Hundreds joined me for a festival of cycling as Tour of Britain was beamed to watching millions from Milton Keynes and Central Beds
Milton Keynes and Central Bedfordshire enjoyed a festival of cycling and a real mixture of weather, as the third stage of the Tour of Britain got underway in the city this morning.
The race rolled out of Midsummer Boulevard from next to Milton Keynes Gallery at 11.30am in front of hundreds of cheering spectators, with the clouds parting as the race started.
The city made a real event of the Tour of Britain visiting for the first time since 2008 with lots of activities to enjoy in the hours before the stage start.
There were plenty of stands to browse and groups promoting cycling, and among those present were The Parks Trust, a charity which manages Milton Keynes’ parks and open spaces.
Parks Trust volunteer Susan Hadfield told me: "We are here to promote the trust and the fact that Milton Keynes is a great place for cycling, because we have all these hard paths.
"The setup all those years ago was fantastic because the paths go under and over the roads, which makes it great for cycling."
Trek Bicycles were among the groups offering bike checks and Stuart Taylor from Trek said: "We are here to support local riders by offering bike checks and to support the Tour, including the Lidl Trek team.
"A lot of people who have come to our stand have struggled with gear setups. Generally people aren’t pumping tyres up to the right pressure, so we are helping them with that."
Other entertainment included bike stunts from Team Extreme, and on the stage before the teams were presented to the crowd, school parties from Two Mile Ash Primary and Coldharbour Primary talked about initiatives they were doing to encourage children to embrace more sustainable ways of travelling to school.
The teams in their brightly-coloured jerseys were all presented to the crowd, with the loudest cheer for Geraint Thomas, for whom the Tour of Britain is his final professional race as a cyclist.
British rider Oscar Onley also had his own fan club near to me, who had designed their own placards of support for the occasion.
Today’s stage finishes in Ampthill in Bedfordshire, with a bunch sprint expected. The previous two stages have been won by Norway’s Olav Kooij who told me at the start: "A hat-trick of stages is my goal, I will see what I can do today."
As the stage crossed the border into Bedfordshire, the sun has generally been shining, and Milton Keynes shone during its moment in the spotlight this morning, with so many enjoying the free fun and the unique spectacle of the country’s largest free-to-view sporting event.