That’s José been … On Twitter she’s @tourdejose she’s ace…and I suspect boultings cribbing like mad of her.

Kenny is good though.. But he’s no @ukcyclingexpert

Just watched them steam past on the QoM climb in Hertford 😀

I think it was either Laura or Ciara in front by a country mile.

Saw then come through Hertford yesterday. Impressive set-up, there were as many police bikes as cyclists:-
Spotted Vos flying past, she has the aura of a champion about her. Great to see her in the yellow jersey too.

Saturdays marshalling was p**s poor, there was the neutralising of the race halfway through, the old geezer on the mobility scooter nearly causing a pile-up, lots of parked cars on the course and a motorbike getting in the way of the final sprint. 🙁

We were on the highlights 8)

Seemed well organised to me. Don’t think the traffic incident was race related just bad luck.

I’m no roadie but hope to see them again next year, great turnout in Hertford.

Pretty good racing and coverage. The shorter stages the women race seems to make for more frantic racing.

racing has been good, yep!

camera bike on the inside of the final corner mid sprint is ridiculous though..

Looks like it has been a big success so I’m sure it will be back next year, would love to see them come through my patch again, but I imagine they will choose different routes.

I’d love to see them up in Derbyshire and/or Yorkshire next time.

Women’s tour has been fantastic. Also enjoyed the 4 days of Dunkirk.

it’s all bloody in the South East!

You must have subscribed to the “Jade Goodey” school of geography!

Spotted Vos flying past, she has the aura of a champion about her. Great to see her in the yellow jersey too.

I’ve ridden training sessions on the velodrome with Marianne Vos. She is phenomenal – totally relaxed on the bike, super smooth and what was telling was that the only other person capable of staying with her when the Derny was at max revs was Graham Briggs – former National Circuit Race Champion.

The rest of us were out the back by then.

The racing has been really good. I hope it’ll develop in the same way that the Men’s ToB has. That went from 5 days up to 8, small areas up to nationwide and now attracts some of the world’s biggest teams. Hopefully this first year has been a good test bed for it – keep it all fairly local, over the eastern side of the UK to avoid too much travelling for the continental based teams who came over for it and use it as a springboard for next year.

The Women’s Tour, the TdF, the Tour Series (which start this coming Tuesday) and the Tour of Britain in September will make this the biggest ever year for road cycling in the UK. The National Championships in Abergavenny (end of June) should be a good spectacle too.

I thought the racing was great, my favourite day was Stage 2 with the break holding out all day, really great to watch.

Not sure which bloke it is, but one of them was seemingly unable to pronounce Lulalemon (as in Specialized Lulalemon) the same way twice, and consistently did it with some crazy accent.

Really enjoyed it, I thought it was good lively racing.
Did they have radios?
Anyway, prefer that sort of racing to Bore De France.
And Hannah Barnes what a star. I was a bit miffed as they seemed to ignore her and go on about the Golden girls.

They make the blokes racing look dull in some ways. Despite the lower speeds, the attacks are just brilliant…. every time there’s a seconds lull in the action… attack… attack… attack… It’s a bit nuts and must be insane to ride in it.

And Hannah Barnes what a star. I was a bit miffed as they seemed to ignore her and go on about the Golden girls.

That bugged me too.

Every other sentence was:
“And Vos, the World Champion…” or, to vary things a bit:
“and here’s the World Champion, Marianne Vos…”

It would have been good to see a profile of the other teams and riders and a bit more publicity surrounding them.

Vos dominates the sport in a similar way to how Tiger Woods used to dominate golf. I think they should have replaced the repetitive chatting at the start with more rider interviews and profiles.

A good first attempt, but it needs a tougher course. Give riders like Pooley a chance to stir things up a bit. Short stages with no major climbs and protection from the wind will only end in one way (unless the riders mess it up – see stage 2). Still, great to see and something on which to build.

Not sure which bloke it is, but one of them was seemingly unable to pronounce Lulalemon (as in Specialized Lulalemon) the same way twice, and consistently did it with some crazy accent

Quite agree with you Bokonon, it was bizarre wasn’t it???

And Hannah Barnes what a star. I was a bit miffed as they seemed to ignore her and go on about the Golden girls.

Was a bit weird that. Three Brits in the top ten the other night and they chat about the one above and behind her, but she doesn’t get a mention. Is she not media friendly?

Hannah doesn’t have the Olympic connection that the others have, Laura and Lizzie are household names thanks to London 2012. Hannah’ll have her time in the spotlight soon enough though.

I was lucky enough to be in the race convoy on Saturday, the crowds were incredible all the way round. Welwyn Hatfield council reckon 15,000 people watched the finish. I’m sure quite a few of them were shoppers who were there anyway and wandered over but even so that’s a huge number.

Some marshaling and crowd issues but it’s all a learning process and for a first event it was a triumph.

So, next year, longer stages, bigger hills and live coverage please!

I was lucky enough to be in the race convoy on Saturday,

Were you driving the red car that hit the bollard??? 8)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/27361749

I was a bit surprised that Port Hill was one of the climbs – it’s a bit on the short side, still I’m not complaining as I can bask in their reflected glory on my ride home now.