DID you watch the Tour de Yorkshire last weekend?
Race organisers Welcome to Yorkshire were again fortunate with the weather.
Last July they had cracking weather for the Tour de France Grand Depart.
The chances of the skies being blue for a bank holiday weekend at the start of May were altogether lower.
But Welcome to Yorkshire head honcho, Big V himself, Gary Verity, waved his magic wand and other than for the rainy start on Sunday morning in Wakefield, the weather was kind over most of the three days.
Perhaps it was the elation over the success of the event that saw Welcome to Yorkshire announce that 1.5m people had watched the race.
A quarter of the population of Yorkshire?
That sounds a little optimistic to me.
Perhaps that included the TV audience too.
Mild cynicism aside, I think this event certainly underlined Yorkshire’s eminent position in cycling in the UK and reinforced the legacy of the county’s spectacularly successful Tour de France hosting 10 months ago.
I wandered down to watch the climax on Sunday in Roundhay Park in Leeds.
There was a good crowd there but not huge. Many people went en famille and I saw PR people, journalists and corporate financiers among the good natured group of spectators cheering the riders home.
Although given the the cyclists had tackled six steep climbs over the 167km route that day, no wonder even the race leaders looked slower finishing this stage than those who competed in last year’s Grand Depart.
Luxury car brand Maserati looked to be the main sponsor and had an impressive display of motors parked around a temporary building near the finish line.
Apparently those who own a Maserati were invited to cycle part of the route of Friday’s race, which started in Bridlington and finished on the seafront at Scarborough.
I heard one Maserati owner who accepted the invitation, only realised he’d need more than his mountain bike, just the day before the race.
He dashed out to a bike shop in Harrogate and shelled out for a decent racing bike.
Which, given the price people tell me they pay for bicycles these days, was probably not much less than he paid for his Maserati.
One member of the Welcome to Yorkshire team, proudly wearing his blue blazer and yellow chinos, was looking forward to his role at the Tour de Yorkshire.
He was particularly excited when Gary Verity said he wanted to entrust him with added responsibility.
He was given the job of collecting the riders’ urine samples at the end of the race.
I could make a joke there, but it just seems too obvious, even for me.
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YOU may think I include this photograph of pop superstar Beyonce and her rapper husband Jay Z purely for self gratification.
Nothing could be further from the truth. I use it to make a serious point.
It’s just that twice this week I’ve seen photos of the couple at high profile events.
The one above was taken at the Met Ball in New York on Monday. The one below was taken when the pair attended the ‘Fight of the Century’ between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on Saturday.
When your wife goes out wearing outfits like this, there are going to be two outcomes – one definite and one possible.
The definite is that she is going to attract a lot of attention, particularly from press photographers.
The possible is that she may well catch a chill.
What puzzles me is why Jay Z looks so annoyed at those clicking their cameras at Mrs Z.
I’ve heard of passive aggressive, perhaps this is possessive aggressive.
I told you I was making a serious point.
IF you are one of the people that emailed or posted the greeting on social media: “May the 4th be with you” on Monday, may I just remind of of something.
Last Monday was a bank holiday in the UK, as simple as that. Your greeting relates to the Star Wars movies – a badly written, poorly acted film franchise – not a religion or a deeply thought out philosophy.
So please get a life.
Have a great weekend.
I just tell people that we’re in the UK. It’s the 4th of May, not May the 4th.