If NBC’s broadcast of the Tour de France isn’t making the three-week race must-see TV for you, there’s an online recap show that might be a perfect alternative.

It’s a podcast called “Stages,” and its host is a former Tour rider with years of experience in the race — and an intimate, insider’s knowledge of what unfolds behind the Tour’s closed doors. His analysis is informed and honest and sometimes witty. Often, it is self-deprecating, which might come as a surprise.

The host is Lance Armstrong.

That’s right, the best commentator about the Tour this year might be Armstrong, a hero turned pariah who, for years, denied doping and targeted anyone who accused him of it. But he’s not on the defensive anymore, at least during his audio and video podcasts. He has, at least in cycling terms, absolutely nothing to lose.

In 2012, Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour titles for doping and was barred for life from competing in Olympic sports. He admitted doping and lost his sponsors and his livelihood. But this summer, at 45, he took a giant step back into the public eye — and into his sport — by starting a podcast about this year’s Tour and agreeing to write an accompanying blog for Outside magazine.