Cambridge and the 2014 Tour de France

Off the back of a summer filled of sport, it would seem that cycling will be coming back across the channel, and this time, to the natural home of the bicycle – Cambridge. It is one of several locations recently announced to host stages of the 2014 Tour de France, which starts in Leeds and stops off in Cambridge on the last of the three days. This follows the tradition that the first three stages of the tour are held outside of France every alternating year. It last came to Britain in 2007.

With the course now revealed, the flatter inclines should favour Mark Cavendish, as opposed to Box Hill last summer in the Olympics. Should ‘Wiggo’ decide to compete as well, it would give Cambridge another chance to see their Olympic heroes. Quite whether the city can cope with more bicycles remains to be seen – Tab Sport expects the mindless pedestrian, the cyclist needlessly wearing a gown and a Ford Transit that didn’t indicate to all feature in the stage as they navigate their way past the colleges and down to London.

The Tour de France or the sprint to lectures from Girton?

Robinson grad student and avid cycling fan Ben Stauch told The Tab: “2012 has been an incredible year for British Cycling. It was very exciting to hear a stage of the 2014 Tour would start in Cambridge. Having the Tour on British roads is the well-earned result of this process, and it will be such fun to watch – Cambridge is a great choice too given the standing cycling has in peoples’ everyday live in this town. I also hope the event will contribute to the mutual understanding of cyclists and car drivers and thereby improve road safety, with cyclists having got some bad press recently. It’s gonna be one big party, regardless of if you ride a bike or not!”

It will also mark the end of an extremely busy period for the city, as students who graduate will take to the town over the weekend of 5^th and 6^th July 2014, before the Tour comes through the city and down towards London the following Monday.

Given recent events, we at Tab Sport hope any graduating students leaving Lola drunk on the Monday morning stay away from the start line – substance abuse and cycling don’t need any more stories…