I pedalled in to Tower Bridge to see the "Finish" (the 'race'
apparently ended at Rochester and they did the last bit in procession.
Interesting to see the grimaces as the nice road bikes were subjected
to the cobbled stretch outside the Tower of London !
I also wish I had the camera for the shot of the jack-booted gendarme
in kepi chatting to the beefeater !
The awards ceremony was a bit low key - I gather that apart from the
winners who got their jerseys/bouquet of flowers/trophy , the other
riders didn't know it was happening - so the majority of the "crowd"
were bemused passing tourists.
The two ambassadors had a quick chat - their excuse for not
participating on a tandem themselves was they wouldn't be able to
agree who would be captain/stoker.
I was impressed by the bike bags as they loaded up the vans - the
bags must be worth twenty times the cost of my bike !
Comments from the riders included how chuffed they were that the
police had closed the ?M20 ?A20 for them.
? Organised by the Tour de France operation, I wonder if it is a
tryout for another bit of the Tour in UK in a couple of years
time.....
Tim
From Transport for London site :
Over 300 professional and elite cyclists from Britain and France will
race from Paris to London this weekend to celebrate the centenary of
the Entente Cordiale.
The two-day 300km race will bring together 150 riders from each
country, to honour the links uniting France and the United Kingdom,
and celebrate the set of three agreements settling long-standing
disputes between Britain and France in distant lands signed in 1904
and commonly known as the Entente Cordiale.
The event will culminate with a trophy ceremony in front of Tower
Bridge at approximately 4pm on Sunday.The Mayor of London, Ken
Livingstone, said: ‘My aim is to encourage many more people to
cycle in London. By improving cycle facilities, we have already seen a
23 per cent rise in cycling in London in the past year. This race will
bring together 300 cyclists from France and Britain and is a great way
to celebrate cycling in our city.’
Disruption to traffic is expected to be minimal as a rolling road
block will be in place to minimise any congestion.