Nine o'clock on a sunny Monday morning. There are crowds on the streets, music on every corner and blue, white and red decorating every shop window. No, not Paris after the World Cup but Enniscorthy for the start of Stage 2 of the Tour de France en Irlande.
As if Wexford needed another reason to celebrate. 1798 is known around here as "The Year of the French". Yesterday is also likely to be an occasion long remembered as the town played host to the final Irish stage of the Tour with scenes that are unlikely to be repeated for a long time to come - perhaps never.
"I can safely say that Enniscorthy will never see the likes of this again," said Eddie Tobin of Wexford County Council, who along with Eamon Hore, was the orchestrator of the whole party. "Our staff were out the last three days and nights getting the place ready and it looks fantastic. We wanted to make the riders and the Tour feel at home before it goes home."
Enniscorthy is also, according to Mr Tobin, the smallest town to be granted a stage start outside France. Up at the GAA grounds, the Entree Village was providing the distinguished guests with an Irish-French breakfast of epic proportions.
The main street could have been a United Nations parade as flags from all over the world hung from every available space. A giant strawberry stand painted white with red berries looked like an ad for the polka-dot jersey, while up on Vinegar Hill a maroon was loaded and ready to fire the starting signal.
Most of the town was up at dawn to get the best viewing points and by 8.00 a.m. the 1998 invasion was already in full swing. Some 500 pikemen marched up the Main Street in a more friendly mood and then formed a guard of honour around the town. Flood's hotel, so often the centre of action in the town, was packed while Doyle's Bar by the start had as many people on the roof as at the door.
When the Tour riders themselves showed up they seemed genuinely surprised at the turnout. Most had made the trip down from Dublin on Sunday evening and stayed in nearby hotels because of the early start. They were out an hour before the departure for the official "signing on" which takes place before every stage start. It gave the crowd a chance to see each rider up close and by now some of the names were starting to sink in.
Chris Boardman had become the adopted man here after his yellow jersey win in the prologue and was given the kind of roaring welcome usually reserved for the Wexford hurlers. "A lot can happen on a long stage like this," he said. "There's a strong crosswind and some of the cyclists will be riding nervously." How prophetic that proved to be.
There was also a great reception for favourite riders like Marco Pantani and Mario Cipollini of Italy. Sean Kelly moved around giving them some advice before heading off to meet the race in his home town. "I'll catch up with them on the bike," he said. By 10 a.m. the top of the town was a blaze of colour as the 189strong peloton set off down Main Street for another of those "neutralised starts". As anyone along the Tour route will tell you by now, the race is gone as quickly as it arrives. But with music from De Dannan on offer later, no one was in any hurry to move on.
