Proloog Tour de France

July 3
Saturday the Tour de France started in Rotterdam. We had planned to go there half a year ago already, we both love to watch and follow the Tour daily on television.
The race starts with a short time trial, the prologue. The course was 8.9 km, situated in the middle of city center. The whole week the weather had been more than beautiful, but today it rained. Not so nice for spectators but also really dangerous for the athletes. The good thing about a time trial is that the starts are 1 minute apart and it takes about 3 hours for all bikers to pass. The better ones start later, so it is exciting until the last athlete finishes. They race at around 50 to 55 km/hour, spectacular!
There was a huge crowd and they cheered for every rider. The noise for the favorites and for the Dutch riders was even louder. The first time a Dutch participant passed I was very amazed by the enthusiasm of the crowd. These guys must have been flying with all these crazy encouragements. It was great being part of this!