At 3pm on 7th July 2007, the 94th edition of the Tour de France got underway with the sound of Big Ben ringing out across London. Two years to the day since the city had been hit by a series of terrorist attacks that killed 52 people and injured more than 770 others, crowds ten or more deep lined the capital’s roads. More still sat in public parks watching the action on large screens. Transport for London later estimated somewhere between 900,000 to 1.5 million people attended the spectacle.
‘You couldn’t hear anything – not even the sound of your tyres. It was
