• by Wayne Friedman , June 29, 2011

NBC Sports is looking to raise the digital profile for Versus's Tour de France coverage, which starts this weekend. Under a new brand, "Tour de France All Access," sponsored overall by Radio Shack, consumers can watch all the 21 event stages live on their laptops or mobile devices.  

They will also get a number of new elements -- including a more intensive GPS tracking of major riders, interactive maps of the stages, and video highlights.

For the first time, each live stage allows consumers to have full DVR function capability -- the ability to pause, rewind and slow-mo images. The site will use the Microsoft Silverlight video player.

NBCSports.com took over Versus.com earlier this year as part of Comcast acquiring NBC Universal.

"NBCSports.com has considerably more traffic than Versus.com; we wanted to bring this to as many people as possible," said Tom Seeley, coordinating producer for NBC Sports.com. The hope is to extend the digital sports product to more users by including mobile apps for iPad and Android mobile devices.

Last year Versus claimed major success for its "Versus Tour Tracker" -- pulling in 26,000 subscribers for online viewers, and 15,000 iPhones apps for the three-week cycling event.

The "Tour de France All Access" follows NBC's digital brand extension of previous sports, including "Sunday Night Football All Access" and "Kentucky Derby All Access." Retail price is $29.95 for online access of the Tour and $14.95 for the mobile app -- for iPhone, iPad or Android mobile devices.

Seeley says Radio Shack will get major display messaging on the "Tour de France All Access" site, as well as key billboard messaging during the live video stages. Although he did not go into further advertising details, he said the commercial load on Tour de France All Access will be less than the traditional TV airing on the Versus cable network.

Radio Shack also sponsors a Pro Tour team that is competing in the Tour; it started last year with seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. Radio Shack is one of four American-based teams to compete in the Tour, which also include Garmin-Cervelo, HTC-Highroad, and BMC.

In addition to Radio Shack, other online event sponsors for "All Access" include Aquaphor, Travelers and Izod.

Healing ointment maker Aquaphor will promote the Aquaphor Le Tour Challenge (along with personal fitness site, MapMyRide) where users can ride their bikes on any given day of the Tour de France to see how they compare to the pros and other cyclists.

Travelers is backing a Travelers Fantasy Cycling Challenge, where users select their own team of cyclists and compete with others for prizes. Apparel maker Izod is sponsoring the Izod Race for the Podium Watch & Win Sweepstakes, where an on-air code word gives viewers a chance to win a trip to the 2012 Tour de France and Cervelo Bikes.

The NBC network, for the first time, will be broadcasting coverage of first two stages of the bike race on July 2 and 3. Versus will do its usual wall-to-wall coverage of the event -- airing 14 hours a day of coverage -- including live coverage from July 2 through July 24th.