2003 was a special year for the Tour de France. Celebrating the centenary of one of the world’s great ever sporting events, this year’s tour – a battle over 3,427.5 kilometres, 23 days, and 20 stages – was one of the most closely fought races in recent history. Packed with dramatic crashes and nail biting suspense, it was a year in which the dominance of one Lance Armstrong, road cycling’s tour-de-force, was sorely tested by his rivals; in particular German Jan Ullrich, hungry for another taste of Tour victory.

Dramatic events seemed to follow this centenary Tour at every turn. During the very first stage, a massive crash just metres from the finish marked many riders, including the stoic American Tyler Hamilton, who would go on to finish fourth despite a broken collarbone. While Armstrong was not directly involved in the crash, the following stages showed that this cycling machine was indeed beatable. Suddenly the peleton bustled with new hope and vigour and Armstrong suffered attack after attack on the early mountain stages. Indeed, with only six days remaining of the Tour, Armstrong commanded only a 15 second lead over Ulrich and had yet to win a stage; a situation that would have been unthinkable just 12 months ago. The following day, leading the race on the final climb to Luz Ardiden, Armstrong was brought down after getting caught up with a spectator. Tour etiquette dictated that Ulrich and the others slow down and wait for the leader to catch up, and this show of sportsmanship allowed the American to go on and win the stage, and eventually the Tour.

"I don't plan on being this vulnerable again next year, I really don't." – Lance Armstrong.

Other highlights include Armstrong’s amazing cross-country journey to narrowly avoid a crashed rider, Aussie Stuart O’Grady and Anthony Geslin’s early attack and 200-odd km leading ride on stage 6 (Nevers to Lyon) only to be caught by the peleton in a nail-biting finish. It was also a good Tour for other Australians competitors, with sprinter Robbie McEwen wearing the yellow jersey for the first three stages and losing the sprinter's green jersey to fellow Aussie Baden Cooke, in a dramatic, and highly controversial, final-stage sprint.

All these moments and more you will find on Le Tour De France - 2003 The Highlights. A production of SBS Sport, it represents a wonderful video document of the centenary Tour, and highly addictive viewing. Even weighing in at just under three hours in length, the excitement of each stage, presented end to end it from the Prologue on day 1 to the Champs-Elysees finish on day 23, will keep you glued to your seat for the duration. The ups, the downs, the suspense of it all - there really is no better way to watch the whole spectacle play out than in one long sequence. Presenting the best bits of each of the stage – an edited version of the highlights that aired on SBS during the Tour itself – the footage for each stage is book-ended by comments from Mike Tomalaris and interviews with the stage’s key participants; but never enough for the event to lose its momentum. For fans of cycling this really is a must-see release.

If you got the chance to watch any of the footage from the SBS broadcast of 2003’s Le Tour, then you will already know that the majority of the action - footage collected from the backs of motorbikes and helicopters – was of relatively poor quality. From the break-up of the feed with static and horizontal noise, to the temporary loss of signal and blurry, indistinct backgrounds filled with video grain, the full-frame image on offer for the majority of the coverage is exceedingly average. Often looking like something that’s been recorded on a ten year old VHS tape, the source material doesn’t even look like broadcast quality video. One can only wonder at this - just what equipment are those French telecasters using? Le Tour de France is one of the most popular, and certainly one the most scenically beautiful, sporting events in the world; it’s a crying shame given what could have been. Actually, an IMAX film crew apparently followed American rider Tyler Hamilton and his CSC teammates throughout the race. Now that will be a spectacular release when it finally reaches the screen!

Suffice to say that, despite this digital incarnation from the original source material, the 2003 Le Tour looks no better on my television than the actual telecast did. Detail is low, with anything from the middle distance back being lost in a haze of video noise, and all trace of shadow detail lost in seas of almost solid black. Colours, at least, are vivid and well balanced; filling the screen with the rainbow of riders' jerseys and, where appropriate, reasonably solid blacks (given the grain). The pre and post-race footage collected by the SBS team themselves is also infinitely better, with the interviews and commentary scrubbing up nicely indeed.

The sound, meanwhile, is a serviceable, effectively single-channel affair. Almost entirely comprised of Phil Ligget, Mike Tomalaris’ continuous commentary, the Dolby Digital stereo mix is routed almost exclusively through the centre channel.

In terms of the disc itself, subtly animated menus provide access to a stage index that is nicely laid out over a selectable map of France, but suffers from very clunky navigation mechanism. When selected, each stage lists its winner, and provides access to the stage and post-stage interview and awards footage. For extras, meanwhile, we have only one offering, some race facts - a one page summary of the types of stages that made up the 2003 tour and eight additional pages listing the final results in the yellow jersey competition. I can’t understand why the rest of the results weren’t included; they are sorely missed by their absence.

This exclusion aside, SBS’ release of Le Tour De France - 2003 The Highlights is a wonderful video document of the centenary tour and, despite less than impressive video quality, delivers all the excitement of the most closely fought Tour in recent history. As I mentioned above, it’s a definite must see for any cycling fan.