The first time I saw the Tour de France was in 1993, when I went to Paris to see the final time trial on the Saturday (won by Tony Rominger), then the sprint stage on the Champs Elysee (won by fan favourite Djamolidine Abdoujaparov from Uzbekistan). This was also Stephen Roche's last tour, so he got to lead the pack onto the final circuit.
The following year in 1994 the Tour came to Brighton and I went down with Mark and Rob to see the stage finish on the seafront, where Cabello won, and Chris Boardman went on the attack. Both these years were won and dominated by Miguel Indurain.
In 2007 the Tour started in London, and I watched the time trial on the Mall with Sarah and Markus. Cancellara won, Geraint Thomas and Mark Cavendish made their Tour debuts and Alberto Contador went on to win the Tour.
Then came 2014 and the miraculous Grand Depart in Yorkshire. We saw stage 1 in the Dales near Leyburn, then the start of stage 2 went past our friends house in York, so we could literally see it on our doorstep, then Rowan and I saw Kittel win stage 3 in London.
This year Danielle's friend Debbie from Maryland came over to see the Grand Depart in Lille. So we went with her, stayed at an airb&b in the centre of Old Lille, saw the teams on the Thursday, stage one on Saturday, and generally enjoyed the whole experience. Travelling by Eurostar is always good, but to avoid Paris was even better. We could walk from the station to our flat in about 15 minutes. Jasper Philipson won the stage into Lille, quite a spectacle.
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