In reply to Tobes:
I watched Stage 1 from a spot a few hundred metres from the finish. We had a good view of the riders going uphill away from us and a great, albeit brief, view of the leading pack tearing into view towards and past us, around the bend we were on.
That way we had them in view for a while but also got a good impression of just how fast they are going, that close together. It was very impressive.
The upper placements of the Strava leader boards heading into town, towards us, are now packed out with a load of riders doing the same speed yesterday. That was 39.7 mph just before the bend we were on.
It was pretty crowded and the atmosphere was great, but cars were going by until no more than 10 minutes before the leaders arrived. All parking nearby was shut down all day, both on-street and the car parks along the route in town.
This was our view just before they arrived:
Post edited at 17:33