100 years of the Tour de France, the biggest FREE sporting event in the World, and we are lucky enough to live very close to Stage 10 of this year's route, so off we went on Tuesday to cheer them on and enjoy the show.
First came the parade of the sponsors' advertising vehicles
Just a few of the weird and wonderful vehicles that hurtled past us in a cavalcade that lasted just on an hour ! My apologies for any blurred photos, but they were moving some:-)
Then there were cars covered in cycles
as well as motor bikes by the score
then eventually, the real stars of the show - the competitors !!
The Leaders
These 5 riders led the race until within a couple of kilometres of the finish, and it was a little sad to see them being swallowed up by the rest of the field after such a grand effort.
The Peloton - well, part of it !
I got so caught up shouting encouragement to this year's great British hope, Chris Froome , that I missed the photo of him in the Yellow Jersey :-)
Unfortunately, there has been a lot of negative publicity about the race over the last year or so, but when you stand at the roadside in temperatures of 30C, you cannot help but admire the physical effort of the competitors passing you at speeds over 40 kms per hour, and hope that this year it will be a controversy free Tour de France.
Vive le Tour !
Footnote :
The Tour is very close to the hearts of all Bretons as one of their own sons , Louis Bobet, won the race 3 times in the 1950s and lived just a few miles away - today's stage passed through his home town as a mark of respect. Brittany was also represented today by Julien Simon , one of the leader riders in the photo above.
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