The start: A fellow large in personality and in stature falls in step as I wander down past the start area: “This is power station rain, mate. Did ya know that? They tell you in school ’bout the sun heating the sea that evaporates what goes up into the sky and makes clouds what make rain. They don’t tell you nothing ’bout the power stations in the 1940s and 1950s. Them’s power station clouds, them.”
Whether the power stations were responsible, there were gallons of water tipping out of the dead-grey sky for the start of stage four, and the riders were remaining hidden away as much as possible. Huddled in layers of clothing, glumly pedalling to the sign-on podium and then lining up for the start.
Later, a neatly dressed but clearly speeding young man who I saw at least half a dozen times during the day clocked my credentials, and waved his fingers in the air as he danced a splenetic quickstep down the road: “They’ve all got the same thing on … why, oh why, oh why?”
The finish: The MC has been working the crowd for hours, trying to build the level of excitement even though the riders are behind schedule. The fans’ patience is eventually rewarded with Christine Majerus from Boels-Dolmans clawing her way along the right-hand barrier and then Orica-Scott’s Sarah Roy comes whipping into view.
The blue-and-yellow-clad Australian burns up the opposite side of the road, and throws her arms in the air. And then comes to earth with a crash.
Majerus glides past, shattered, barely even noticing Roy climbing to her feet.
Post-race dissection: Canyon-SRAM and Wiggle-Honda were gathered around each other trying to figure out what went wrong. Both teams missed the last big move when Leah Kirchmann and Shara Gillow escaped. Then Deignan countered which set up Majerus to jump across. The chatter seemed to be that they didn’t necessarily know how big the time gaps were so they couldn’t organise their chase properly.
Kasia Niewiadoma has hung onto her lead for another day, and it looks like the big challenge to her supremacy has failed to materialise. All that remains is a lightning-fast circuit race in London tomorrow.