I was at the bottom left of that picture where there is a 90′ right hand bend at Big Ben
The Tour de France in London was the 2nd of big sporting events on my international holiday. I spent a few days in London with the TdF being the main attraction while I was here (I’ll do a dedicated London post as per the other cities but this one is dedicated to the Tour de France). The 3rd Stage of the 2014 Tour started in Cambridge and ended on the Mall in London. In the days leading up to the stage I scoped out the Fan Parks which were great fun to see. There was masses of entertainment at the fan parks and I scored loads of freebies from there as you will see, most the food bits are already chowed.
On Monday 7th July I left Kate & Andrew’s reasonably early and went all over to look for the best spot (my 1st idea was Victorian Embankment but never settled on that in the end, I gathered the Mall was more cordoned off for VIPs) I chose a place on Bridge Street as they were about 2km from the finish and as they turned off Victoria Embankment.
I was at the bottom left of that picture where there is a 90′ right hand bend at Big Ben
Turned out to be a great spot to watch as they had just turned right and were maybe going a tad slower. I got there at 10:30ish and waited. The caravan of entertainment got there at about 2pm and then the riders at about 4pm. The weather was iffy and kept on raining but was OK. I was planning to take some video with the GoPro but must’ve let the charge run low as it was dead, so only had stills, which was fine.
For the rest of the post I’ll leave you with some images and a few descriptions where applicable.
Fan Parks (pre race, although you could watch the race there too, I chose not to)
Trafalgar Square
Tour de France Official Store
Green Park Entrance
Green Park
Green Park IBIS Hotel’s stand
Nuffield Health V.I.B (Very Important Bear)
Skoda provide the official vehicles
My loot from Green Park, couldn’t stop people giving me stuff.
Asked for a few of the cake things to take home for after dinner, woman emptied almost a whole box into my bag, was funny.
Race Day
Looking down the Mall (towards Buckingham Palace) yesterday
UK Supporter heading to the race
The place I watched the race from (weather was still OK at this stage)
Me taking a selfie next to Big Ben
Police bicycles
Ambulance Bicycles
Caravan (pre race entertainment by sponsors)
Team Busses arrive
Now for the race itself !!!
It was fantastic to see how fast they were going and to be part of the crowd experiencing the race.
I have a few more photos as well but the leading group is what everyone wanted to see. By the time they came past the crowd was 4 deep on the railings so was good I was able to get a place near the front. Met a few people during the day and swopped email addresses and will share my pics with them.
Following the peloton was the team cars
Last but not least a picture of me with the police who were allowing other cyclists to then come onto the course
