The Tourist, Simon Clarke's diary, Ep.1

Today went well. It was relatively low-stress, by Tour standards, for most of the day. Obviously the first cobble section we did and the run-in to the finish got a little stressful but we were well-positioned for both and got through relatively safely. 

 
The biggest win of the day was that we all made it to the finish and no one crashed. We have eight strong guys ready for tomorrow’s TTT. That’s the big positive. That’s really important, especially after what happened with Lawson last year, being down a rider from the start, having that media frenzy. It’s nice not to be in the spotlight for something like that. 

 
The Belgian start was good. Lots of crowds, obviously a bit pavé, the cobbled sections. It’s different roads being a Belgian start, but lots of fans out on the roads and that was great to see Belgium really getting behind the Tour. This is my first Tour going into Belgium, it was good to see. There’s a lot of passion in Belgium for professional cycling all-around, not only the spring classics.

Simon