CYCLE enthusiasts, school children and residents lined the streets of Middleton-in-Teesdale last week to welcome international racers taking part in the Tour of Britain.
The week-long event which takes professional cyclists from Glasgow to Manchester passed through the upper dale on Tuesday afternoon, attracting spectators from across the region.
Children from the primary school were on hand to wave Union Jacks and cheer the racers on.
Villagers Gordon And Gladys Hutchinson, and their granddaughter Amber, had a spectacular view from their home in Town Head as the race peloton passed by with Kirk Carrion as a backdrop.
Mrs Hutchinson, who “high-fived” the police outriders as they cleared the route ahead of the cyclists, said there had been few such events in the village since the 1960s when she would watch The Milk Race. She said: “I thought it was absolutely brilliant. We don’t get to see these things much anymore.”
People watching the event were kept up to date on the progress of the race by a lead vehicle which announced on its arrival in the village that a pack of three riders had built up a three-minute lead ahead of the main peloton.
Dutchman Dylan van Baarle was the first rider to enter Middleton, only slightly ahead of Frenchman Domont Axel and Irishman Eddie Dunbar.
Among the other riders was London 2012 gold medalist Lasse Norman Hansen, from Denmark.
