Last month, from the comfort of my London home, I watched the final stage of the Tour de France around the streets of Paris, as one-hundred-and-sixty brightly clad cyclists completed the last day of the race, whose total course measured just over 3,300km. After a processional ride into the city, the contest began in earnest with the final section of the route taking the riders three times up the narrow, slippery, cobbled streets of Montmartre, past the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, and then down towards to the finish line on the Champs-Élysée. It was a sporting spectacle of the highest quality, a hotly competitive finale – after three weeks of intense racing – set amidst the many famous monuments of the French capital, the whole route packed with enthusiastic spectators, despite the pouring rain. I wish I could have been there in person, to see first-hand the culmination of the justly famous race in this justly famous city.
It is hard to imagine anything comparable in London, except perhaps the five-day Test Match at the Oval that took place at the start of this month, in which India beat England by six runs, in one of the great games of recent cricket history. It is not my intention to debate the relative merits of Tour cycling versus Test cricket, but rather to note that these great sporting moments took place in the two greatest cities of Europe, long time competitors, but nowadays more siblings than rivals: two cities that are slowly turning themselves into exemplars of modern democratic urbanism.
Continue reading “A tale of two cities”