Welcome to Harrogate!

Stage 1 TDF Yorkshire

Absolutely amazing! A brilliant day.

Harrogate town centre was packed full of people by 10am, the sun was shining and there was a real buzz of excitement. Andy rode a few km of the route (evidence here!) there were tonnes of cyclists out and it was great to see lots of kids on bikes enjoying themselves.

Mum and I went to the fan park which was heaving, as were the pavements outside. We had a look round and decided to make a hasty retreat and find a good vantage point to watch the race from. It took ages to get through the crowds and back to the Flamme Rouge (1km to go point) to meet Andy. We found a decent spot and guarded it for the next 3 1/2 hours until the riders arrived!

The build up before the race came through was very exciting. Many of the police motorbike riders were giving the crowds hi-fives! The promotional caravan was truly bizarre, lots of euro pop and crazy dancing. And then.... the cyclists arrived! The roar from the crowd was amazing, and the peloton was an incredible sight.

I took hundreds of photos, I managed to cut the heads of lots of cyclists in all the excitement! I have chosen this one because Cav is at the back with his blue/red helmet on. We were really sad to hear through the radio that he crashed just before the end and is now out of the tour.

More photos here!