Right, ha ha ha ha ha what a stage that was.

And what a location, Ned?

The Stad Velodrome.

Amazingly, you forwarded me a bit of information just before he came on air that slightly blew my mind actually.

Last time it was a velodrome, which is why it kind of gets its name built in the 30s.

And it has always been a multi-purpose venue, hasn't it?

Used for all sorts, including football for a long, long time.

But it hosted a, the last time it was used for a bicycle race before today, it hosted a stage finish of the

1967 Tour de France and it was the last ever finish line on the Tour de France that Tom Simpson crossed,

because the following day was Montfortu, 50 years ago.

And that's got a, that's quite a thing.

Yeah.

It is a thing. And do you know what else? The stage start today.

Yeah.

And the stage start today was on a ramp in front of the, what's his name

now, Gustav Gagne Tribune, and Gustav Gagne was a world champion track racer in the 1920s,

died in a terrible accident described by Hemingway in a movable feast at the Park de Paris at a track meeting

and that was in 26 and 12 years later they named when they were building this stadium they named

the biggest tribune after him which you know gives some impression of just what an incredible status he must have had,

a sort of Maradonna-like status. And there was a beautiful statue of him outside the Tribune,

but in this age of modernization and all that sort of thing, they ripped this beautiful statue out, threw it in a skip somewhere.

So Gustav Gagne is still out there somewhere, but we haven't been able to see his statue.

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