It is a much shorter race than the TdF but, It is a step forward. IIRC it is only one leg of the traditional tour.
I would love to get into cycling, I have a Raleigh Mojave, but that is more of a hybrid bike how I have it setup. I know I could never get to the high end level, but I swear that Schwinn Varisty at the pawn shop a few miles away is callying my name (and filling me with nostalgia for my Schwinn World Tour), I don't care if it is heavy, or that the indexing is off, I have some stem mount friction shifters just dying to go on that thing. Of course it would suit my level of performance lots more than those $3K carbon fibre bikes down at the bike shop lol