Tour of Britain hits Malvern (From Malvern Gazette)

Tour of Britain hits Malvern

12:51pm Wednesday 12th September 2007 in News By Robert Hale

CROWDS lined Church Street and packed onto Belle Vue island in the centre of Malvern to cheer on the competitors in the Tour of Britain cycle race today, Wednesday.

About 100 top cyclists from around the world were taking part on Wednesday in Stage Three of the event, the biggest bike race in the country.

The cyclists started at Worcester, and made their way to Powick, for the official start of the stage.

There they were greeted by children from Powick CE Primary School and a smattering of interested residents.

Pupil Eleanor Neale summed up the atmosphere when she said: "It was really exciting. Everyone was waving flags and shouting."

Head teacher at the school, Richard Drewett, said: "It was something different for them to see and they all really enjoyed it."

The race was due to start at 10.20am but was slightly delayed.

In Church Street, where throngs of people gathered from 10.40am, tension built as a loudspeaker car came up the road announcing that Britain's Paul Manning was currenlty leading the pack.

The first sign of the race came into view with swarms of motorcycle police officers, sirens blaring and blue lights flashing, stopping traffic and making sure the road was clear.

And as the leaders appeared, making their way up Church Street as though it was no more than a gentle slope, the crowd burst out in cheers and whistles of approval and encouragement.

There was a short gap after the leaders, and then the main pack came into view, and the cheers grew louder.

As well as the competitors, the Tour of Britain convoy included dozens of vehicles for the teams' support staff, race organisers, press, police and ambulance officers, TV crews and more besides.

After passing through the town, the cyclists crossed through the Wyche Cutting, through Colwall and across country to Knightwick, before heading north to Wolverhampton, the end of the day's race.