The gathered millions already knew they had no chance of cheering on Bradley Wiggins, or even David Millar, another British Tour de France veteran who failed to make the cut for this year's event.
Then came the news on Sunday morning: no Mark Cavendish either, after the Manx sprinter failed to recover from the dislocated shoulder suffered in a fall at the finale of Saturday's opening stage.
But the curious thing was that for most of the hordes stretched along the hilly 125 miles between York and Sheffield, this did not seem to matter a bit.
An estimated 2.5 million people lined the roads for the first two stages of the Tour - half the population of Yorkshire. Many were dressed in yellow, others in wigs and at least one in a slightly sweaty-looking penguin outfit - did so mainly in a spirit of enjoying the spectacle, a one-off Yorkshire/French entente cordiale summed up by a vast, hand-painted sign greeting the riders in countryside just beyond Harrogate: Ey up! Allez! Allez!.
The figure of 2.5 million was the educated guess of the committee that brought the Tour opening to the county, and which unsurprisingly claimed the exercise as a vast success.
Those involved had 'revelled in being part of history', said Sir Rodney Walker, chairman of the local tour organisers. 'The passion of the crowds in Yorkshire has really made this a weekend to remember.'
Sunday's stage was one to remember for the riders, too, and not just for the vast, colourful and ever-cheering crowds, but also the series of short but wicked climbs and twisty, stone wall-lined descents.
On some ascents, the spectators were 10 deep, with police saying about 60,000 people were present at just one uphill section - Holme Moss.
There was a hint of possible domestic joy, too, after the Kenyan-born British defending champion, Team Sky's Chris Froome, attacked on the final climb.
But a British victory was not to be, with Italy's Vincenzo Nibali edging the victory in the end.
The Anglo-French nature of the day was immediately obvious from the start point, at York's racecourse, where a stadium crammed with families began by cheering the caravane, the traditional travelling circus of sponsors' vehicles that heralds the peloton's arrival - this time featuring both French fruit drinks unknown to most British consumers and McCain oven chips.
Then, as the announcements continued in French, a Lancaster and a Spitfire flew over to loud cheers.
York is famously one of Britain's more bike-friendly cities and many had arrived on two wheels.
Anthony Smith, his wife, Manon, and seven-year-old daughter Ella all pedalled from their home, with two-year-old Annabel towed in a trailer. 'It's great to see something this big coming to Yorkshire,' said Smith père, a housing worker. 'With things like the Olympics, it always seems to be London.'
The enormous success of the stage, and of the two-day jaunt to Yorkshire - on Monday it heads from Cambridge to central London - was obvious the moment the 197 riders took to the roads just after 11am.
Aside from the crowds, who narrowed the road to little more than a car's width on some climbs, almost every house appeared decorated with jersey-themed bunting, or an old bike sprayed yellow and mounted on a pole.
'This is amazing,' said a veteran official travelling in one of the Tour cars driving along the route amid the riders. 'You don't often see scenes like this.'
In the car ahead, the blue-shirted arm of the race director, Christian Prudhomme, could be seen waving cheerily to the crowds.
The eccentricity count was arguably slightly lower than on some French stages, though one young man did decide the best way to pass his message to stricken sprinter Cavendish was to dress in just a pair of trunks and daub in marker pen on his torso the message: 'Cav get well soon.'
Predominantly, however, the signs were more welcoming of the race overall than nakedly partisan.
Just one forlorn 'Where's Wiggo?' sign was spotted, a fraction of the size of the giant polka dot jersey covering a stone Victorian house and bearing the message: 'Bonjour le Tour!'
Other spectators carried home-made signs, including a pair of primary school age children standing on a verge with a handwritten sign saying: 'Georgia and Jacob welcome the Tour de France.'
After Nibali had stayed just ahead of the chasing pack and the vast circus began to pack up in Sheffield, thoughts turned to lasting legacies.
Ateeb Hassein, a 23-year-old junior doctor in Sheffield, said he already cycled to his hospital. 'Yes, there are hills, but that's the challenge,' he said. 'But my two friends,' he said, pointing to a pair stretching for a better view of the finish, 'haven't ridden a bike since they were kids. But after coming here they said they're going to start again.'
Post By http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jul/06/tour-de-france-yorkshire-2014-stage-2-york-sheffield
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