Definitely one of the better Tour's so far. Even the flat stages have been somewhat interesting and really love the fact that the GC's were at it on both stage 2 and 5. The Contador v Nibali showdown on the last little kicker yesterday was a great taste of things to come, most likely tomorrow. No doubt Astana is glad to have the Yellow of its back so they can hang back a bit. And wtf with the Americans hitting the pavement? Stay on your bike!
And damn did Saxo push it yesterday -- I don't think they're concerned about trying to catch Nibali all at once, they just want to clear the deck of the other GC guys so they don't have to constantly be marking other riders and chasing down attacks. So I suspect tomorrow we'll see them really push it to open up some time gaps.
I don't know if anyone else watched the post-race coverage on NBCSN but Van De Velde remarked that tomorrow is going to brutal not only because of the mountains, but that it's already stage 9 and the day before rest day. The rider from Giant-Shimano was up there and echoed that sentiment, saying many of the guys in the peleton are already basically pedaling squares so tomorrow could be quite dangerous for a lot of guys.
btw, best way to watch? DVR the coverage in the morning so you can fast forward the commercials. Other than that, no complaints with NBCSN's coverage and they've drastically improved since even a few years ago. Rarely does the picture break up, lots of great interviews and insights with multiple riders and team managers, airing 7 of the 9 stages from the depart, and tracking down riders once the stage finishes. Much better than having to stream Eurosport....
this is a really great piece on how the tour is broadcast:
http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/07/eyes-in-the-sky-how-the-tour-de-france-is-broadcast-to-the-world/