Greig Leach

For those who had succeed it making it all of the way around France (and the dips into England and Spain), it was with a sense of relief, pride and accomplishment that they rolled onto the cobbles of the Champs Elysees. As they made the first climb up the wide boulevard towards the L'Arc de Triomphe, they were cheered by tens of thousands and saluted by the French Air Force flying with perfect timing towards them with the tricolore smoke trailing behind. Another tradition is for the team of the Yellow Jersey to lead the peloton around the first lap in Paris, today it was not quite even the first half of the lap before the racing began in earnest.