Rambouillet to Paris (Champs-Élysées), 120 km (74.6 mi)
Job done. Wiggins is on top of the cycling world as champion in Paris. Photograph: Getty Images
There was only ever going to be one winner today. In a warmup for the blast up The Mall on July 28, Mark Cavendish took the perfect lead out, including the rare sight of the Yellow jersey at the head of the peloton setting a ferocious pace that no rival team could move ahead of to take control with a kilometre to go, to swing out of the final corner, around his final lead out man of Edvald Boasson Hagen and clear to the line. It was a dominant victory, once again by several lengths, and from much further out that his rivals might have expected. As they were hoping to grab his wheel and come around him out of that final corner, they straightened up only to find Cavendish was already twenty yards up the most famous avenue in the World and heading for his forth straight victory in Paris.
Matt Goss was the only man who reacted to his sprint, but just when it looked Cavendish might have gone too early, the fastest man in the world moved clear finishing ahead of a late surging Peter Sagan who probably started his sprint at what would normally be considered the right time, but on this occasion proved to be too late.
Cavendish clearly loves this occasion. It's the finish that every sprinter wants to win ... the unofficial World Championship for sprinters, and fitting then that the man in the World Champions rainbow jersey took the win. That he struggles in the Gruppeto over the mountains day after day, Tour after Tour, even when out of contention for the Green jersey, just so he can have a shot at continuing his consecutive wins in this finest of sprinters stages says it all about his feelings and respect towards the Tour. It was something that past fast men such as Mario Cippolini could never force himself to do.
Four times Cavendish has won it on the Champs-Élysées now, more than anyone else and it was his 23rd career Tour de France stage victory and third in this years race. All in just 106 career Tour de France stages for a remarkable 22 percent strike rate, or better put; one in every five stages raced. Today's victory seen Cavendish move ahead of André Darrigade -- the all-time highest wins for a sprinter -- and also ahead of Lance Armstrong. He now sits forth all time, 11 wins behind the great Eddy Merckx on 34 and at 27-years of age and only entering his prime, there's every reason to believe that Cavendish stands a big chance of reaching the Belgian in the next three or four years.
Of course, I can't go through all these stats without putting out a little praise for Merckx. The greatest cyclist of all-time hit his stage wins haul of 34 in just 7 Tours meaning that if Cavendish was to match that kind of ratio, he would need to win 11 stages next year. That is a little inaccurate however as Cavendish dropped out early on his first two Tours. Merckx raced in 185 Tour stages so to truly match his ratio, Cavendish has 79 stages to win 11 races which is four more Tours and at an average well below his current pace.
Crossing the line a hundred yards behind Cavendish was Wiggins in he Yellow jersey with his arms aloft. Not just for Cavendish's win, but for his own triumph of becoming the first Briton to win the Tour. It was a remarkable achievement and it all hit home when he took to the podium with fellow Brit, Chris Froome on one side and Italian, Vincenzo Nibali on the other, with the British anthem belting out. It was something never before heard on the Champs-Élysées and something I never thought I'd see. Certainly not by the age of 30.
Wiggins took the microphone and kept it short, sweet, and as is typical of Wiggins and his British sense of humour, amusing.
"Right," he began. "We're just going to draw the raffle numbers." He thanked everyone for his sport before remarking that, "Some dreams do come true. My old mum over there? Her son has just won the Tour de France!" He then signed off in a way that only Wiggo could: "Have a safe journey home and don't get too drunk."
He truly is the every man you find out on your club run, but who happens to be very very good. He'd be a great choice to go for a few pints with, though if the opportunity was there, you'd have to wait a while, for the traditional team party that usually accompanies finishing in Paris and winning the Tour will have to wait as Wiggins, Cavendish and the other British riders turn their attention to the Olympic Games. Wiggins will turn his attention from winning, conserving energy, and staying out of trouble, to looking after Cavendish, chasing down breaks and leading out the man from the Isle of Man into London and hopefully to Olympic glory.
Today the Champs-Élysées; next Saturday, The Mall.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It’s an incredible achievement for the team. Four years ago we said we were setting out to win the Tour, but we haven’t just done that, we’ve got second place as well and a handful of stages. Seven stages have been won by British guys this year so that’s one in three – not a bad stat.” -- Mark Cavendish reveals the phenomenal fact that British riders have won 33 percent of the stages in this years Tour de France. Six of those went to Sky riders, one to Garmin's David Millar. Roll on the Olympics.
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FAKE TWEET OF THE DAY
@MarkCavendish Alright, whose up for another lap of France?
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ABANDONMENT'S
Not a chance anyone was pulling out today. For those not after the stage win this was a club run into Paris and a chance to reflect on overcoming three brutal weeks of racing.
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STAGE 20 RESULT
1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Sky in 3-08-07
2. Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale
3. Matt Goss (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
4. Juan Jose Haedo (Arg) Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank
5. Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM
6. Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto-Belisol all at st.
FINAL OVERALL CLASSIFICATION
1. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky in 87-34-47
2. Chris Froome (GBr) Sky at 3-21
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale at 6-19
4. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel) Lotto-Belisol at 10-15
5. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing at 11-04
6. Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Radioshack-Nissan at 15-41
7. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing at 15-49
8. Pierre Rolland (Fra) Europcar at 16-26
9. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana at 16-33
10. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-BigMat at 17-17
Others
12. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Ag2r-La Mondiale at 19-33
35. Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp at 1-25-23
94. Stephen Cummings (GBr) BMC Racing at 2-46-28
104. David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Sharp at 2-54-55
143. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Sky at 3-28-45
FINAL POINTS CLASSIFICATION
1. Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale - 421 pts
2. André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol - 280 pts
3. Matthew Goss (Aus) Orica GreenEdge - 268 pts
FINAL MOUNTAINS CLASSIFICATION
1. Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Europcar - 135 pts
2. Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana - 123 pts
3. Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank - 77 pts
FINAL YOUNG RIDER CLASSIFICATION
1. Teejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing at 87-45-51
2. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat at 6-13
3. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank at 1-05-48
FINAL TEAM CLASSIFICATION
1. RadioShack-Nissan in 263-12-14
2. Sky at 5-46
3. BMC Racing at 36-29
MOST COMBATITIVE RIDER CLASSIFICATION
1. Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank
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THE RACE FOR THE LANTERNE ROUGE
Nothing serious changed today as yesterday's time-trial proved the last opportunity for big time to be lost or indeed to be given up. Jimmy Engoulvent held on for the win by the slenderest of margins beating Jan Ghyselinck by just 32 seconds. Sprinter, Engoulvent was tenth on today's stage with Ghyselinck failing to seize the opportunity to drop off the back in the final kilometres, finishing 61st just 9 seconds back.153. Jan Ghyselinck (Bel) Cofidis in 91-32-23
151. Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Saur-Sojasun at 32 sec
152. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Sharp at 2-51
150. Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Orica GreenEdge at 7-24
149. Julien Fouchard (Fra) Cofidis at 15-05
148. Albert Timmer (Ned) Argos-Shimano at 16-59
