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And so, like all good things, the Tour comes to its ceremonial end amid the standard debate about whether it should be a bit more race-y and a bit less ceremonial-y. The riders are probably relieved it's the latter after one of the toughest and hottest Tours ever - in fact other than Day 1 in Denmark, it hasn't rained all Tour which is unusual.
Starting within sight of the Arc de Triomphe, the peloton heads out of Pairs to take in the camera-friendly sight of Versailles before heading back in for the traditional 8-lap criterium.
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If you can't wait until this evening for all the action, the Tour de France Femmes starts today in Paris with a circuit race on the cobbles before heading off for 8 days of racing finishing atop La Super Planche des Belles Filles. GCN+ and EuroSport for that, their race starts at 12.30pm UK time.
So - will today come down to a bunch sprint as is traditional or will another chancer upset the apple cart? It's been a Tour full of surprises but the sprinters will be desperate for their unofficial World Championships. Who to pick? Of the three bunch sprints so far:
[b]Fabio Jakobsen[/b] won Stage 2 handily enough but has since struggled in the heat and the mountains plus he's missing his key leadout man Michael Mørkøv who was ill on the stage into Carcassonne and missed the time limit.
[b]Dylan Groenewegen [/b] won Stage 3 and has since been anonymous, hiding in the pack and avoiding illness.
[b]Jasper Philipsen[/b] won the chaotic sprint into Carcassonne.
Interestingly, the man in 2nd place on all three of those sprints was [b]Wout van Aert[/b] who won here last year, possibly as a result of the finish line being 300m further up the cobbles than in previous years. It's the same line today, 300m more bouncing around foiling those looking for a quick launch out of the final bend.
3.30pm start for a 6.30pm finish with the ITV4 highlights programme at 9pm.
Women's Tour de France just getting underway on the Champs-Elysees.
Thanks for doing these threads @crazy-legs! I love a gander at the route and little recap of the previous stage each morning.
Definitely, many thanks crazy-legs, really enjoyed these every day.
Cheers @crazy-legs for your daily dose of all things TdF! Also, as expected, but waaayyyy later than I anticipated, my fantasy team is plummeting down the standings 🤣
My dream team has been skulking at the back of the pack, but, I'm nipping at anagallis_arvensis' heels. Similar teams so it'll be the small points that will make the difference.
Another vote of thanks @crazy-legs. The threads have been great. I’m no expert on road cycling but do like to watch the tour, and it’s been so useful to have these threads. What a tour it’s been!
THanks @crazy-legs. I've been inspired by your efforts to do the same thing for TdF femmes.
My prediction is WvA to solo break as soon as the get on the champs and hold off the peloton to the very end
My prediction is WvA to solo break as soon as the get on the champs and hold off the peloton to the very end
WvA and Pogacar attacked the instant the flag dropped, followed a few seconds later by Vingegaard who I think for a few seconds actually thought it might have been a genuine move!
They got 100m up the road before sitting up and laughing about it.
Some stunning camera work at the moment.
I’m nipping at anagallis_arvensis’ heels
That is, I assure you, nothing to be proud of!!
LOL, Pogacar attacks on the final lap.
Geraint Thomas was trying to set up a long one for Ganna and Pogacar just went over the top.
Cav would have had that... 😉
Cav def would have had that, yet another bust from quickstep
Fred Wright top ten yet again. Bloody hell.
Orla’s Big Bird look has gone down well with my kids!😀
Nice of WVA to let someone else have a go, all for the team photo op. Jumbo Visma have out sky’ed Ineos, but we’ll done G, he must be very pleased with that podium given the class of first and second.
Onto the Vuelta and might make a trip to see a stage (and son2 who’s training Spain). Roglic won’t be playing decoy leader in that race.
That is, I assure you, nothing to be proud of!!
No but small victories count too you know 😃
Nice of WVA to let someone else have a go,
Tbf that was Phillipsens all day long. Supreme display that even WvA would have trouble to match.
Tbf that was Phillipsens all day long. Supreme display that even WvA would have trouble to match.
Looked to me like they all forgot that the line was 300m further away.
Didn't see any dominance at all.
Looked to me like they all forgot that the line was 300m further away.Didn’t see any dominance at all.
It was very scrappy wasn't it?! QuickStep were nowhere to be seen. Half the peloton was soft pedalling by the end, probably thankful that it was all over!
Daft thing is, they used that finish line last year and the riders went through it 8 times before the actual sprint, you'd have thought they could have worked out the run-in by that point.
