During the years 1994- 2000 I organised a trip over to watch the Paris-Roubaix classic. Taking advantaged of the cheap day returns put on by the ferry companies, we used to leave Belper at 5am. and catch the 8:30 ferry from Dover and then drive down to the Forest of Aranberg. After watching the race thro' here we would dash off to the next cobbled section at Orchies and finally to Cysoing which is where Pete took this photo of Tafi coming thro' alone in the lead. After watching this section we would dash back into the local bar to join a packed throng of Belgians to watch the final kilometers on TV. After the finish it was a long drive back to Calais. and thence back home usually arriving at around Midnight. Pete entered the photo in the Derby Evening Telegraph competition and won first prize in 1999. I found out that Tafi was to be guest of honour at the Dave Rayner fund Dinner that year and we arranged to go and get Tafi to sign the photo and make a presentation to him. John Taylor who works in the photocopying trade did a quantity of copies which were sold in the auction at the dinner to raise money for the fund. -Derrick Woodings/Pete Spencer
