We arrived about ten on the barriers of the Champs Elysees. I left for some food with Sharon guarding the spot and came back to a big argument between a Belgian we had befriended and a French woman who tried to muscle in on our spot. She was a tough old bird and wouldn’t budge but being little she didn’t have much impact on our view which was front row. After the sponsors caravan passed, the riders rattled past on the cobbles, BMC and Cadel leading the peloton for the ride up the hill to the Arc d’ Triomphe. We had a good spot for no sooner had they passed us, they were back on the other side of the road going down the hill. And didn’t they go down at a fair pace. In the mountains I could run with them, and when we saw them a couple of weeks ago they were on a right angle bend, but this time they were at full tilt. Great to watch. They came past us about ten times, which was twenty all up on the downhill. On the final pass we relied on our Belgian friends to interpret the result from the loudspeakers for us. We shared our chocolate with them for it was his birthday, 51, and we caught the train back to Amiens. What a day! Tomorrow we fly to Dublin.
“The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” – Samuel Johnson
Awesome photo of Cadel and the boys. Would have been an incredible day! I’m very jealous!