Tour of Britain: Yay, go Sky!

OK, I'm a little behind in my reporting, sorry about that, but I'm rushing around like a mad thing trying to do all my work, study, and get ready for a few days off work to see a couple of Tour of Britain stages.

Regarding the Tour of Britain, as I found out last year, it's really strange to watch a cycle race in your own country. You get so accustomed to the scenery of Europe that it's really odd to see road signs you can read, and familiar place names.

There's a few key differences about racing in England: LLB and I were watching the first stage for quite a while, trying to figure out why it didn't look a "real" race, and eventually we came up with the following items:

1) Hardly any flag waving. Come on Brits, everyone in the country must have a Union Jack by now, get it out and get out there waving! Loyal Schlecklanders might remember that this time last year, LLB and I went to the stage in Wells, and we made friends with Derry, who was the only other person on "our" corner who had a flag to wave. Hers was an orange Rabobank flag, and she came up to chat to us, specifically because I was the only other idiot there with a flag. Mine, of course, was the hand-made Leopard flag, yay!

This year I won't be taking the Shack flag, for the obvious reason, instead LLB and I will have our home-made small Sky flags to wave discreetly. Or in my case, to wave like a loony.

2) Less screaming from the fans. Come on girls, Yanto! Scream!

3) No cowbells. Hmm, guess they haven't caught on in the UK yet.

4) No running alongside the riders. We're a bit repressed over here. Give it time.

5) No inflatable clapper sticks. We don't have the "caravan" that gives stuff out, so we seem to lack things like clappers, big wavy hands and so on.

6) No blocks of spectators wearing team colours: in fact, not many people wearing team kit, or team colours.

7) Fewer cyclists in kit watching. Ah, that will be due to the UK having fewer cyclists! But the numbers are growing....

8) Hilarious/shocking disregard for the rights and safety of the cyclists by local motorists: there are cars parked all over the roads, honestly, have they never watched a cycle race? All those metal bikes with sharp metal edges, whizzing past your parked car ... there's no way I'd leave my car on the roadside!

9) Oh, and a strange lack of bunting (hanging triangular flags) in the villages.

Anyway, what about the race:

It always amuses me to see the difference between continental racers and the Pro-Teams. At one point, Rapha Condor Sharp - well respected in UK cycling - were on the front, five blokes all pulling for all they were worth, really moving it along: until you notice the Sky boys behind them, sitting up, laughing, chatting, drinking, and eating. Barely breaking a sweat.

At the end, it was a bit sad that we can clearly only afford one podium girl, but she was quite dishy, and she worked very hard to get everyone in the right place, handing over the right trophy and zipping up the jerseys.

And what a podium it was - Go, Luke!! I couldn't believe it, my pet neo-Pro won the stage! Amazingly for such a young rider, he kept his head when Cav crashed (no-one has said it, but I think Tyler Farrar side-swiped him) and just kept going, to take the stage! Fantastic stuff, well done Luke.

Right, LLB and I are off tomorrow, on our short "holiday" to zip around the middle of the country and see a bit of the ToB. Don't expect me to respond to comments for a couple of days, I'll be too busy being out there watching it!