Tracking the Tour de France

It's all over save for the ceremonial ride into Paris tomorrow. I've been reading about the race in the New York Times (though the Guardian's liveblog is much better at describing the race). Yesterday's Times report on the 19th stage included a completely useless graphic (scroll down to the multimedia heading) showing the difference in placement after each stage among the riders the paper described as the top four riders, as if that's what the race is about. If you're at all interested in the tactics and strategy of this most complex sporting event, read this excellent article explaining how HTC-Highroad works to get its sprinter, Mark Cavendish, to the front and position him for all those stage wins.