What's to become of Only Lance Network when Lance retires?

The impact on the leading cyclists in next year's Tour will be huge. But the effect on OLN and US cycling viewers could be bigger.

The Armstrong story has driven OLN coverage for years. As sick as we might be of the continuous references to Armstrong, it's a small price to pay for live and rebroadcast coverage of the Tour nearly around the clock.

What's going to happen when Armstrong doesn't compete next year? Will enough noncycling enthusiasts want to tune in to make it worthwhile to for OLN to provide coverage?

In 2004, the network averaged 99,000 viewers a day on an average weekend. During the Tour, that shot up to 1.4 million, according to an article in the San Jose Mercury News (registration required).

Apparently OLN won't be getting out of the Tour de France business. The network, owned by cable giant Comcast, has built up a loyal following of outdoor-sports viewers to match its fishing and hunting crowd.

“Nobody's going to panic if the audience for the Tour shrinks next year,” OLN president Gavin Harvey told the newspaper. Also, he said OLN is hoping that their coverage of Armstrong has created many cycling fans who will tune in next year.

I'm just worried how much coverage we'll get. For the past couple of years, OLN has broadcast both the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta d'Espana live in the mornings.

Not any more. Even with the increase in its cycling audiences, OLN has relegated its coverage of those 3-week stage races to taped “Cyclysm” broadcasts on weekend afternoons.

Sure, we get the highlights, but we miss the day-in and day-out rolling soap opera of a three-week Tour. In years' past, viewers could get a could get the feel of stage racing without the commentators' obsession with Armstrong.