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#tdf – I ventured into the Tour Village for the first time today which is for invitees only. It was lovely – lots of regional food producers showing off their various products from croissants to meatballs. Perhaps the highlight for me though was the hairdressers as I had read about this in one of Ned Boutings books and was keen to see for myself. It is so random that I loved it!

It was a 120 mile drive today from the start to Cambrai but an easy one with clear directions – basically it was one straight road. I arrived at the press centre a couple of hours before the race arrived which gave me time to do some editing before heading out to the finish line. I would have liked to cover the pavè but to get there and then to the finish may have proved problematic since I am traveling solo and have to navigate by myself.

I spent much of my time at the start shooting on film with my Mamiya C330 so will have to wait until I get home to develop and see those. I just hope I have a few decent shots at least. It is a totally different mindset as there is no light meter so I am making an educated guess, everything is in reverse through the view finder and you only have 12 shots per roll of film. I love it!

I knew at the finish the riders would be covered in dust so it would be an ideal time for some informal portraits. One rider that looked in quite a bad way was Alex Dowsett with a cut and bloody arm. I hope that he is ok for tomorrows stage and the rest of the race.

The images are displayed in the order I took them with the portraits added at the end.

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