Tour de France
Paris
Sunday 22nd July 2012
"Le Caravan" hits town two hours ahead of the peloton. A convoy of elaborately dressed sponsor's vehicles parades for ninety minutes. Elsewhere this jamboree of corporate endorsement passes in half the time. Being the Champs Élysées for the twentieth and final stage of the 2012 Tour de France it's double value for the Parisian crowd as the carnival of floats parades up one side of the famous avenue and down the other. From jersey sponsors (yellow, green and polka dot) to a fleet of lorries that have hauled Tour paraphernalia some 2000km around France, it's a noisy cavalcade of colour and honking horns.
Under clear blue skies, protected from the fierce sun by overhanging trees the excitement of the Caravan puts us in good voice for the impeding arrival of Wiggins, Evans and co. We're sat one hundred metres from the finish line amongst the Phil Anderson-led Australian contingent. To our left the recently arrived Brits practice a chant of "Wiggo, Wiggo" to welcome the man of the hour.
Taken at a celebratory pace most of the stage to Paris would barely past muster as a training ride. With eight laps of the Champs Élysées to go the race gets serious as a breakaway escapes the peloton to receive our first acclimation of these magnificent cyclists. Seconds later the peloton sweeps in led, as it has been for most of the past three weeks, by Team Sky guiding the yellow clad Wiggins, the Manx Express on his back wheel.
Sky play with the breakaway like a man with a dog on a long lead. Holding them at twenty seconds, cutting them some slack with another four seconds then casually calling them back to eighteen - just to remind them who's in-charge. With one lap to go the would be escapees suddenly fall-out amongst themselves. No one wants to do the pace setting and within seconds they're swallowed by the peloton.
Now it's down to who can sprint the fastest. The knowledgeable and sentimental money is on Mark Cavendish who has loyally supported his team leader to the yellow jersey and been rewarded with the most effective lead-out team of the Tour. Wiggins leads the flying Sky train into the last turn and right before our eyes Cavendish rises from his saddle, turns on the gas and leaves the field in his wake.
Is their a collective noun for a succession of prize giving ceremonies? Such a word is desperately needed to describe the Tour aftermath of jerseys giving, trophy awarding, a flowering of flowers, kisses galore and laps of honour. No doubt this mystery word will be needed many times more over the coming weeks.
And so the first sporting spectacular of our trip comes to a satisfying conclusion.
Paris
Sunday 22nd July 2012
"Le Caravan" hits town two hours ahead of the peloton. A convoy of elaborately dressed sponsor's vehicles parades for ninety minutes. Elsewhere this jamboree of corporate endorsement passes in half the time. Being the Champs Élysées for the twentieth and final stage of the 2012 Tour de France it's double value for the Parisian crowd as the carnival of floats parades up one side of the famous avenue and down the other. From jersey sponsors (yellow, green and polka dot) to a fleet of lorries that have hauled Tour paraphernalia some 2000km around France, it's a noisy cavalcade of colour and honking horns.
Under clear blue skies, protected from the fierce sun by overhanging trees the excitement of the Caravan puts us in good voice for the impeding arrival of Wiggins, Evans and co. We're sat one hundred metres from the finish line amongst the Phil Anderson-led Australian contingent. To our left the recently arrived Brits practice a chant of "Wiggo, Wiggo" to welcome the man of the hour.
Taken at a celebratory pace most of the stage to Paris would barely past muster as a training ride. With eight laps of the Champs Élysées to go the race gets serious as a breakaway escapes the peloton to receive our first acclimation of these magnificent cyclists. Seconds later the peloton sweeps in led, as it has been for most of the past three weeks, by Team Sky guiding the yellow clad Wiggins, the Manx Express on his back wheel.
Sky play with the breakaway like a man with a dog on a long lead. Holding them at twenty seconds, cutting them some slack with another four seconds then casually calling them back to eighteen - just to remind them who's in-charge. With one lap to go the would be escapees suddenly fall-out amongst themselves. No one wants to do the pace setting and within seconds they're swallowed by the peloton.
Now it's down to who can sprint the fastest. The knowledgeable and sentimental money is on Mark Cavendish who has loyally supported his team leader to the yellow jersey and been rewarded with the most effective lead-out team of the Tour. Wiggins leads the flying Sky train into the last turn and right before our eyes Cavendish rises from his saddle, turns on the gas and leaves the field in his wake.
Is their a collective noun for a succession of prize giving ceremonies? Such a word is desperately needed to describe the Tour aftermath of jerseys giving, trophy awarding, a flowering of flowers, kisses galore and laps of honour. No doubt this mystery word will be needed many times more over the coming weeks.
And so the first sporting spectacular of our trip comes to a satisfying conclusion.
