NBC Sports to Present Live Coverage of 103rd TOUR DE FRANCE, Beg. 72

NBC Sports Group will present more than 250 hours of live, primetime, and encore coverage of the 103rd Tour de France, the world's most prestigious and grueling cycling race, across NBC, NBCSN, NBCSports.com, and the NBC Sports Gold and NBC Sports apps. Daily live coverage of the Tour de France, including all 21 stages, begins this Saturday, July 2, at 6 a.m. ET with the Tour de France Pre-Race Show, followed by Stage 1 at 6:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN. Coverage continues each week night with the Tour Primetime show featuring a look at the day's most compelling action with new analysis, interviews, and updates. Coverage culminates with the final stage on Sunday, July 24, at 10 a.m. ET on NBCSN.

The 2016 Tour de France will cover a total distance of more than 2,000 miles, and will visit three neighboring countries - Spain, the Principality of Andorra and Switzerland. Great Britain's Chris Froome (Team Sky) returns to defend his 2015 title and makes a run at a third career victory. Froome enters the race coming off a win in the Criterium du Dauphine earlier this month. His challengers include Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) of Spain, who is also looking for his third career Tour de France victory, and Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) of Colombia, who looks for his first Tour de France title after finishing second to Froome in 2013 and 2015. Richie Porte of Australia and American Tejay van Garderen lead BMC Racing Team, and are also contenders.

Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, the voices of cycling, will call the race action for NBC Sports Group's coverage. The 103rd Tour de France marks Liggett and Sherwen's 31st year calling the race together. Liggett and Sherwen will be joined in France by former professional cyclists and analysts Christian Vande Velde and Jens Voigt. Voigt won the Critérium International a record five times. He also has two Tour de France stage wins. Paul Burmeister and Todd Harris will combine to host daily pre-race and primetime studio coverage, along with analyst Bob Roll. Steve Schlanger, Jenna Corrado and Steve Porino ('Inside-the-Race') will serve as reporters.