We could not have asked for better weather for our cycling fans at River View Pateley for the Tour de Yorkshire. After a cold winter that seemed to go on for ever, nature paid us back with an entire bank-holiday weekend filled with warm sunshine.
There were high spirits in our meadow as campers swarmed towards the town center under the thud of the television helicopters. It would seem like a half century from the sound of church bells ringing in the morning, but for the common theme: celebration.
Crowds cheered heroic Italian Stephane Rossetto, who took a five minute lead early on, and was four and a half minutes ahead when he came through. In the post race interview, he said the Tour de Yorkshire was his favourite race in Europe after the Tour de France. On a day like today, is it any wonder?