On a beautiful summer day in Nice, the riders for Orica-GreenEdge, an Australian team, were the fastest on Stage 4's 15.5-mile team time trial course around the Mediterranean city, narrowly beating prestage picks like Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Sky by three-quarters of a second.
With no snow and ice on the roads, Sordo, who proved to be very quick on the tarmac surfaces last season, was fastest on Stage 3.
However, in this production of Coriolanus (BPAT's first Shakespeare, created in 2007), directors Lin Zhaohua and Yi Liming explore a different approach, fast-and-furious, on-stage heavy metal rock bands flank actors delivering lines directly to the audience in strongly attitudinised, static poses.
Yet it was moving to witness how fast they grew, on stage, into the material.
Instagram had grown so fast that Systrom appeared on-stage last month at SXSW to announce that the app had 27 million registered users.
The fast-paced nature of the on-stage performances seemed less hectic when coupled with the slower DIY installations happening on the field.
A bright and fast-cut glossy VT on stage advertises Hillsong's presence in London.
"It was a mad time," says Gadd of Edinburgh, recalling extra shows laid on, queues round the block – and hiding in the tech box, punching his thighs black and blue in frustration as the comedians he'd put on stage played fast and loose with his show.
The last couple of years have seen Canadian megastar Drake declaring his love for grime, from Instagramming stills of Top Boy accompanied by slightly cack-handed renditions of UK slang ("real bod man") to sneaking off from the Brits to appear on stage with fast-rising rap/grime outfit Section Boyz.
