"It'll be the biggest thing to hit Ireland since the Pope's visit," said one of the men with Cork accents and mayoral chains round their necks at the Tour de France's huge official launch in Paris's Palace of Congresses. In the media scrum around Stephen Roche and Sean Kelly it was difficult to tell whether the words had come from the Lord Mayor of Cork, Mr Dave McCarthy, or the chairman of Cork County Council, Mr John Mulvihill.
Over lunch, the Minister for Tourism and Sport, Dr Jim McDaid, agreed. He likened the 4.5 km queue that will form at Ringaskiddy ferryport to take the Tour and its extraordinary entourage of TV crews and journalists, mechanics and masseurs, sponsors and commercial floats back to France to "the St Patrick's Day parade multiplied by 10".
He was delighted not only that the French would be watching Dublin - "the city of 600 pubs" says the Tour's publicity - and Ireland's seductive countryside on their televisions next July. He also noted that millions of Germans - our other big European tourist market - would be tuning in to see young Jan Ullrich, last year's winner and the hot favourite for 1998.
He expressed the hope that the bicycle-loving Orangemen of the North might also enter into the spirit of the occasion given that July 12th, the first day of the Tour proper, is also their annual day out. However, he wondered whether there would be a little too much sport on that midsummer Sunday: with the World Cup final from Paris and the British Grand Prix from Silverstone also vying for fans' attention.
Stephen Roche was particularly pleased that after the first day's time trial around Dublin's streets and a "neutralised" dander through the suburbs on the morning of the second, the real racing would begin at the monument erected to him by proud friends and neighbours in Dundrum.
Sean Kelly was more worried about Wicklow looking "terrible" on 950 million people's television screens around the world in the event of rain.
Tour director, Jean-Marie Leblanc, said he had been assured by the Irish Met Service that in the past 20 years it had rained only once on July 11th. That was in 1988 and "it only came down very lightly".