It can only be the Tour De France which sees people of all nationalities standing on the roadside awaiting a brief glimpse of the riders coming through.
The crowds were out in force when the 2014 Tour started in Yorkshire and across La Manche, it was the same as fans of all nationalities including plenty of Brits took their place on one of the sections of cobbles which made up fifteen kilometres of a 152.5km stage from Ypres to Ardenberg Porte Du Hainaut.
We arrived at the penultimate set of the cobbles on the Wandinginies-Hamage to Hornaing section close to the village of Finain.
The rain was pouring down but there was plenty of people who had parked their camper vans or walked up a muddy track to stand by the side of a 3700m long secteur, normally used for the Paris-Roubaix classic.
With no TV screens or facilities of any kind, the fans stood patiently, for three hours or more, looking at their phones or listened to French radio trying to find out how this stage was going.
The cobbles meant that there was no caravan which proceeds the tour handing out goodies and as the the rain continued that the stage could be abandoned.
Around 4.45pm local time, helicopters appeared and motorbikes and cars thundered over the cobbles with horns blaring.
That meant the riders were on their way and with a whoosh, a lead group containing race leader Vincenzo Nibali and Lars Boom of Belkin, for many the stage favourite, homed into view.
Even on wet cobbles, the speed of the front runners was intense and they were soon out of sight and the fans looked for who was next.
There was at least six groups and a few stragglers who were cheered and encouraged on their way, who followed, with the last man on the road being cheered as loudly as the favourites which had been minus Chris Froome who had withdrawn following three crashes earlier in the stage.
There was not a complaint, not a murmour as the fans made their way back to their vehicles, ecstatic to have seen a bit of the Tour De France, even if it was for just a few minutes.
Pictures copyright of Covsupport News Service