The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Tour de France: Stage 21 preview

The reigning Tour de France champion is coming our way. (Image: Sky).
Roar Guru
25th July, 2015
3

It is one of the most recognised landmarks on the sporting calendar. The Champs Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower are again the host of the finale for the Tour de France.

It has been a topsy turvy three weeks, with the neverousness of the first week, to the challenging ascensions in both the Pyrenees and the Alps. Now it is time for one last hurrah.

After a difficult last week, the sprinters will be licking their lips to get another chance to have a go for themselves for today. It has been a struggle especially over the last four days in the Alps.

On today’s race, former winner of the tour, Bernand Thevent spoke to Cycling News on the difficulty of today’s proceedings. “This is, of course, a stage for the sprinters. But it’s still more complicated than that. With such a hard Tour, some of the sprinters might not have made it this far, and even if they have, they will probably have lost teammates. Every now and again you get an escape on the Champs. An escape won in 1994 and in 2005 with Vinokourov, so it happens every 10 years or so. Perhaps we’re due another one this year.”

Of the 40 finishes on the Champs, 34 have been won in a bunch sprint. The exceptions: Meslet (1977), Hinault (1979), Pierce (1987), Seigneur (1994) and Vinokourov (2005). Plus LeMond (1989) in a time trial.

Also, remember the final stage of this year’s Giro, where most of the main sprinters had already left the race. It was a breakaway that won the day, courtesy of Etixx Quickstep’s Iljo Keisse.

While it is pretty much certain we will not see this again, it is a possibility, so it would be foolish to rule it out.

The stage is a little over 100 kilometres, and starts in the outskirts of Paris in the town of Sevres. The riders will need only 40 kilometres until they are on the final circuit.

Advertisement

The circuit itself is fairly flat, with the only bump on the profile apparent when they go into the tunnel. However, with the Champs Elysees littered with concrete setts instead of tarmac, and the road rolling upwards towards the Arc de Triomphe, it is an unneeded obstacles for the riders to face after three hard weeks.

Favourites
Today will be a complicated sprint for over more reasons that one.

Firstly, the last stage of the tour is always fairly chaotic on the final circuit, with speeds regularly at the 50-kilometre mark. Today will be a day as nervous as the first.

Secondly, the midstage break can often put a lot of pressure on the sprint teams, especially when these teams have lost riders earlier in the race, their ability to control the race is made extremely difficult.

Third and finally, the complications of losing men throughout the race will also affect the final 10 kilometres, as lead-out’s of the main teams are affected.

For Etixx, there is no Tony Martin, he does the bulldozing effort between kilometres four and two to go, and also no final lead-out man in the form of Mark Renshaw. In terms of Lotto-Soudal, there is no final lead-out man, due to the early loss of Greg Henderson.

Therefore, this issue will mean that certain roles in these key sprint teams will be changed, and thus mean that there is the potential for such lead-out’s to falter. Today, l would not be surprised to see other teams, include Giant-Alpecin and Katusha ruffle some feathers.

Advertisement

However, on a stage like this, l really cannot go past either Andre Griepel or Mark Cavendish for overall stage honours.

Griepel has had an amazing tour to date, with three stage wins in a reduced lead out train, which is a testament to the close knit team of Lotto-Soudal. His power on the tough finish on the Champs Elysees is a perfect match. He is my tip for the stage.

Though, whenever the race finishes on the Champs Elysees, one cannot right off Mark Cavendish. The Etixx rider has won four times on the Champs Elysees. No other rider has won more than twice on the famous finishing straight.

Other riders to look out for include Bryan Coquard, Michael Matthews, Alexander Kristoff, John Degenkolb, Arnaud Demare, Davide Cimolai, and Edvald Boasson Hagen.

close