Visiting Verviers for the start of day 3 of the Tour offered a different experience to that of Dusseldorf. This time I was outside of the big city environment. This was the first true day of Le Tour starting in a small city along the way. Away from all the big crowds of the days before. This presented a unique opportunity to walk around the starting point with it's stage for the riders announcing their arrival and signing in. Walk around the promotional stands of the sponsors, and them also do my own Le Tour souvenir shopping while waiting for the day to start.
I unfortunately didn't quite get all my timing right on the day. I had mistakenly thought the riders were departing at 10:15am. No this was merely the carnival. The riders didn't depart until 12:15pm. 2 hours later. It didn't cause a big issue. Just meant that whereas I had thought I had time to explore Verviers after the tour had departed mean I had to rush to a train I had booked at 12:40pm (alas it ended up 20 minutes late anyway). This meant I didn't get to stay for photos of the team buses as they departed the starting line after the riders had left. I just got to see the multitude of team cars only. This was enough when you consider there are like 21 teams, and each is allowed 2 cars on the road to join following their 9 riders each. Admittedly I had seen the cars before.
The waiting period for the riders was filled with time watching the big screen as each of the riders were introduced. Being at the start just 30 metres from the banner I could see a big screen which was keeping me entertained whilst waiting the the next sponsor to pass on by with the free promotional material. It was quite the laugh just getting into to cheering along with the crowd as we tried to attract the attention of various marketing people revving up the crowd for a big day. There was only pride in being successful in getting some promotional material we didn't even want making friends with all the nationalities around us.
Again being at the start meant I didn't see them actually at full speed. So again I got to see them cruising by in the neutral zone. That means I could recognise the main riders passing by. Or well some of them.
I unfortunately didn't quite get all my timing right on the day. I had mistakenly thought the riders were departing at 10:15am. No this was merely the carnival. The riders didn't depart until 12:15pm. 2 hours later. It didn't cause a big issue. Just meant that whereas I had thought I had time to explore Verviers after the tour had departed mean I had to rush to a train I had booked at 12:40pm (alas it ended up 20 minutes late anyway). This meant I didn't get to stay for photos of the team buses as they departed the starting line after the riders had left. I just got to see the multitude of team cars only. This was enough when you consider there are like 21 teams, and each is allowed 2 cars on the road to join following their 9 riders each. Admittedly I had seen the cars before.
The waiting period for the riders was filled with time watching the big screen as each of the riders were introduced. Being at the start just 30 metres from the banner I could see a big screen which was keeping me entertained whilst waiting the the next sponsor to pass on by with the free promotional material. It was quite the laugh just getting into to cheering along with the crowd as we tried to attract the attention of various marketing people revving up the crowd for a big day. There was only pride in being successful in getting some promotional material we didn't even want making friends with all the nationalities around us.
Again being at the start meant I didn't see them actually at full speed. So again I got to see them cruising by in the neutral zone. That means I could recognise the main riders passing by. Or well some of them. 
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