Post-Armstrong Tour Braces for Ratings Hit

The Tour de France might be the most demanding, unforgiving and physically exhausting grind in all of sports.

And it’s tough on the riders too.

For cable network OLN, which starting Saturday will televise cycling’s most famous race for the sixth consecutive year, bringing the Tour de France into U.S. homes requires a virtual army of tireless men and women.

“One of our executive producers said it’s like setting up and tearing down a Super Bowl every day for 23 days,” OLN President Gavin Harvey said Thursday in a telephone interview. “It’s pretty much an all-consuming event for us.”

This year’s race, which runs through July 23, will be different than the most recent, of course. Lance Armstrong surrendered the yellow jersey and retired from racing last summer after winning the Tour de France for the seventh consecutive year.

The question this year is not, Will Lance win again?

It’s, Will Americans still watch?

“We could see significant viewer drop-off,” Harvey said. “The real question is how many Lance fans did we convert to Tour fans? We know that a tremendous amount of people came in because of Lance’s story, people who really didn’t know anything about cycling but sort of got hooked.

“Some people will stay and some people won’t. The ultimate question is, how many Lance fans will stay? We’ll find that out.”

Three U.S. riders -- George Hincapie, Floyd Landis and Levi Leipheimer -- are expected to be strong challengers this year, but the favorites are Ivan Basso of Italy, runner-up to Armstrong last July, and Jan Ullrich of Germany, who won as a 23-year-old in 1997 and three times was runner-up to Armstrong.

“I think we’re going to see a superb race,” OLN announcer Phil Liggett, who will be working his 34th Tour de France, said in a conference call this week.

Armstrong’s voice will be heard during OLN’s 300 hours of race coverage, of which about 75 will be live and about 70 in primetime. Through a series of pretaped “Lance On” sound bites, the Texan will offer his thoughts relevant to that stage or situation in the race.

Another former cyclist, Paul Sherwen, will provide commentary, joining his fellow Brit Liggett in the announcers’ booth for their 21st Tour together.

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An ESPN spokesman said that the network would not replace baseball analyst Peter Gammons, who underwent surgery Wednesday for a brain aneurysm.

“Peter is obviously a one-of-a-kind personality and has a longstanding connection with our fans,” Josh Krulewitz, ESPN vice president of public relations, said of the 61-year-old broadcaster and longtime Boston Globe reporter. “You can’t replace Peter Gammons, so we’re not efforting to.

“Obviously, we have a number of other baseball commentators that provide different things, but nobody can provide what Peter does. ...

“We anxiously await his return.”

Gammons was “resting comfortably” after surgery, his wife Gloria said Wednesday in a statement, asking fans to respect the family’s privacy.

Larry Stewart is on vacation.