At last year's Tour, in addition to enjoying so many days of fantastic racing, I met a handful of people who worked for Le Tour and there were 2 people in particular I was hoping to see again this year. Within minutes of my arrival at the sign on podium, Kevin and Gerry, my Dutch stars of the 2013 Tour, spotted me and hurried over to share sweaty hugs!
It rained all much of yesterday. It rained all night (this I know because I woke up half a dozen times, wondering “is it time to get up yet??”). But eventually the rain clouds passed and we had a dry sign on (mostly).
Also, security was good with these guys wandering around.
The emcees helped pass the hours with some entertaining chatter and some of the Tour sponsors did magic tricks to entertain the audience.
Monster crowds had been predicted, but this far surpassed anything I had imagined!
As the riders started to arrive at the sign on, I was ready to cheer on my favorites. Below: Andrew Talansky, photo bombed by Thomas Voeckler.
My bicycle sunglasses and maple leaf hand flag were a hit with the press and soon enough Fien and I had a steady stream of riders signing autographs for us. At one point I even had to ask Adam Hansen to wait to sign the calendar as his teammate Bart De Clercq was already using my marker to sign my shirt! Lucky for me, Adam is a patient guy.
I've taken it upon myself to keep Ted King well stocked in maple syrup products and so he was excited to receive a box of maple syrup cookies this morning.
Svein Tuft showed up during a particularly hectic moment so I wasn't able to get more than a fleeting glimpse of his newly won Canadian champion's jersey.
There were a dozen riders who weren't able to come over to sign, mostly because of unaware photographers who didn't realize they were blocking the peloton from us, but I'm more than content with friendly waves and smiles from Andrew Talansky and Ramunas Navardauskas.
A packed start line.
My view of the peloton rolling out to start the day's 190 kilometer course.
Remember when I called the crowds “monster?” I was stuck in the heart of the beast as I waited to cross the street. I understood completely that everyone had to wait for the team buses and race vehicles to pass, but none of the police, security, or volunteers had the slightest clue where it might be possible to cross the street, leaving me (and thousands of others) waiting for more than half an hour before I gave up and ran around the back streets and found a crossing point.
My destination was the train station where I was to rendez vous with my friend Cat. We were heading to Harrogate to see the stage finish. Had she not texted me to tell me which platform to go to, I'd have ended up in a ridiculous queue that snaked its way through the parking lot and back down the block. I was taken aback by the disorder at the train station as the buzz about town was that fans were being encouraged to take the train to Harrogate. There were additional trains running and a special schedule just for today had been printed and distributed to fans in advance.
It took far longer than I had expected, but Cat and I made it to Harrogate where the train station welcomed Tour spectators.
No surprise that the crowds were just as impressive here.
As French as the Tour remains, even bringing French police to England, the most popular sight was Yorkshire Tea: the float got an enormous roar of approval in the publicity caravan and the guys handing out boxes of tea were hailed as heroes.
We found a few spots where we'd be able to see the podium but I'm much more interested in seeing the race, so we ended up about 100 meters after the finish line.
From here, I spied David Millar taking a breather from his temporary gig doing commentary with ITV.
Daniel Mangeas's familiar voice called out race updates. The graph showing the final 5 kilometers looked like a pile of small lumps and included a couple of significant turns. I predicted a rider like John Degenkolb or Peter Sagan would do well here, though I didn't dare voice my opinion! This was Cav Land. I am definitely a Cavendish supporter but I didn't think this particular sprint was most suited to him. Everyone I met seemed to being rooting for Cavendish, an accomplished Brit who has worn the leader's jersey in all Grand Tours but this one. Like in 2013, Cav's goal was to win the stage and finally claim the elusive yellow jersey in this, his mother's hometown.
Watching the last Ks tick down, the sprinter teams of Giant, Lotto Belisol, Cannondale, and Omega Pharma-Quick Step assembled their lead out trains and jockeyed for position. (Now that cameras are on board a few bikes in the peloton, it's been equal parts terrifying and exhilarating to watch Koen De Kort lead out his sprinters. Search for the videos on YouTube–you won't be disappointed.)
As the peloton turned the final corner on the narrow Yorkshire road, I was struck by déjà vu: Cav was involved in a massive crash and Kittel nabbed the stage.
Crossing the line in third place was my favorite Lithuanian and yours, Ramunas Navardauskas!
Two riders from Giant congratulate each other on their teammate' stage win.
Denied a proper view of Tuft's new national champion kit, I got a good look at it as he crossed the finish line. It's fantastic!
Rather than wait around to watch the usual characters of Kittel and Sagan put on the jerseys, Cat and I made our way to the buses. This was her first time at a cycling race so I wanted to maximize her exposure to the riders. We found Bernie Eisel cooling down alongside Vasil Kiryienka and Mikel Nieve outside the Sky bus.
Matteo Montaguti and Romain Bardet on their trainers.
Over at the Garmin bus, Janier Acevado, Tom-Jelte Slagter, Jack Bauer, and Andrew Talansky spun out their legs.
Garmin bikes, including Tour rookie Ben King.
Despite a long day in the saddle, Talansky was happy to sign an autograph before jumping on the bus.
Bauer and Andrea Bisogno, the team bus driver, had a chat.
I was pretty tickled to catch Navardauskas at the Garmin bus to offer my congratulations on his third place! He looked pretty tickled, too.
Despite being caught up in that crash which took down a number of riders, Aussie champion Simon Gerrans didn't seem to be in rough shape as he gave interviews and moved about comfortably.
As we swung back towards the train station, we passed the Giant bus one final time where we found Koen De Kort happily talking with fans and giving interviews.
Despite the frustrating number of photographers who elected to stand right in front of us, I collected 23 autographs from: 21 Joaquim Rodriguez, birthday boy 23 Alexander Kristoff, 54 Ted King, 72 Jan Bakelants, 75 Tony Martin, 94 Alex Howes, 95 Ben King, 99 Johan Vansummeren, 102 Roy Curvers, 106 Tom Dumoulin, 122 William Bonnet, 127 Thibot Pinot, 133 Bart De Clercq, 135 Andre Greipel, 142 Darwin Atapuma, 143 Marcus Burghardt, 147 Pete Stetina, 151 Pierre Rolland, 173 Egoitz García, 211 Brice Feillu, 214 Romain Feillu, a rider from AG2R whose number I neglected to note, and Adam Hansen signed the calendar.
