE)
Just wanted to say this is amazing!!
What an amazing day today (07/20)!!! How incredible to also view it through the googleearth tool, who could have thought it possible. I just have to say also today was perhaps the most amazing single day in cycling history. I already found t-shirts celebrating the Floyd Landis 2006 17th Tour de France legendary ride – http://www.cafepress.com/car_roof_racks/1652029
Great link – thanks for sharing!
Don’t forgett that it was a Norwegian who won the race today as well then:-)
When you Google Earth in any spot, one does see what a great place this is to live compared to , oh say, the moon or mercury. Water, wind, moderate temps, clouds, sweetgrass, rivers and trees. Amazing lifeforms in a good way which often would exlude the hairless apes that spend most of their timing tormenting other hairless apes out of their money.
MapMyRide.com has all the 2007 Tour de France Stages loaded. You can view using the street/hybrid views, or you can d/l the stages into Google Earth.
http://www.mapmyride.com/tour_de_france
le tour de france is sorta broing:P
Yes, Google Earth is great and seeing the Tour de France in it is really good. I don’t do the long rides, but seeing it like that makes me want to ride the course myself 🙂
What more do you know about map my ride? I have heard a little about it and I am heading out to Salt Lake City Utah in April for the FrontRunner Century Bicycle Ride and I was thinking of using it on my bicycle ride. This will be my 4th century bicycle ride that I have ever done and the FrontRunner Century looks easy and I get o go on a vacation. Have you heard of that ride http://www.frontrunnercentury.com
What kind of merchandise does google earth have? I would really be excited about some custom license plate frames, or even just bumper stickers.