Tour de France 2007 (Prologue)
Last Saturday, I experienced something I have never experienced before. The past five years or so, I’ve watched and enjoyed it on television, but when it made a historic trip to London, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see it in person.
I’m talking of course about the Tour de France, not just the most prestigious cycle race in the world, but also one of the most grueling and challenging sporting events. Why did the Tour de France start in London this year? It’s a good question and one I’ve been asked an awful lot this week. It’s simply a case of the organising committee selecting London out of all the bidding towns and cities. And what a good decision that proved to be.
I was one of 1 million spectators lining the streets of London that day, to see the prologue, or individual time trial event, before the race proper started the next day. I cannot express the magnitude of the event. It’s organisation must have taken some doing. Almost the whole of central London was closed to traffic for the entire weekend. Hyde Park was turned into the cycling festival ground, The Mall was turned into a broadcast centre and finishing line and Horseguards became a people’s village and team preparation and resting zone. Adjoining roads were closed and turned into the race route, while other roads were used as a car park for the hundreds of vehicles brought from across the channel.
It was almost as if the French had invaded. The Gendarmerie, the french military police force were present and assisted the British police in escorting the riders around the course. It was very odd indeed to see Gendarmes riding down The Mall on their motorbikes. Everywhere you looked were French registered vehicles. The food outlets were french, the big screens were adorned with “France Télévisions” logos and even camera hoists and cranes were brought over especially. While passing through Holborn underground station, the announcements were in French. Everywhere you looked, there was banner adverts and sponsorship signage for French supermarket chains and French banks. It was bizarre.
It was about to get even weirder. Before the riders roll through, spectators are treated to one of the Tour’s famous traditions, the publicity caravan. A parade, often stretching for miles, of floats, trucks and cars from the sponsors of the Tour. Five million free gifts are thrown out to the spectators from the caravan of whistling and tooting vehicles before each stage. I chose a spot on Parliament Square, next door to St. Stephen’s Tower (Big Ben) to watch the caravan roll through. The first signs of the caravan approaching were the sounds of French police sirens from the Gendarmerie and an announcement welcoming everyone to the Tour (you’ll hear this when you watch the video below). The next half hour was a noisy and chaotic time where I had keyrings, cloths for cleaning glasses, all sorts of hats, t-shirts, cuddly toys, miniature cars, lanyards and packs of sweets thrown at me. Many of my fellow spectators were caught unawares and were hit in the face, but delayed their pain long enough to swipe the freebies before anyone else did. It was great fun, but it was a bit odd. Most of the companies I’d never heard of. I couldn’t understand why these companies had any interest in the UK market and as such, why they travelled hundreds of miles to throw free stuff at us. From one of the floats, people were handed coupons for washing detergent that isn’t even on sale in Britain, and only redeemable at a French supermarket chain. Unless the recipient of the coupons were making an upcoming trip to France, they were completely useless.
It was easily one of the most unusual experiences I’ve ever had. The degree of how french London had become was alarming. For a francophile like me, it was brilliant. I’ve been to London countless times, but I’ve never been there and felt I somewhere else. Sadly, it’s highly unlikely London will play host to the Tour in a similar fashion again. So I guess if I want to experience the magic of the Tour in the future, I’ll just have to go to France. Oh damn, how awful! ;)
To see the photos I took on the day, visit Flickr.
