Leeds, Yorkshire‘s Le Grand Depart Le Grand Coincidence got grander last night, as I watched the welcoming and opening ceremony at the impressively greenYgrey Leeds First Direct Arena. Some of the attendees were wearing a yellow Y, which is totally the same as the greenYgrey‘s promotion of the Y to symbolise yellow!
Leeds Tour de France Le Grand Depart
Hi, it’s Martin ‘Werewolfie’ Adams, satirical comedy sports correspondent at the greenYgrey inspired by darts legend Martin ‘Wolfie’ Adams.
Yes, there was a great greenYgrey Leeds Yorkshire welcome for the 198 Tour de France riders at the 13,500 capacity First Direct Arena, which only opened just over a year ago.
Tour de France Yorkshire Merchandise
Some of the people interviewed, such as singer Alistair Griffin (who sings the official Tour de France Le Grand Depart song, The Road, with the lovely Kimberly Walsh of Girls Aloud fame; the song’s video on YouTube is posted below) and politician Nick Clegg, were wearing a yellow Y, probably to symbolise Yorkshire, but also reminding us of greenYgrey. Such symbolic merchandise is available on the Welcome to Yorkshire website.
As well as greenYgrey, the yellow Y can also represent the iconic yellow jersey of the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire. Yellow and blue are also important symbolic colours in Leeds and Yorkshire.
Tour de France Teams
As I watched the Tour de France teams being introduced last night I realised Team GG (gYg) has a player in the great game.
Yes, I’m proud to announce that Team Europcar is flying the greenYgrey colours.
Tour de France in Leeds
Although I read Marc Latham’s detailed Tour de France Le Grand Depart Leeds history and sights articles on TravelThruHistory and Go Nomad I didn’t know the exact Leeds start and route until this morning.
Then I looked on the Leeds.gov.uk website and saw it starts outside the Leeds art gallery on the Headrow, and then heads east down Eastgate to Regent Street, before heading north towards Harewood House via the Sheepscar Interchange.
Here’s a greenYgrey map showing the direction of the race, and fastest walking routes between the Headrow and Regent Street:
Here’s the official song The Road video, which features some great greenYgrey Yorkshire scenery:
Enjoy the race, and good luck to all the riders, and especially the virtually Team GG and sometimes Team GB ones.
mistYmuse 