London should be proud of Le Tour Opening

It was high speed, colourful jerseys, perfect weather and happy faces all around - in my opinion London can be very proud of how well the opening of this year’s Tour de France went.

A crowd of an estimated 1 million people (down from the 3 million estimated prior to the event) turned up to cheer on the 189 riders on the 7.9km long route. Many of the spectators had also attended the opening ceremony the evening before, which saw Trafalgar Square packed to the rim.

Security was reassuringly high and the crowd control went smoothly. At least that was my impression as Dawn and I made our way from Victoria via the finishing line at The Mall, past The Village at The Horse Guards to finally finding our spot close to the starting ramp just opposite Downing Street at Whitehall.

We did see a couple of amateur riders unsuccesfully trying to sneak past security. Another saddo made it past Downing Street on his bike towards The Village before he was stopped. But we did not see or hear of any major incidents and most seemed determined not just to enjoy the show, but also to let everyone else do the same.

I’ll be posting some of our photos later this evening tomorrow. So look out for Dawn’s and my take on Le Grand Départ 2007.

Update 10 July: You can now view our photographs from Photographs from Tour de France 2007 in London

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