David Parkin on Le Tour, trousers and a driving ambition
AND so here we are: the eve of the Tour de France starting in Yorkshire.
Given the county’s reputation for dour cynicism, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the enthusisam with which residents and businesses have embraced this opportunity.
Other than the odd prophet of doom leaning over to you at a dinner and saying out of the corner of their mouth, “It won’t work. It’ll be a logistical nightmare you know”, everyone I speak to is looking forward to the experience that the weekend ahead will bring across large swathes of the region.
And barring a bloody-minded farmer decided to pull his muckspreader across the path of the peloton, Yorkshire looks well prepared for Le Grand Départ.
Our office in Holbeck neighbours the Welcome to Yorkshire HQ and I’ve been watching the team there embracing their new TdF outfits, designed by Jeff Banks.
“Are you sure it wasn’t Gordon Banks?” said one wag as we watched a couple of Welcome to Yorkshire folk cross the car park in their bright mustard-coloured trousers and blue blazers.
“I had to stop myself shouting Hi De Hi at Gary Verity and Peter Dodd the other day,” restaurateur Phil Richardson of The Foundry told me.
Jeff Banks’ tailoring appears inspired by Showaddywaddy, but cheap gags aside, I love the way that Gary Verity and his team at Welcome to Yorkshire have secured and delivered the biggest annual sporting event in the world to this region.
Big V (although given his recent weight loss, I may have to alter that to Medium Sized V), had a bold ambition and went out and achieved it.
But that couldn’t have been done without the backing and financial support of the region’s councils. They certainly stepped up to the plate, something the Government and sports authorities only did pretty grudgingly having originally backed a Scottish bid to host Le Grand Depart.
When I met Leeds City Council chief executive Tom Riordan for a coffee this week, he pointed to a yellow bike half way up a crane on a new hotel site overlooking the city’s civic quarter as an example of the enthusiasm for the event.
And the iconic, imposing statue of Edward The Black Prince on horseback and one of the nymph statues on City Square, have been fitted with yellow jerseys knitted by older people attending Holbeck Elderly Aid and Holt Park Active, who took up the challenge to create something memorable to welcome visitors to the city.
And Tom and colleagues at the council rightly see the city’s financial commitment to the event as the equivalent of buying a ticket for every resident to enjoy this sporting spectacular for free.
That’s the same in Sheffield and for the wide areas of North and West Yorkshire where Le Tour will snake through tomorrow and Sunday.
Some may not fancy it, but many will and let’s hope the worst they have to handle is a little road congestion.
I hope the weather is kind and the region can showcase itself to the world – letting everyone else see what we know already.
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I KICKED off my Tour de France activity last night at a fascinating dinner hosted by Jaguar with support from Yorkshire Bank at Rudding Park Hotel.
Sunday Times sports writer David Walsh interviewed Team Sky rider Luke Rowe which provided incredible insight.
Rowe is intelligent and articulate and at 24 has a great future in the sport.
Walsh is the veteran sports journalist who exposed Lance Armstrong as a drugs cheat and who kept telling the truth in print despite all the pressure that was brought to bear to stop him.
Walsh and Rowe’s conversation made for a compelling evening.
The cycling enthusiasts in the audience were equally excited by the unveiling of the Pinarello Dogma F8 bicycle which has been developed by Jaguar, one of the sponsors of Team Sky.
This £15k piece of kit can be picked up with two fingers and is a masterpiece of aerodynamics.
I asked a cycling nut sitting on my table whether he would want the bike or a year driving Jaguar’s breathtaking F type sports car.
He was struggling to decide.
That got me thinking of how good I’d look behind the wheel of an F type so I floated the idea with Geoff Bloore of fast growing Leeds-based Global Autocare, who I lease my car from.
Let’s just say he didn’t quite see it as the marketing opportunity that I did.
