Tuesday
England are in a penalty shootout against Colombia and I’m queuing for a night boat. Is this Tour going to develop the way 1996 did, with Gareth Southgate bereft and the yellow jersey, Bjarne Riis on that occasion, stalked by suspicion? But no, just as all seems lost, Eric Dier saves the day and Chris Froome is cleared. Football may be coming home, but Froome isn’t. Back of the net on both counts.
Wednesday
Team Sky’s press conference is held in a rural gymnasium. First there is a video highlighting the team’s Ocean Rescue campaign, which talks of “alternative packaging solutions”; thoughts turn to the Jiffy bag sent in 2011 to Bradley Wiggins. Froome, meanwhile, is stony-faced. “It’s been damaging,” he says, understatedly, of his long-running salbutamol controversy.
Thursday
I head out to the rural Vendée to the low-key Education First press gathering at a nondescript hotel. Rigoberto Urán, second to Froome last year and a genuine contender, sits on the steps of the team bus, espousing his love of Colombian bananas. Taylor Phinney, the team’s self‑styled “vibe” master, is asked about the pivotal cobbled stage to Roubaix. “It’s going to be wild,” the Coloradan says. “It’s going to be rad, it’s going to be cool.”
Friday
By 3pm, the Vendéspace, the aircraft hangar housing the media, is deserted. Outside, most of the Tour convoy watches on a big screen as France overpower Uruguay to progress to the World Cup semi-finals. There are cheers and a few tears, but no congas. Later, in a seaside bar, we watch a lacklustre Brazil lose to Belgium, hardly one of the second-choice nations for French fans. After Kevin De Bruyne’s arrowed effort rips into the net, an enraged fan pulls a Brazilian flag down from the wall and stamps on it.
Saturday
Out to the Île de Noirmoutier for the start of stage one. In the start village, the UCI president, David Lappartient, insists repeatedly that it was not the governing body and certainly not him, who leaked Froome’s “difficulty” to the press. When the four-times Tour champion eventually emerges from the Team Sky bus, some greet him warmly, other fans shout: “Dope, dope!” at him. After four Tour wins, he’s used to it and remains unruffled. Moments later, the peloton, serenaded by La Marseillaise, rolls away. The Tour has finally begun.
