Prologue
I had to get up at 6am in order to catch a 7.05 train to London Euston.
At around midday I (Well, me and my dad) headed over to Hyde Park, bought a T-shirt and took my place in the long slow-moving queues for food. We went to a Pancake(Crepes) stall and just as I got to the front ~ they ran out of cheese. So instead of a Cheese, Tomato and Ham pancake, I had to have a Lemon and Sugar one.
By the time wed finished eating the caravan had started and we made our way along the route until we found a spot by the railings, moreorless where Ive circled on the map.
Before I move on to the action, one man deserves a mention.
This guy stood opposite us and I dubbed him 'Norat' or the 'Norwegian Borat'. He had catchphrases such as 'I am from Norway', 'Norway for Yellow', 'Go Thor' and 'Norway come next' (He said the latter a lot, even though a norwegian rider was no next). He also got spectators around him to talk to his friend in Norway.
Big Ben hit 3, unheard by us, but with my startlist printed out, I knew that Enrico Degano had begun the Tour. Stuey O'Grady was the early leader past us, little did we know that he would crash (Until rumours spread later in the day). I tried to catch the next leader Zabriskie but I only got his back wheel. After Karpets, it was Gusev who led and he was one of many riders who rode extremelty close to the railings by me. Where I was on the course, it was just after a slight bend, so we could not see in advance where the cyclists were. Sticking my ehad out as far as possible was a regular occurence, and I had to many times pull my head back in to avoid the cyclist. The closest to the barrier was Gutierrez, the Spanish champ.
Frank Schleck took 95th, he is the rider I want to win the tour. He was followed by fellow-Lux Kim Kirchen. Perez Sanchez, Hunter and Mayo were next and then came Andreas Kloden. I did not expect Kloden to do well, so no picture, but he was emphatically quicker than the rest - hopefully the Brits would beat him though.
Wegelius had already finished by 17.45, but in the next 4 minutes, 3 more brits would start.
Geraint Thomas was one of them, another was Mark Cavendish:
David Millar was the 3rd to go, a disappointing 9th at the time, but tomorrow would be a better day.
While I want Schleck to win, I realistcally think Vinokourov will be in Yellow in Paris. One rider who won't be in Yellow in Paris, was Bradley Wiggins. I desperately wanted him to win but it was not to be. He can be perfectly happy with 4th though. (I messed up with Wiggins' picture aswell, but got him in the distance).
Only two men had a chance of beating Kloden, Cancellara and Rogers.
Mike Rogers was disappointing, but Cancellara... Phenomenal.
Pereiro came by and that was that, all 189 riders had gone through, Im left feeling very happy and with a bit of a sunburn.
A bit of trivia, but after the Prologue, My TT team leads a fantasy league I play in. [url]https://www.nrtoone.com/fantasy/cycling/index.php?page=home
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Edited by SportingNonsense on 09-07-2007 17:06
Stage 1
Blackfriars bridge was a very short walk from our hotel on Southwark Street, so we headed there. It was fairly quiet when we got there at around 8:30, much quieter than Tower Bridge would have been!
The Caravan arrived and most were skeptical in handing out freebies so early in the day. I did get some though! A Cofidis purse, A Kangaroo sticker and a Glasses cleaner. One of the caravan vehicles had a clown with a hose, pouring water onto the crowd, but my dad was ready for it and with water received from an earlier Nestle car - threw water back at the clown.
Soon after the caravan my 6 year old cousin arrived at the bridge (With my aunt and uncle) as they live in London. She happily took the Cofidis purse and would eventually drop the Kangaroo sticker into the Thames from the Millenium Bridge (Later in the day) (Accidentally of course).
Many cars and motorbikes drove past, a few let off the trademark Tour de France horn sound - the one generally heard in the mountains. Soon after half 10, the peleton finally arrived!
Edited by SportingNonsense on 09-07-2007 17:33
It was a really hard place to get pictures for so im not surprised you got better. It was often just guesswork, hence the reason I went too soon with Millar.
If you were by the devil did you get on TV? ITV4 were doing it and they interviewed the devil at one point.
i didn't see the interview as my hotel only had Eurosport, not ITV4
but i did see him getting interviewed, i might have been on but i think i was too far to the right as by that time the TV guys had pulled him away about 50 yards to my left for an interview, i just guessed it was some German TV programme, obviously not
Got loads of cool freebies when caravan came through!
