As most of us go back to the grind today, a chance to reflect on the weekend just gone – and what a weekend it was. For three days the eyes of the cycling world turned its attention to Yorkshire and some of us even had the chance to ride the majority of stage three crossing the line with a sprint finish (if anyone had the legs for it they are not human). Estimations state that between 1 – 1.5 million people lined the streets to show their support over the three days and below is a review of events using various media collected over the course of the Tour.
Stage 1
The first stage saw the riders start in Bridlington, as we travelled to the seaside town we were lucky enough to be caught in the NFTO team convoy, we took a few pictures of the vehicles and posted to twitter to let the team know we were with them which resulted in them giving us a cheeky retweet and a follow from Pro Rider James Lowsley! As the teams pulled up to the start area and the might of Team Sky made it’s presence known with it’s enormous team bus an agonising wait ensued for Sir Bradley to appear from his camper-van for Team Wiggins. An hour and a half later and the man himself appears, stopping to sign his autograph (maybe shouldn’t have asked him to sign a Team Sky race card) for me and I wished him good luck to which he replied ‘thank you’, I then jokingly told him to enjoy it to which he laughed. I tried not to act overwhelmed but giggling like a school child at my own joke probably gave my game away….
As the riders settled in for stage 1 the race was on to beat the peloton to Scarborough where a sprint finish was on the cards along Marine Drive. The atmosphere was incredible and thousands flocked to see the riders coming towards the finish line, luckily the sun had it’s hat on too!
Stage 2
The second day saw the riders come to Beverley! Many of the Knights chose to chase the Tour on a Saturday ride the crowds lined the streets of the town in particular North Bar Within & Without. As the peloton approached Beverley it was a breakaway of 8 riders that hit the town first, around four minutes later the peloton followed captured in fantastic slow motion on the video below. It was great to see the crowds coming out even if the weather wasn’t the best, a true testament to how far cycling has come and in particular what an impact Wiggo has had on the popularity of the sport.
An amazing slow-mo shot of the peloton passing through Beverley.
Stage 3
Stage 3 was all about the sportive for most of the Knights with some of us choosing to do the 142km route and others on the 109km route both proved incredibly challenging. The weather was trying it’s best to dampen peoples spirits however it was not to be with thousands of cyclists turning out to take part. The ride proved to be one of the most challenging rides to date with over 6,000ft of climbing and some ridiculous hill climbs that devastated the legs. The crowds had already began to gather for the pro race coming through and they were cheering encouragement to every single one of us. An absolutely fantastic route which I’m sure will be tackled again some day in better conditions, photos of the event can be found on www.sportcam.net
