Greig Leach

When I paint cycling (or the Olympics) I create the work live, or as close to live as possible. Most notably, I make sure that I have no idea what has happened prior to where I am in the development of the race. So when I painted this piece, I was focusing on, first, that Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) had dropped away and it was Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) that was on the front along with his countryman, Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data). Secondly, I wanted to point out that Pauwels had raised his hand, but did not strike a fan that was getting in his face, yelling in his ear. I point this out in reaction to Chris Froome (Sky) having struck an equally annoying and endangering fan in an earlier stage. I had little idea that I was foreshadowing what was to come.