You never forget the first. Today was my first Tour de France stage and it was like just as I expected. Larger-than-life, lots of fun and surprisingly little rain.

A few weeks ago, when I drove ahead of the peloton during the second stage of the Giro d’Italia, I was overwhelmed by the amount of people standing by the road. Someone said that it was nothing, compared to the Tour. I was a bit doubtful, but I shouldn’t have been. It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen, the number and the enthusiasm of the spectators was something truly unique.

With the added bonus of constant horn usage (to say hello back to the spectators) and roaming through the beautiful Yorkshire countryside, it was a day that I won’t forget for a while. I wonder whether seasoned veterans find all this familiar and they are totally used to it, or is it something that is special every time even for them? I might ask a few of them about it tomorrow.