6.30am train into London. Haven’t done that for a while. Train late, no cabs at Victoria and hat and gloves left on the car seat meant this could only get better.

A shock to the system on departure turned into a caffeine rush on arrival as Millbank Tower awaited the ‘dream team’ in orange and black. They were obviously having the same taxi issues because it was part way through my second pastry that the furore turned to the main entrance and in walked the long line of smiles on their way upstairs to get prepared for the grand depart.

Hanging out with Olympians was a refreshingly normal experience as they flitted between interview preparation and kit changes. I should point out that I cut my teeth on supermodels in the early nineties so these situations are fairly common place to a snapper of a certain age, but this lot were sobering. No starlets here, just good old fashioned down to earth cyclists. That happen to be the best in the world. With gold to prove it.

Dani King all changed and ready, updates her status…

 

Elinor Barker kits up…

 

A quick briefing…

 

Anna-Bianca Schnitzmeier being filmed…

 

Rochelle Gilmore gives a team talk…

 

 

and it was off outside for the team photo. They hid the fact that they were shivering pretty well I thought…

and one with the car…

and back into the warm and the official launch…

Laura Trott…

Laura takes the mic…

I recognise those kicks…

Giorgia Bronzini…

And then the interviews began with Laura Trott…

and continued with Dani King…

 

and continued with Joanna Rowsell…

and continued…

and continued with Mayuko Hagiwara…

and continued…

Then it was time for more coffee. And more interviews. This time time the leader of the pack, Rochelle Gilmore…

a coffee morning, Olympian style…

Pose…

coffee…

more coffee…

Beatrice Bartelloni…

Emily Collins…

 

 

Time to meet the bikes…

and pose with them…

Colnago C59′s…

A cycling celebrity’s work is never done…

 

And as soon as they appeared, they were whisked off to sunnier climes…for the first race of the season, the women’s tour of Qatar.

 

Here’s to a great day with inspirational people doing amazing things. I think it might just have been a landmark moment in cycling. We’ll have to see if we look back in twenty years and say, ‘yup, that was the point where it changed’. For the better.

If you’d like to see the results of those video cameras interviewing, you can find it here…

 

 

Until…