I am ridiculously excited about this coming weekend. It is this weekend that the Tour de France visits England for the first time since 1994, and only the third time in its history. On Saturday, London has the privilege of starting the Tour with the traditional prologue race, a 4.9 mile blast from Whitehall to Hyde Park and back to Buckingham Palace. Two of our home-grown riders have a really good chance of winning this – Bradley Wiggins and David Millar – and wearing the yellow jersey in the first stage proper.
The first stage takes the riders 126 miles from London to Canterbury. I will be based in Canterbury for the weekend where I hope to catch the inevitable frantic sprint finish.
If you’re anywhere near Kent on Sunday I urge you to check out the Stage 1 route – it winds its way from London through Gillingham, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and Ashford. I’ve seen the Tour de France pass before and the sense of anticipation and fun is amazing. Find a nice spot and wait for the entourage – the riders will take but a few seconds to go through, but ahead of the peleton there’s a huge carnival of colour and excitement. It’s forecast to be a sunny weekend (finally), so get yourselves outside and be a part of the greatest race on Earth.
soxiam wrote:
how do british cycling fans feel about david millar following his confessed doping and time served?
Rich wrote:
I don’t know about other cyclists, but those who follow the sport will know that Millar was hardly alone in his drug taking. As far as I’m concerned he’s served his punishment and claims to be competing without the aid of pharmaceuticals. On that basis I wish him well. Given a choice, though, I’d like to see Wiggins win the prologue.
Chris Gilbert wrote:
I’ve never been a big cycling fan before but I’m quite excited at the prospect of seeing the riders come right past my house!
I’ll be watching at around 10am.
Jim Amos wrote:
First of all, isn’t the race supposed to be by its very nomenclature an event that takes place only in France?
Secondly, something I’ve always wondered since I have never actually been a spectator – wouldn’t you just be standing there and see a bunch of people cycle past at 20mph and be gone in a matter of minutes? Like, how much of a spectator experience can you have in just a few minutes lol
I’ve just always been curious about that, same thing goes for rally driving too I suppose. Like, you’re standing there, a bunch of cars scream past and spray you with mud and then they’re gone – then it’s back to the beer tent I suppose!
Just wondering. What’s it actually like??
Rich wrote:
The Tour has been visiting neighbouring countries for many decades now – it’s good for France and it’s good for the advertisers.
You’d have to be on a particularly steep mountain stage for the bikes to be passing at a mere 20mph. Also, you’re lucky if they take minutes to pass. For the stage in Canterbury the bikes passed at 40mph and took about 30 seconds to do so!
That said it’s still a great day because of the atmosphere among the spectators, and the Tour caravanne takes about an hour to go past. The Guardian has a great report on watching a stage of the Tour.
Khushal wrote:
Tour De France ? but in England:P
I always though Tour De France was only in France;) j/k
Stay coool!