You are here: home » blogs » ToB stage 1: And then it changes
ToB stage 1: And then it changes
by Paul Rowlands | 13/09/09
Funny how things change overnight, the night before the race felt tense, not just our guys, it’s something across the whole hotel. Lots of people, all waiting.
But with dawn comes a new sense of direction, quite a literal one, towards Scunthorpe today for the start of stage 1. There’s fog on the north side of the Humber where we stayed last night, but that lifts as we cross the bridge, a metaphor? We’ll wait and see.
The start of the stage is busy. The people of Scunthorpe have turned out in big numbers to watch the start, it’s strange arriving in the team car to see all those faces peering in to catch a glimpse of a rider, wasting their time on this occasion, they’re all in the camper behind us.
The run down to the start sees a further lift in everyone’s spirits, the riders get more chatty. The arrival of autograph hunters brings with it the chance to laugh, and the more parochial concerns of local press give the riders the chance to express their views on anything but the bike racing before heading to the podium to sign in.
15 minutes to the start and our little unit begins to disperse. The feed station van goes ahead and the team car joins the convoy. The busy car park is quickly deserted leaving just the camper van to take its place on the grid for its own little race to the finish of the stage.
Awaiting the finish of the race is itself a tense affair. For the soigneurs there’s a list of jobs to do, things to buy and preparations to be made for the arrival of the riders, for the press man it’s time to head to the media centre to try and get updates on what’s happening on the road.
Hugh Porter’s arrival on the podium at the finish means the race can’t be far away, so we head to the far end of the finish straight, and wait. For the riders the race will soon be over for the day. For another group of people the work will carry on for a few hours yet, more about them tomorrow.
