What a wonderful day in London on Saturday! It truly was an unmissable experience as "Le Tour" made its long awaited debut in London. Claire and I had volunteered a long time ago (actually during the Tour of Britain the previous year) to be part of the marshalling team for the prologue stage in the centre of London. It meant, of course, an early start from Windsor (our residence for the weekend - thanks Liz, Neil, Bryn & Eve) and arrival in London at 8.00am. London, like many cities, is a wonderful site in the early morning sunshine with the added advantage that the whole of the centre was traffic free in anticipation of the day's event. The day itself was great with an amazing atmosphere created from a mixture of keen cyclists, tourists and locals admiring the spectacle. The riders probably couldn't believe that their names were shouted so loudly in a supposed "anti-cycling" country like England. The cheers greeting the quick times of Karpetz & Kloden were eclipsed by the roars for Millar, Wiggins, Cavendish, Thomas & Wegelius with the loudest applause for the simply devestating time of Fabian Cancellara - our Swiss hero! (and what a week for the Swiss!). Will it change the outlook of cycling in the UK? - Maybe. Will Le Tour return? - almost certainly!
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