Also I'm just not sure that there's such a thing as a dominant sprint train anymore. Half the teams are missing critical riders, there's only about 6 pure sprinters in the race anyway...
ITV4 highlights show starts at 9pm, hopefully some good post-race analysis in there.
Thank you crazy-legs.
The itv4 race coverage got chopped off (we record the race, skip through ads and watch later) before the end.
Will have to watch the Highlights tomorrow to see Geraint on the podium. Thrilled for him.
That was a classic. Cobbles drama, that attacking Alps stage, pidcock defying the laws of physics, wva being the actual terminator, crashes drama and sportsmanship on the hautacam stage.
Thanks to @crazy-legs
I underestimated G, I thought he would be thereabouts, but what a good ride he had.
I got to see a mountain(ish) stage live and nearly melted.
My VG team finished above Mrs Llama, which means I'm owed a fancy dinner.
Cav would have won that for sure, they all miss timed it, and he doesn't.
Yes it was pretty clear quite early on, that Quick step made a huge error not taking Cav.
So many highs for me: Tom Pidcock winning the Alp d'huez stage, Fred Wright being the new Thomas De gendt and 'G' riding better than ever, but not quite catching the 2 new, young whipper snappers.
WvA - there are hardly enough words to describe this athlete, just amazing.
Also clawing my way up from the bottom of the STW velogames league to somewhere acceptable.
Very humbling too, to watch the gentlemanly conduct shown by the new breed of young rider.
Yes it was pretty clear quite early on, that Quick step made a huge error not taking Cav.
Dunno. The speed of the whole tour in general I suspect that making the cuts on the hills might have been a challenge - getting him to the champs Elysees might have been a task and a half for quickstep.....
I thought the idea of starting the #tdf femmes in Paris was a great idea - rather than just finish the mens' race in Paris every year, they should alternate so that one year they do a Grand Départ abroad, the next year somewhere in Fance, then the year after they START with the Paris race. That guarantees that the entire contingent will be there - full sprint trains and everything, plus it means they'll be able to host the finish somewhere else. It's already on the cards for 2024 when (if I correctly understood the conversation between Ned and Dave) they'll finish in Nice on the Promenade Des Anglais, becuase they can't use the Paris because of the Olympics being in town.
In the Fantasy League, Spawn of Yorkshire eased away with it in the end - congratulations! Vanilla83 and Claire rounded out the podium - well done both. Simon Farrington managed fourth after many days at the very pointy end.
Final positions are all here: Final results
Well what a Tour that was!
Huge thanks to @crazy-legs for each of these threads, they were very much appreciated by me.
Roll on next year.
In the Fantasy League, Spawn of Yorkshire eased away with it in the end – congratulations! Vanilla83 and Claire rounded out the podium – well done both. Simon Farrington managed fourth after many days at the very pointy end.
Final positions are all here: Final results
At least my nose can stop bleeding now 😂
I'm not quite so confident that Cav would have won that. I think it's tempting to think that Jakobsen was the reason that QuickStep were so poor in this tour but I think it's more obvious that they went downhill once Mørkøv went home. Worth remembering that Mørkøv has been a factor in more QS sprint wins than any sprinter has.
Can didn't finish in 2018 when he was outside the time cut, but has an otherwise decent record over the hills. Jakobsen has a lot to prove based on the summit finish on his own. Another tour like that will not be accepted. I think he'll be disappointed with his performance.
Considering cav absolutely bossed the gb national champs, wasn't won in a sprint he won in a full on race. I think he would have been fine in the mountains, would have been hard but he def wouldn't have just scraped in 14secs ahead of the time cut
Cav has skirted with the time cuts throughout his career, he's been outside the time and been booted off before. He's also run dangerously close to the cut-off. Just last year he was nearly out on the queen stage whilst wearing green. Took half of the QS team to pace him over the climbs.
I would have loved to see Cav in the tour this year but leading into the race Jakobsen was the #1 sprinter in the world, with Cav #2 but on the same trade team. Patrick Lefevere doesn't do sentimentality in team selections
Considering cav absolutely bossed the gb national champs, wasn’t won in a sprint he won in a full on race. I think he would have been fine in the mountains, would have been hard but he def wouldn’t have just scraped in 14secs ahead of the time cut
How many mountain ranges did that cross? , equally one day races are a million miles away from a grand tour.
He’s also run dangerously close to the cut-off
I don't believe Cav failed to contest the last stage of any TdF he's finished (obvs he's won three of them). 13th was making up the numbers for the year's top sprinter.