Cav summed it up when he saiod he pulled out of the veulta due to it being so hot, and riders today where wearing 3 jackets and long finger gloves to keep warm, hope the rider who fell off is ok, and a good win to the winner, no names mentioned incase peps havent seen the race.
Oh and if someone makes windcreen wipers for camera, theres a opening for you there.
Oh and finally great coverage and a good team, on the cameras,and production.
If by “sparkel” you mean sun, then yes that was definitely lacking. 😉
Big crowds at the start in Peebles today and pretty decent crowds despite the weather. Would be great if the ToB could get a wee kick up the calendar (or get some decent weather).
They need to route it a little further north to get what passes as decent hills in this country.
And how about a finishing loop that goes up the Royal Mile, down the Mound along Princes St and filters through to repeat a few times before a sprint into the castle itself (OK probably not actually into the castle but into the area they use for the tattoo)?
That said nice to see they corner the same way I do on a road bike in the rain.
I marshalled in Peebles today, was great atmosphere. Good to see so many kids out getting autographs and snaps in front of the team cars. A real buzz around the place.
Just one muppet who hadn’t really captured the atmosphere of the place and actually poked me in the chest for not knowing the the exact road names for the loop around the town. He said ‘ You are a bloody marshal, what bloody use are you?’ Some restraint was required on my part…. All I could do was poke him back and remind him of the need for manners.
By the time they got to Dumfries around an hour later than planned due to the weather the crowds were still pretty big. They still had a 35ml loop after this pass through the finish 😯
Local bike clubs held some fun races along the finish line earlier.
Was in peebles for the start.
Really good and nice to see the pro’s chatting and signing autographs for jo public.
A good touch to inspire the youngsters that peebles CC juniors lead the race out of town.
Then went on to the second day of the PCC juniors stage race with my 11yr old at glentress. So all in all a really good day of bikes but without actually riding.
Just got back from Kendal, the race was canceled about 20 mins before they were due to start. A real shame, but they did all the pre-race preamble, and every credit to the riders, they really spent a lot of time signing autographs etc.
Extra credit goes to the Sky team, Ben Swift and Geraint Thomas in particular – what a couple of cracking guys, they genuinely seems to really enjoy meeting fans and are brilliant ambassadors for the sport. Really impressed with them.
Fizzer – I sent you a text about 10ish saying it was cancelled but it may have gone to your Facebook account! Should be a fun ride home today though, providing the winds going in the right direction. However i’d be ashamed of sending the Tour along my commute to work, it’s bloody awful and there would have been some accidents no doubt.
Kestor Lane, funny that we were looking at the house for sale on Market Place a bit ago. Seems Dewhursts finally got rid. Strange building on the inside.
i had an awesome day yesterday…i was in neutral service car no 1 with brian smith and a mechanic. we sat behind the two breakaways for most of the stage..i spent most of the journey trying to put brian off the correct pronunciation of gyhlleberts surname for the commentatoring he was doing later…they did reall;y well in the awful conditions…im amazed that more guys didnt fall down
In fairness, the riders I spoke to wanted to race, it was the organisers’ decision. Having said that, I’d think twice about crossing Harris End on a day like this!
I was up in Kendal this morning – was going to be in the race convoy for the stage but when they cancelled it I just went for lunch in Kendal instead. Still a good crowd out, Sky did some good publicity work with some local schoolkids giving them all baseball caps and autographs. The riders did a couple of laps of the town centre which was nice for the crowd.
It was the right decision to make though: the weather was bad enough in Kendal, out on the hills was horrendous with the wind, rain and debris blowing around. Blackpool Promenade had waves blowing over it, they couldn’t erect any of the finish gantry or podium, it would have been impossible to run. A few of the riders were driven down there for a publicity appearance, about the best that could be done under the circumstances.
Round 2 has now just appeared on itv4, andtheyve just announced its been canmcelled so the programe is still running with highlights possibly, more latter.
Probably a bit unfair to criticise the riders really they were probably as gutted as us speccies although it seems common practice by the armchair ‘riders’/15 miles a week brigade on here to diss the pros in most disciplines
Footnote: Ben I received both your texts at 18:13. I have replied but out may be tomorrow on current form!
The riders weren’t part of the decision process at all, they were all signing autographs and preparing for the race right up until the announcement to cancel.
At the back of Dilworth reservoir? We sometimes start our Tuesday Night Club rides from there, there’s usually a few mattress-luggers dangling by their finger nails… 🙂
Drove down to Sedbergh, with the intention of to going over to Caton then down towards Elswick. Got to Sedbergh to find out it had be cancelled. I was gutted, took my old man for a day out as he hasnt watched a stage since his mate Chisman won it back in the 60’s.
Blagged a day off work as well.