A YORKSHIRE medic has told of his excitement at riding with the official Tour de France medical team during the Grand Depart.

Bill Clucas, 43, is clinical supervisor of Yorkshire Ambulance Service’s Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), which deals with complex events – such as the 2012 Olympic Torch tour and the Sherburn Tyre Fire earlier this year – and was selected to accompany the official medics.

He said: “My mother is French and I’m a huge disappointment to her because I’m not fluent, but I can get by. I volunteered in the Congo, where French is the main language, so I can talk to other medical professionals.

“Because of the HART skill-set, we’re quite used to managing scenes that can be quite complicated and that’s why they wanted someone from this team to work within the race and I’m the only one who can speak a modicum of French. I’m very privileged really. I’m in the doctor’s car in the main body of the race, following the cyclists mainly as a communications link between the French team and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service so if there’s any injuries I can liaise to make sure medical assistance is done right.

“I was a little nervous before that because they are doctors and we’re paramedics and they’re from a different country. There’s always a bit of nerves, but they’re absolutely lovely, really down to earth, very friendly and accommodating. Very keen on coming to Yorkshire and listening to our ideas and working with us rather than taking over. The Olympics was very much ‘this is what you’re going to do’, whereas the Tour is ‘let’s work together and make it work for all of us’.”

Bill’s Tour is not over after the riders leave Yorkshire – he has been asked to join the team as they travel to London, and will join his partner Jenna in their Volkswagen camper van to follow the tour as spectators around France.

He said: “It’s such a privilege. There are many London paramedics who could’ve had this job but the organisers wanted a sense of continuity and will be keeping me with them right to London to keep that relationship we’ve built.

“I usually would be watching the tour pass in 20 seconds but this way I’m right in the middle of it. It’s a bit different than normal spectating. Then I’m just spectating and I can let myself enjoy it just for that. I can’t fully throw myself into the tour as I have a very important job to do, but that being said I can still enjoy myself while doing it. I’m really pleased about it. My mum is really happy for me and I’m having to practise my French, so she’s dead chuffed with that.”