After three unforgettable stages, the Tour de France has now crossed the Channel and will resume hostilities in France on stage four.
It leaves behind the greatest of all Grand Departs, where crowds flocked to the roadsides in Yorkshire, Cambridge, Essex and London with cycling again extending his place in the hearts and minds of the British public.
So where does British cycle sport go from here?
In bidding for the Grand Depart, legacy was a key part of the process for Gary Verity and his Welcome to Yorkshire team. The first part of it will be the newly-announced Tour of Yorkshire should the UCI accept the application handed jointly by Welcome to Yorkshire and the ASO.
Britain will also welcome some of the WorldTour’s elite back to The Mall for the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic – albeit a race now devoid of Mark Cavendish after the Omega Pharma-Quickstep man underwent surgery on his shoulder injury.
Further down the road, Edinburgh has also submitted an application to host either the 2018 or 2019 Grand Depart.
The crowds of this weekend may well prove to be once in a lifetime stuff, but it is far from the end of elite cycling on these shores as Britain’s place in the sport continues to rise and rise.
