Le Tour started this year on the northern shores of the English Channel for the first time in history and London treated the cyclists to a truly Grande Depart. More than 3 million people showed up to line the routes of the Prologue in central London on Saturday and the first stage from London to Canterbury on Sunday. It was truly an amazing sight, not least of all watching these incredible men power their bikes at upwards of 40 mph!
Not only was the setting wonderful, but that corner was the first on the course, so the riders came charging out of the start house down Whitehall and then screamed around that corner onto Victoria Street. Let me tell you, they have incredible control of those machines. The angulation and power of going around a sharp corner is phenomenal!
We unfortunately didn't have the camera with us, since they had asked volunteers not to bring personal items like that and we obeyed the letter of the law, however we do have a couple of pictures that a really friendly South African couple took. They are huge cycling fans and we had really enjoyed ourselves by their side chatting to them and watching the racers went charging by.
Just in front of us was Parliament Square seen here where loads of people sat to watch the big screen.
We also managed to go into London to see the peloton go by on Sunday, though they were merely ambling past us, as this was the pre-start warm-up area on their way to Greenwich for the real start. Oh well, still neat to see 189 riders go by!