Pezcyclingnews: Women’s Tour €15: The Last Three Days



articlebot

Member
Jan 3, 2005
11
14
0
A hugely successful Aviva Women’s Tour rolled to a high-speed and tightly-fought finish in Hemel Hempstead last Sunday, and Gord was there to check out the happenings on stages 3 to 5. It was an experience that seemed to transport people back a little, to the era before the men’s Tour de France got so massive.Riders and fans mixing, a relaxed atmosphere and a cracking competition at the end of it all …Stage 3, Oundle to KetteringThe kids come charging out of school, a building that looks like something out of a classic English period drama; the girls in yacht-sail culottes, and the boys draped in blazers and confidence. All that cool goes out the window when the Aviva Women’s Tour steams past.Oundle is out in force to support the race, but while the crowds are big, they’re not as huge as last year. The reason? Today’s route goes through so many of the satellite villages that the fans have stayed home to watch from their own doorsteps.A couple of girls grudgingly turn back towards school, handing a little flag they’d been waving at the riders to their mother. Just a marginal loss of street-cred.There’s a fascinating collection of photographs and jerseys in the window of Cafe Bar No. 4, and it turns out that Nicki who works in there has a well-known mother-in-law. Shirley Hockridge was one of the best women riders of her time, finishing third in the 1957 Women’s Tour de France and winning the British championships.She...

View the full article
 

Similar threads