The sight of lycra-clad cyclists wheel to wheel on the county’s roads is an all too familiar one these days.

But 30 years ago this week when the Tour de France first raced into Kent, it was a unique spectacle which brought the sport well and truly to the public’s attention.

An estimated three million spectators turned out to witness the historic 127-mile stage which started in Dover and ended in Brighton, taking in Canterbury, Ashford and Tunbridge Wells.

It was the 81st time the race had been run in its long and illustrious history and British rider Chris Boardman - now a well-known television pundit and bike manufacturer - was the first to wear the coveted yellow jersey as leader after winning the opening time trial.

Sadly, his challenge for overall glory quickly faded away with victory eventually going to the Spaniard Miguel Indurain - which proved to be the last time the tour would be won on a steel-framed bike, as alloy and then carbon fibre took over.

The route from Dover was lined with spectators and especially when almost 190 racers streamed into Canterbury, sweeping down the High Street and past the Westgate Towers.

I was reporting on the event for the KentOnline’s sister paper the Kentish Gazette at the time and remember the cyclists shooting past in a colourful blur - gone in a flash.

Back in 1994, cycling in the UK was nowhere near as popular as it is now, so it was quite a unique sight.

It was the year Tony Blair became Labour leader, the England football team were absent from the World Cup in the USA, having failed to qualify, and work was underway on the new Thanet Way.

The event also coincided with the opening of the Channel Tunnel a couple of months earlier, through which the riders and their teams were transported.

The Tour would next return to the UK in 2007 with the stage finishing with a mad dash along the Rheims Way in Canterbury.

It was not without incident in Kent either when an up-and-coming Mark Cavendish - who would go on to be the Tour’s greatest sprinter - was unseated following a crash with an overzealous spectator in Stone Street near Canterbury.

A furious Cavendish, then 22, needed to change bikes and was left stranded when his teammates failed to help him rejoin the leading pack.

His chase was further hindered when a race official warned him against riding in the slipstream of his team car and he rode the last few miles to Canterbury in tears.

The stage is said to have boosted the local economy to the tune of £40 million as the route took riders through Medway, Maidstone and then west to Tunbridge Wells, before climbing through Goudhurst and on towards Ashford and then to the grandstand finish in Canterbury.

The Tour returned to the UK in 2014 when riders battled it out across Yorkshire.

But a bid to stage the ‘Grand Depart’ in the UK in 2025 has been abandoned by UK Sport, although the organisation believes there may be an ‘opportunity’ in 2026, although it is not known whether Kent would feature in any stages.