Stroudies greet the Tour of Britain

We were both tired today but managed to get out at lunchtime to go to Selsley Hill just outside the town. The Tour of Britain, the highlight of the British road race cycle season, was coming from the Forest of Dean via Gloucester and then climbing out of the town centre up the steep Selsley Hill onto the cotswold escarpment. The organisers had also chosen this 2 km hill as the third 'hill climb' of the day's race so it would be a focus of the public interest, and thus crowded.

Getting there nearly an hour early gave us time to lay out a blanket, prepare the shots and have a cup of tea from our flask. Gradually more and more people arrived, many on bikes and dressed for the part.  The mood was convivial with lots of cheering of people passing by on strange modes of transport. 

We herad that there was a 'breakaway' so I thought it would give me a chance to practice the shots.  We heard the murmur of the crowd lower down the hill, as the helicopter hovered high above monitoring the race for the live tv coverage. My Blip is of when they first appeared around the bend half way up the climb, after crossing a cattle grid to climb up onto the National Trust open grassland where we were standing

When I got home I managed to watch the end of the race on tv as the same group of riders held off the main pack of riders. who were five minutes behind them at Selsley. They were nearly caught in the last 100 metres of the race but the rider in the green outfit, Jack Bauer of New Zealand, won the race.

When the peloton finally reached us there was another surge of clapping and cheering and I was surprised at the speed they managed to maintain up the steep slope, and that they were all bunched together on one big group. So I didn't have the opportunity for a variety of images and positions.

I've added several more images as 'Extra photos', showing other views of the breakaway group as they passed by on their climb, and then a shot of the whole peloton, and finally a few riders in the middle of the peloton. I didn't manage to identify any of the well known riders such as Bradley Wiggins or Mark Cavendish, but they all deserve huge credit for making such a huge effort for so many days at a time. Respect.