2006 Tour of Britain (UCI 2.1)
Stage 6, London
Sunday, September 3 | www.tourofbritain.com
By Larry Hickmott
It was a stage that those on the Tour had been looking forward to for a long time for many reasons. It was for instance, the 'big' stage of the race, the one that would take the race to the people of the capital but would have little influence on the race classification. How successful it was others can judge but the fantastic crowds on the roads around London and at the finish show that people love a show and the ToB of was just the ticket to come out and share in the party atmosphere.
During the week, it seemed the general public didn't really care who was leading or what was happening in the race, they just wanted to witness the 'Event' with one spectator telling us the show around the riders was what did it for him. And what a show it was. In six days, the race covered a lot of ground in the country and no two stages were the same. Stage 2 was perhaps my favourite where the riders did race and race hard. From a sporting perspective it was awesome.
The final stage too was certainly different from those that preceded it as the riders battled for the most prestigious victory and in the end, perhaps unfairly so, the win went to one of the bad boys of the event, the World Champion Tom Boonen. I say unfairly because the previous day he was perhaps a little heavy handed with young riders who through rose tinted glasses looked up to these kings of the road. The stars of the race did themselves no favours with their antics on and off the road in the latter part of the stage race and like so many things in life, the minority spoiled it for the majority who were taking the race seriously.
Like in other sports, it would seem that the star riders in some teams are uncontrollable. They do as they please and in some instances, the director sportifs are just as bad as the riders under their charge. That was a side of the sport that had not been seen in previous editions of the race and spoilt what was for the most part a real fight out on the roads for victory in an important race for Britain.
Thankfully, the final stage was a battle royal with the prize being the top step in front of Buckingham Palace. It started in Greenwich where the riders were in a very upbeat mood and none more so than Nico Mattan (pictured) who did his party trick of riding backwards in front of a big crowd. The talk was still of the riders protest and the most sought after rider was Tom Boonen whose team showed themselves to be hypocrites by shutting down the race and then going on to win a hollow victory.
I was particularly interested to see what he had to say about the way he personally handled the situation with the riders from GB trying to race. You can read that by clicking here.
Once under way, the convoy rode a fast tempo pace around the streets of London. With the roads twisting and turning and the sheer volume of traffic, the race was controlled by CSC for sure but was never as relaxed as the final stage of the Tour de France is before it hits its own final circuit where the riders raced for the people. A highlight was seeing the riders sprint over Tower Bridge and continue to race past St Pauls Cathedral in front of large clusters of people eager to see the race pass.
Disturbingly, a woman was lying in the road at one point on the course and appeared to have been hit by a motorcycle. She certainly looked in a bad way and we can only hope she is okay today. Which brings me to one of the dangers of the race and that is the moment the race comes into a built up area. On the open road, the race is quite safe, or at least it felt so when sitting in the 'bubble' on the back of a motorbike.
In built up areas it's a different matter and when there is an accident, it's down to many factors some of which are down to basic luck. Some sections are barriered at sprints and so on, but for the large part, the route is not and that is where the race has to trust people to be patient and to let it pass before trying to cross or enter the space the race occupies.
The way I explained it to a friend was for them to imagine they are standing in a busy part of a town or village with its road furniture and twists and turns all providing their own dangers and then imagine a convoy of 50 motorbikes, cars and cyclists all coming through at speeds of 40 or 50 mph, sometimes quicker for those marshals trying to get to their next junction to lock down the course. Add to that the noise of whistles, car horns, riders making a noise and tyres screeching and it is quite a scene.
I can't begin to explain the fear factor there is as everyone tries to do their job at speed and where split second decisions are having to be made every second of the ride. One wrong decision can result in a motorbike going down, a wayward pedestrian being injured, or the riders held up. It is mayhem. Controlled to a large extent but still a chaotic, fast moving series of events that all interlock and affect each other.
Thankfully, I survived intact (as did my cameras) thanks to my pilot Graham Harper and the protection of the National Escort Group who do a great job, one that is perhaps not given the credit it deserves, to protect the race. And so my thoughts go out to all those who were injured on the race. The worst of which came on the last stage at the diversion off the circuit. It was an incident I saw seconds after it happened.
Right: Stuff happens and during the neutralised section on the stage out of Wolverhampton, whilst using one camera to capture the race from the back of a moving motorbike, the other camera (the more expensive one as luck would have it) fell from my shoulder onto the road.
Well known rider (and nice guy) Leon van Bon picked it up from the road and proceeded to try to suss out how to use it. Camera buff Leon, soon worked out what the buttons did and started to snap away until we caught up with him and he handed over the largely (miracle) undamaged goods and we chatted about photography. The camera continued to be used for the following stages and shows just how well built these pro (Nikon) cameras are. Phhhew! Photo: John Pierce (Photosport Int'l)
Seeing those injured being treated on the ground, and walking around bandaged up was a sobering influence on the excitement felt as the race entered its most exciting stage.
Accident apart, the race went on, and three riders, Britain's Robin Sharman, Denmark's Casper Jorgensen (Denmark) and Aussie James Meadley put their heads on the block as they tried to upset the sprinter teams by hoping their break for freedom would succeed. It didn't because the T-Mobile team shut them down to keep the race together for Mark Cavendish.
In the end, it was a bunch finish and Mark did well to come from eight back to get third whilst Roger Hammond repaid the great efforts of the GB youngsters who made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as they yet again got in there among the best riders in the world and controlled the sprint for their man Hammond.
With the race, won, the podium photos 'in the can' I gathered up my belongings from a week on the road, suitcase in tow, and traipsed off down the mall towards the nearest tube station and a train home. From here I was able to send in the fruits of my work to my manager who promptly got it on the website for everyone to see. The adventure had ended even if the work from it had not.
During the week, we'll bring you more pictures from the race as I get some time to look through the thousands of images taken and put them in a gallery from a race that was memorable for many reasons, the majority great, some not so great but memorable nonetheless.
Photo: John Pierce (Photosport Int'l)
