It was called a ‘join the dots tour of the sights’ when 198 riders set out from Whitehall for the Prologue stage in 2007.
The 7.9k individual run for each cyclist took in Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace and a straight run up The Mall to the finish.
The night before, Bradley Wiggins got a tow round on his bike by hanging on to a team car going at 35mph.
That might have been a sight to see.
The man from Maida Vale, less than two miles from his childhood home, flying through the streets on the end of a car just for a feel of the surface he was to experience the following day, without the effort.
Wiggins was a contender for the yellow jersey on day one, not because an expectant home crowd willed it, but because he was the man who specialised in solo runs back then. He was after all track pursuit Olympic champion.
As it turned out, a Swiss with an equal turn of speed was to rain on Brad’s parade.
Fabian Cancellara skated home in 8m:50s to become first leader. Surely the fastest run on a road surface around those parts ever? Given an ordinary day with traffic and all, a motor bike wouldn’t make the near five-mile run in the same time.
Wiggins finished a disappointing fourth in 9:13, with only tenths separating him from American George Hincapie, later to admit his tainted part in getting disgraced drug cheat Lance Armstrong to seven Tour titles.
Wiggins promised Get West London, once it had run the near kilometre back to his Cofidis team bus, he would have a stab at a later road stage.
A man of his word, Wiggins took on Stage 6 where he was on his own for 190k before getting reeled in.
However, nobody was able to catch him when he became first Brit to win the Tour in 2012.
