Watch Le Tour in HD

After the latest Spokesmen podcast was recorded for your aural pleasure, I found out something I would have raved about.

Eurosport’s Tour de France coverage is now available in High Definition.

In the UK, the new Eurosport HD service is available on channel 412. Of course, you’ll need a Sky+ HD box and a HD telly. The service isn’t yet flagged from the HD section of Sky’s listings but tapping in the number (not something I’ve done before) gets you straight in.

And, boy, what a difference it makes. Remember the chopper shots of knights on horseback at the end of yesterday’s stage, prancing all over the imposing Foix castle? In HD, you could count every link of chainmail.

Pro cyclists are clothes horses, flogging their sponsors to all who watch. And now these sponsor logos are so legible you wouldn’t believe. No longer do you have to squint to jot down the Cofidis telephone number. In HD it just pops out of the screen.

So clear are the pictures you can even spot the phials of EPO in the jersey pockets of the Spanish riders. Incredible.