I think it is safe to say that I will never have a career as a sports photographer, or even a photographer, however, I have fun trying. the Tour de France was the perfect opportunity to practise my skills, or lack of, and to get our British pride on for the day. We headed out in the early evening to claim our spot along the final stage of the Tour de France as it came into Paris. This year was sort of a special year for the tour because it marked 100 years of its existence! This was more than enough reason to celebrate. I gathered a few friends, we spread our Union Jack along the barriers and took great pleasure of knowing that a Brit was almost certainly about to cycle to victory, much to the annoyance of the surrounding Parisians. (For more information please see Stephen Clarke's book "100 years of annoying the French").
We watched the caravan go past first with their advertising floats, passing out sweeties and spraying the spectators with water. This was much appreciated as it happened to be 35 degrees! The floats did a fantastic job in pumping up the crowd, getting us very exciting to see the cyclists who were busy making their way towards the centre of Paris.
I am not usually a massive sports fan, however I think there is something very special about watching live sports, especially big events such as this. Sport unifies people more than almost anything else and despite rivalry, more often than not, I have found that competition produces friendship, sportsmanship and all round merriment. Nothing is more uplifting than cheering on your team and/or country as well as sharing the moment with those around you. Sports is like a language, it brings people together, despite race, colour, gender or origin and that really is quite marvellous!
We picked a great place on the Rue de Rivoli so we were able to watch the riders do their ten laps before riding off towards the Arch de Triomph. Waving the flag and shouting encouragement to all competitors, we lost our voices and had the most fantastic time.
Mood- Bring on le Tour 2014!!!
Une nouvelle fois, tu nous offres le récit, en image, d'une magnifique journée passée à Paris, cette fois-ci lors de la plus grande fête populaire, le Tour de France.
ReplyDeletePour ne rien gâcher, c'est effectivement la victoire de Christopher Froome pour cette 100è édition (et la deuxième victoire consécutive d'un britannique sur le Tour - Bradley Wiggins en 2012).
Ca y est, le parcours de la 101è édition a été présenté et ... le Tour de France fera escale en Angleterre. Au programme, deux étapes dans le Yorkshire et un Cambridge-Londres pour 3è étape. Soyez nombreux au bord des routes anglaises pour la caravance du tour et les coureurs.
D'ici là, porte-toi bien!
Emmanuel