“Oggie, oggie, oggie,” two men cried as they clung to lamp posts on The Mall.
Cheesey, yes. Drunk, quite possibly. Part of another great atmosphere. You bet!
If Yorkshire provided the greatest Grand Départ, then stage three ensured the Tour de France was given a fitting send off as the WorldTour’s elite made ready to cross the Channel.
Not even the first bit of rain we have experienced during the 101st Tour de France could stop the party atmosphere outside Buckingham Palace as fans clamoured for a view of their Tour de France heroes.
A spectacular Grand Départ in Yorkshire, with millions lining the roads, has whet the appetite for cycling’s greatest spectacle and the South East ensured they too had a taste of the Tour carnival.
The Mall, alongside its attraction as a tourist attraction almost without equal, is fast earning a place as an iconic British sporting stage.
Vos vs Armitstead, Kiplagat vs Kiplagat, and now Kittel vs the bunch as the mighty German powered to victory.
Any view would do, even those offering only a glimpse of the action, while the Victoria Memorial was swarmed with people as Britain’s longest serving monarch looked down towards the finish line.
Stools and even step ladders were employed to give people a good view of proceedings, highlighting just how much the British public have embraced this Tour.
Sports talk in the streets, or on the Tube, is not of Brazil, Neymar and Lionel Messi but of Mark Cavendish, Chris Froome and Kittel.
Cycling, once pushed into a single column in the sports section, is dominating the front pages of the newspapers.
The crowds for the Yorkshire Grand Depart were unprecedented but with the weather kind, it being at a weekend and it being a first ever hosting of the Tour for the white rose county there were at least mitigating circumstances.
London, by contrast, has held plenty of huge sporting events – not least the Olympic Games just two years ago.
But from Cambridge to London, the crowds came once again in their hordes. Spectacular sporting occasions are not to be taking lightly, and as spectacles go, few come as loud, colourful and as large as the Tour de France.
Talk from the riders and directeurs sportif in the paddock echoes these sentiments too.
A summit finish a la Alpe d’Huez or Mont Ventoux might welcome these crowds but nobody expected the numbers who flocked to the ‘Cote de Buttertubs’ or ‘Cote de Holme Moss’.
Stage three, from a sporting point of view, played out exactly as was expected – a bunch sprint, won by the best sprinter.
But as a spectacle it once again went far above what anybody could have imagined.
Follow that Utrecht 2015!
