Tour de Yorkshire, Cambridge...and oh yes France as well!!

[Panwearsjaune]

T minus 35 days and counting, to the Grand Depart from Leeds 5th July, with two stages in the White County, and then a third from Cambridge to the Mall in London. It's just soo exciting! It's the biggest biking event in the world, with approx 190 professional riders in about 20 teams racing across tarmac and cobbles, up mountains and down Dales and ending on 27th July on the Champs Elysee, Paris in the now traditional sprint finish there. So here's the thread to share in it all, swop info about accommodation for Tour watchers, road closures, the parcours (courses), peloton gossip, potential meet ups, tv coverage, who's got the nicest legs etc.. and everything to do with the thrills and occasional spills with the event that is a game of poker played out every day on 380 wheels. OF course if you are a newbie to all of this and are curious about the whys and hows of racing then ask and someone will pop up to answer questions. Hopefully.

So I'll depart here next with the routes of the UK 3 stages being taken so no-one gets lost and ends up in the dreaded broom wagon.

I presumed the fruit shoots were there on purpose

Did you also see the McCain frozen chip float?

I've got a picture of that one too - but I've run out of pictures allowed!!!

Update on Radio 4 news re Cavendish - they described his injury as 'serious ligament damage' and it will be decided tomorrow if he will continue or not.

On another note, they also said that there were more than a million spectators lining the course today....wow!!

Just finished catching up on the recording, so late to the thread.

OMG, Cav... We are all sitting here in shock. Gutted for him. I hope DrPan is right and it's 'only' soft tissue damage.

Felix DD looks adorable in her polka dots

Doesn't look good for Cav

Update - it IS soft tissue. Decision on riding on will be made tomorrow morning.
Cav admits he caused the crash, trying to find a gap that wasn't there and will apol to Gerrans at first opportunity.

X with Selks. Riders are queuing up to say how they hadn't experienced a crowd like today's and fulsome in thanks and praise for Yorkshire. Talansky is complaining of tinnitus the noise was so loud and constant.

Can anyone give me advice. I live in Sheffield and want to take my son somewhere along the route tomorrow. I know a lot of the roads are closed.

I live in High Green, so near Grenoside but with the disruption to traffic thought i might be better going to meadowhall or another hub.

He's only 4 so he won't be able to walk too far. Any ideas?

Could you drive to Chapeltown and leave your car there, then get a train to Meadowhall?

Hi bunbaker, yeah I think that is probably the best idea.

Gutted for cav and the others affected.
We are in the area but have decided not brave the crowds at Sheffield. Would like to soak up some tour atmosphere with the kids and see some of the yellow bikes, decorated houses churches etc. have any locals got suggestions for a good destination before we head back south for a back to back highlights viewing session?
Are any of today's tour villages having a "party" or festival type thing that we could gate crash?

Oh lovely Cav, what a wally. Never mind, my U8's team gave me a present of a bottle of prosecco and a mug to say thank you for the season and as it was lovely and we sat outside in the sunshine for aaages I decided to put one in the other it appears to be doing a good job of stopping me being too sad I am missing the tour tomorrow and that my darling baby Cav is hurt .

always helps, Losty

At least your hunky Kittel won (yes, I know you don't love him as much as Cav) and the lovely Spartacus went for it at the end, and Jensie has the polka dots jersey for tomorrow...

Look for the positives and enjoy your prosecco!

Oh that was great. Just amazing. I am going to catch up on the thread in a minute but meanwhile here are some blurry peloton shots - we were right by the road in the last 10k, they were all together and going at about 100 mph (might be a slight exaggeration there) - and we weren't behind barriers, they were whizzing past so close!

Boys liked the caravan too.

And best of all we are going to go and see it all again tomorrow!

Blurry peloton shots:

if we play the blame-game (which is always entertaining!) I'd blame Spartacus for the crash. Spooking the lead outs with a solo from 1k or so wrecked the preps of the trains, the sprinters had to go from much further out which left Cav struggling as, unlike Sagan and Kittel, he does one v fast burst. Non-sprinters (like Froome) got caught up in the comparative chaos and rode as fast as they could, thereby littering the road with obstacles which Cav had to weave round and so found himself in deficit and a lot to make up - got desperate and tried something that was never on. So Spartacus..."J'accuse" #barristerPan.

Boys were expecting the McCain trucks to give out chips. Were standing with their mouths open. Very cute baby in spots - will look out for Jensie in his tomorrow.
Oh and a pic of bikes on cars for Pan:

oh you're all spoiling me now.

Children stood with mouths wide open for a chip being thrown. Love it!

My son said this evening "mum, we are very lucky to be alive today and see the Tour de France as it is probably never coming here again and it was epic".

Yes indeed. Although he doesn't have ambitions to ride in it, a friendly policeman was letting children sit on his police bike, rev the engine and set off the nee-naw so he has decided to be a police biker when he grows up.

We were at the roundabout just after Skipton, sitting/standing up on the bank. We cycled down from Carleton(?)

Ds and dh had the best view - they were in front of me and blocking my gap. Unfortunately I didn't see Cav as they whooshed past.

Tomorrow we're going over to Haworth early. Ds loved cycling the hills this morning dh wasn't so keen

Will only be able to upload my pictures tomorrow night.

Jensie story - I like the bit at the end:

www.trekfactoryracing.com/news/voigt-gives-solo-recital

There's a gas leak in Haworth. People are currently being evacuated

Can we blame that on Spartacus too?

OMG! What a day.

I have the same shoulder injury as Cav - it is only now almost healed. It is f**n painful. Poor guy.

We had the Most Awesome Day. We snagged a prime position on the last roundabout out of Leeds right on a corner so everything had to slow down as it came past us. We saw Richard Virenque (boo) and Raymond Poulidor (yay!) and Sean Kelly in their VIP cars. The caravan was hilarious - grow your own spice mix from McCains?! - and then the peleton arrived. God - I was nearly in tears. Froome and Cav slap in the middle, Contador close to us and all of them looking really amazed by the crowds.

By the way, I wept again over NetApp-Endura's tiny wee charabanc as it followed the looming Death star - such a brave wee thing.

As soon as they went past, we leaped on the bikes and followed the the team buses up long the route along with many other cyclists. THe crowds stayed in place and cheered us too! They were leaning over barriers to high-5 us and DD2 got loads of attention on the Tag-a-long. The girls spotted friends and teachers in the crowd and were waving and beaming as they rode. It was seriously emotional and such a high.

We peeled off back into Leeds but our friend carried on - (he's not far off pro-rider speed) and said that there were hundreds of cyclists joining the route but it all jammed to a halt outside Harewood while the royal photo op went on. He scooted on over to Harrogate and Ripon and watched it all over again. We came home and watched the live feed on TV.

And in 6 hours, I shall be off to York to do it all again.