If you think the Tour de France is just about cycling – think again. Like most major sporting events these days, there is plenty of product placement. “How do you do product place in a cycle race”, you may ask? Each stage of the race is preceded by a ‘caravan’ where sponsors’ floats are accompanied by loud music, advertisements and the sight of grown adults scrabbling like refugees at a feeding station to catch the ‘tat’ being thrown into the crowd from the caravan. Amongst the tat on offer today were pens, key-rings, shopping bags, sun hats and spectacle cloths – all emblazoned with the sponsors’ logos. Alas all we managed to catch today was a packet of ‘Madeleines’ (small buttery cakes) and as Mike won’t eat them I guess I’d better eat them all with a cup of tea!