Tour de France in Yorkshire: 'It was incredible … The crowd was so loud'

Le Tour is French, but le Grand Départ belonged to Yorkshire. The sun shone and millions turned out. Only the finish – as Mark Cavendish crashed – was a cruel ending

Tour de France opens in Yorkshire – in pictures

Tracy McVeigh
The Observer, Saturday 5 July 2014 20.34 BST
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The leading riders pass over the bridge in West Tanfield, Yorkshire, in the 2014 Tour de France.

The leading riders pass over the bridge in West Tanfield, Yorkshire, on the first stage of the 2014 Tour de France. Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe/PA

It was a day of extraordinary colour, fervour and intensity, marred by a disastrous finale. Yorkshire embraced the Tour de France with spectacular enthusiasm, only to see its favourite cycling son crash out of the stage in the town where his mother lives.

The calamitous clash of bikes involving Mark Cavendish, during the first stage's final sprint through Harrogate, stunned the sun-bathed crowd and left the rider clutching his collarbone. The dream had been victory for Cavendish in the town that has proudly adopted him. The finish was cruelly different, but should not be allowed to cast too long a shadow over the remarkable scenes that preceded it.

The most northerly stage in the history of the Tour had been a triumphant success as about two million people turned out to cheer on the world's best cyclists. The stage winner, Marcel Kittel of Germany, said: "It was incredible, like being in a tunnel, the crowd were so loud."

"It were," said one girl, "all a bit of a blur." In a whir of lycra and straining calf muscles, the sleek, bent bodies flashed past, urged on by the crowds. The spectators pressed forward, to within inches of the wheels in places. It was anarchic and furious. It was the Tour.

For most of those who had waited patiently along the avenue of trees outside the North Yorkshire town of Masham, it was worth the wait. "I was here since 7am and just heard sirens and it was over so fast," said Daniel McKenzie from Darlington. Was it worth the wait? "It was exciting," he said "but maybe I'd have seen more on the telly."

High-fiving British police motorcyclists trailed behind and were a huge hit with spectators, though the accompanying French gendrarmes looked a little bemused.

The midday start was undeniably classy. At Harewood House, the lavish 18th century pile designed by John Carr and Robert Adam, the Grand Départ was given royal backing by Harry, William and Kate. A Red Arrows flypast completed the sense of occasion.

For the riders, the route must have been the brightest of blurs as the villages and wellwishers flashed by: the 198 bikes cut a swath through miles of yellow bunting, green-jacketed "tour makers" and stewards. Endless tiny knitted jerseys fluttered in the breeze. The streets were chock-a-block with French, English and British flags and the ubiquitous yellow-sprayed bicycles and polkadot-painted pubs.

On the hillsides, the sheep were coloured shades of red, white and blue. At St Wilfrid's in Pool-in-Wharfedale, even the graveyard was festooned with cardboard bikes.

Did Cavendish have time to read the multiple "Come on Cav" message of support chalked on the road? Did Chris Froome see his name on signs in fields with the double "O"s made into bicycle wheels? Maybe not, but they must have felt the excitement and enthusiasm of the crowds.

"Yorkshire Glory: The World Looks to us This Weekend" was the headline in the Yorkshire Post. And although spectators had travelled from far and wide, including Australia and Denmark, the day belonged to Yorkshire. Many had seen the race as a cycling day out. The roads were full of bikes until the cavalcade of support vehicles came through with the vans and sponsored trucks who threw merchandise to the whooping crowds – including boxes of Yorkshire Tea and paper flags.

The hills rang with northern-accented French as spectators practised their tour terms on each other, "la lanterne rouge" – the last man – "le peloton" – the front riders – "échappé" – a breakaway: all were suddenly lingua franca in the Dales. By the time the French police on the motorbikes could be seen speeding ahead of the riders, a happy hysteria had overtaken the crowd.

Some spectators, because of early morning road closures, had to get to their spot before 7am. Others had ventured high into the dales on Friday night when the roads, gleaming black with new asphalt, experienced an early evening nose-to-tail jam of camper vans, cars and cyclists, all heading to campsites and laybys before the roads were closed.

Two to three million had been expected, but not every would-be entrepreneur made a killing. Quite a few farmers found that their advertised offers of "Parking £10, no toilets, no facilities" were not taken up. In one village a man offered his parking space for "20 quid and a quid every time you want to use my facilities, I think that's very reasonable".

At Usha Gap in Muker, just below the Buttertubs Pass, the Blackburn and Pye families had been booked in since last September. "Although I did think it would be just about 50 people here. It's more like a festival now," said Jess Blackburn, as a sound system kicked in behind her. "But what a view."

Hotels, B&Bs and pubs were full for miles around. The Tour itself books 1,200 rooms each night for riders and crew. In Gunnerside, neighbours Sharon and Jackie had between them 30 friends and family staying in their terraced cottages and gardens. The sharp bend through their village made for a brilliant view as riders slowed to take it.

Gunnerside village hall had also been taken over. Billy Holmes from Heighington, County Durham, cycled in on Friday night. "46 miles in the wind. I was regretting it halfway round," he said. He and his wife, with 12 friends and family, were camping out in the hall for the weekend. "It's great, we've blow-up mattresses and sleeping bags all over the place but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," said his daughter Laura Holmes.

Purveyors of food and drink worked feverishly from the crack of dawn. In Skipton, 20-year-old Alice Keirle had taken a 90-minute detour to avoid road closures and get to her waitressing job at the Boathouse Cafe. "We opened at 6am as there's a hub just here so we knew people would be wanting their teas and coffees," she said brightly. "But those toilets over there look pretty horrible so I'm letting people use ours. It seems only fair to get into the spirit of things. If the French can do it, we can."

Costing between £6.5m and £10m to stage, the Tour is expected to generate about £100m over the weekend and a global TV audience of 3.5 billion. The race has passed through the UK three times before, but never this far north.

The centrepiece of the first stage was the tough 1,745ft climb of Buttertubs Pass. Last week concerns were raised by one German cyclist that the narrow, hilly roads could lead to accidents.

Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team had a team of 20 out as the race flew round its hairpin bends. Alan Woodhead, the assistant rescue leader, said the tour had brought a dramatic increase in the number of cyclists wanting to ride the route, but warned: "People shouldn't underestimate it because it is an English mountain."

In Masham, where a French rider appeared to wince at the "Viv La Tour" (sic) painted on the humpbacked bridge as the race barrelled through late afternoon, an "entente cordiale" was taking place as the rival Theakstons and Black Sheep beers were sharing the same beer tent.

"We thought the spirit of Le Tour should be represented," said Jo Theakston, of Black Sheep. "So that's why we're having this 'entente cordiale' with both breweries sharing a beer tent and we've put up two giant screens.

"We're also hoping this massive TV audience, as well as the visitors here, will see Yorkshire for what it is, a hidden gem, a region of incredible quality in food and drink that's been under the radar. You couldn't hope for a better shop window for it than the millions watching the Tour."

Not everyone was quite up to speed. In the terraced row of Collyer View, Ilkley, pensioner Jean Woodhead was paperclipping homemade paper bunting to twine along her front hedge.

"I'm just being patriotic. This is good for England, good for Yorkshire." She looked wistfully at her rain-damaged cutout jerseys. "They're not so good as my neighbour's but then she's got a sewing machine." Did she know any of the riders? "Well I know that Bradley Wiggins and there's Rebecca Adlington, she's from Yorkshire." Rebecca Adlington the Nottinghamshire swimmer? "Well, I'm not into my sport really! But it's happening on my doorstep and it makes a change from the football. I'm sick to death of that!"