Despite Cavendish's crash and Froome's terminal tumbles, having the Tour over here has been a blast. Yorkshire is claiming the best Grand Départ ever; even on wettish work days the people of Cambridgeshire, Essex and London came out in droves for a glimpse of flying Lycra. As Kittel's sinewy thighs powered him to glory up the Mall, there was a rush of excitement that wasn't about how well "our boys" were doing, but something deeper: it was about the drama, the speed, the spectacle – a passion for cycling itself.
Four million showed up for that glorious opening weekend in Yorkshire, if Tour director Christian Prudhomme's estimates are to be believed – 10 whooping, selfie-snatching fans for every metre of tarmac along the 400km-ish route.
Thousands took their Garmins and Go-Pros to the Dales to test themselves along the route beforehand; many more will doubtless make the pilgrimage in the months and years to come.
Has the Tour had a positive effect on cycling uptake? That depends on who you ask. Cycling clubs like Sheffield's Sharrow CC have reported a "modest" rise in membership. Club secretary Graham Waller says they saw little change pre-Tour, followed by a more marked rise after the Grand Départ, especially amongst young people. But, in typically phlegmatic Yorkshire style, he's hesitant to give the Tour too much credit: "It's probably as much to do with the weather we've been having as anything else."
Seacroft Wheelers in Leeds have seen increased interest, particularly from new cyclists, says club secretary Bill Goddard. Membership went "through the roof" after Wiggo's 2012 Tour win, and again after the Olympics, says Bill, "and the 2014 Tour has kept the upwards trend going". Despite (or perhaps because of) this trend, Seacroft Wheelers have actually lost members to newly established cycling clubs, further evidence of cycling's growth overall.
"There are definitely more club cyclists on Yorkshire's roads," says Bill, "but I hope the Tour's legacy goes beyond people taking part in sportives, to an adoption of cycling for commuting, shopping and general transport. And I can't wait for all those lightly used Dogmas to hit the used market."
Away from this year's Tour route, Velo Club Bristol has noticed something of a "Tour effect", says press officer David Rutty. "Not as marked as 2012, but we're getting new enquiries every week." He's expecting another membership upswing when stage four of the Tour of Britain ends in Bristol on 10 September and stage six starts in Bath a couple of days later.
On the retail side, opinions on the effect of this year's Tour vary. "Certainly footfall through the store has increased, despite Britain not doing so well in 2014," says Lewis Clark, manager of Evans Cycles' Waterloo Cut store, "but there hasn't been as huge a change as we might expect. If only Cav and Froome had stayed in their saddles."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Yorkshire bike shopping seems to be more buoyant. "It's been enormous up here," says James Dalton, Evans Cycles' store manager in Leeds. "We almost cannot cope with the amount of extra business we're doing at the moment."
And that's not just because the sun's out?
"Good weather always helps," he concedes, "but we had a wet week recently and still smashed targets. We saw a rise after the London Olympics for maybe three or four weeks, but the boost accompanying this year's Tour was massive well before the Grand Départ, and it's showing no signs of slowing down." Tour team kits were "going out the door so quickly we couldn't even get them on hangers", says Dalton. "We were selling them straight out of the box."
Some believe sport cycling has nothing to do with "real" cycling – and that events like the Tour are budget-munching boondoggles, of minimal benefit to the everyday rider. But it all helps to normalise the idea of people enjoying a bike ride. According to a poll by ResearchBods, 75% of Yorkshire people want Welcome to Yorkshire to bid for more sporting events, and a new world-class three-day race, imaginatively called "The Tour of Yorkshire" is now slated for May 2015. An interest in sport cycling often acts as a "gateway" to more useful, everyday cycling – Dalton reports "not just a jump in road bike sales, but other types of bike too – hybrids in particular".
However you look at it, the Tour gets more people watching cycling, and not just the sunburnt millions lining Buttertubs and Holme Moss. British Eurosport reported a 60% audience rise for this year's Grand Départ compared to 2013, which means millions more people thinking and talking about it in the pub and the park and the post office queue. Every year it inspires a fresh batch of first-timers to give cycling a go – and that has got to be a good thing.
