The Tour of Denmark - Post Danmark Rundt - ended yesterday in our neighbourhood. On this final leg each year the riders come into Copenhagen and do 10 laps of six kilometres through our neighbourhood - Frederiksberg. In the little film above, Felix and I played around while the riders flew past.It's just down the road so we wandered down to watch. Like in most European countries cycle sport balances on the border between sport and culture and the Tour of Denmark is no different. Many people wander out to watch over the four days of the event. Between 500,000 and 1,000,000.The last leg on the last stage is the best because you get to see them ride past ten times, instead of just one rainbow lycra blur. We missed the advertising caravan last year so my boy Felix was thrilled when the people in the cars started throwing stuff out. A cooler bag, clapping hands, plastic inflatable noisemakers that you bang together, chewing gum, sweets, water bottles, adverts for this and that.I made this little film last year. The streets are blocked off on the route but the bike lanes are open. It's quite interesting to see the pelaton zip past and then some regular cyclists in the background. They may have glanced over at the race, but then again, maybe not. Same this year; some cyclists stopped up when the riders passed but many didn't.
All in all, it was a lovely afternoon. And my boy Felix's highlight was when the last man in the pelaton, on the last lap, gently rolled his water bottle right to Felix and smiled. Nice touch. We sent the contents to the laboratory, of course. :-)
