Pour de France: London battles rain to take in race through City
At approximately 3.30pm yesterday, work in the City and Canary Wharf came to a grinding halt as bankers shuffled out on to the streets to get an oh so fleeting glimpse at Le Tour.
The race was held up by roughly half an hour and there was a bit of grumbling as the heavens opened and the only rain shower of the day soaked thousands of huddled suits. “This is a historic occasion… I’ve never been this wet,” said one besuited bystander on Lower Thames St.
But all in all, the City seemed pretty chuffed to have Le Tour steam on by. Renaissance Capital’s global chief economist Charlie Robertson took the photo above, tweeting, “Tour de France popular in Canary Wharf (the cyclists are in the picture, honestly).” Meanwhile, KPMG was pleased to have such a good view of the action. “Our Canary Wharf offices offered a front row seat for today’s London stage of the #tourdefrance,” it tweeted.
Robertson even suggested the spectacle was better than bonuses. “It was a burst of excitement after a long long wait; it was better than the average bonus round since 2008,” he told The Capitalist afterwards. Indeed, until those heady days return the City will have to take what it can get.