Stage 21: Évry to Paris Champs-Élysées, 137.5km. Flat.
The slow procession of bikes with hand shakes and clinks of champagne glasses followed by a ramping up of the speed onto the streets of Pairs and the final bunch sprint was inevitable, it always is. The closing ceremony of the big event with a little bit of fun at the end; like a Sunday club run in which a few lads have a dig at the speed signs before rolling home.
And yet a magical day anyway...the Eiffel Tower, Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre; all as the backdrop for the greatest crit on earth. A few protagonists will try and get away to spice things up before the fastest men in the world get their reward for hauling their big frames over the mountains.
It all started three weeks ago on the dales of Yorkshire, England and ended on the smooth cobbles of the Champs-Élysées. So different in many ways, and yet the result was still the same: A sprint victory for Marcel Kittel, the nailed on fastest man in the world now.
It's a day the rest of the bunch get to celebrate their completion of the tour. Stay upright and don't make some catastrophic mistake that will end all your hard work now. Lieuwe Westra knows this all too well having abandoned in Paris in last years Tour and second place man, Jean-Christophe Peraud almost came to the same fate when he crashed today only for Nibali to control the bunch and let him back on again. Nobody would want to see him lose his podium position in that manor.
Rather it is a day to enjoy the sights and the sounds and roll over the line after the sprinters with a satisfied look on your face or even your hands in the air. Vincenzo Nibali didn't even raise his arms as you thought he might. Instead his Astana team-mates patted him on the back, finally free of the burden of looking after their leader in this rolling pack of 164 that made it home to Paris.
Then there is the endless parade of riders to the podium. Not everyone gets to go up there and collect their completion medal, but it's not far off it. The stage winner, all the jersey winners, the most combatitive rider prize (Alessandro De Marchi), the winning team, and then the podium finishers. Lots of flowers, lots of podium girls, loads of Bernard Hinault, and plenty of cheers.
Nibali was the happiest man of the lot, no doubt, but the proudest? Well how do you measure such an individual accolade? Something tells me Cheng Ji, the first Chinese man ever to ride the Tour, and as such the first to finish it, will be just as proud as Nibali tonight despite finishing 6 hours, 2 minutes and 24 seconds behind him as Lanterne Rouge in dead last.
And then it's all over. Like a three week Christmas Day that suddenly ends on New Years morning and the realisation that the fun is all over, that it's back to the real world again for another year. Sure there's the Vuelta, the Worlds, the Giro di Lombardia and then, next spring, the Spring Classics and the Giro, but what's that old stupid cliche: The tour's the tour?
I'll now go and try throw together some review of the whole thing, some thoughts on it all and try put it into some kind of context with which to look back on...or at the very least give some favorite moments! Then it'll be the next stage of the tour: Tour withdrawal. Into the decompression chamber once more to help with my integration back into regular society!
Result:
1. Kittel (GIA) in 3h20'50"
2. Kristoff (KAT)
3. Navardauskas (GRS)
4. Greipel (LTB)
5. Renshaw (OPQ)
6. Eisel (SKY) all s.t.
Overall:
1. Nibali (AST) in 89h59'06"
2. Peraud (ALM) +7'37"
3. Pinot (FDJ) +8'15"
4. Valverde (MOV) +9'40"
5. Van Garderen (BMC) +11'24"
6. Bardet (ALM) +11'26"
7. Konig (TNE) +14'32"
8. Zubeldia (TFR) +17'57"
9. Ten Dam (BEL) +18'11"
10. Mollema (BEL) +21'15"
Points:
1. Sagan (CAN) 431 pts
2. Kristoff (KAT) 282 pts
3. Coquard (EUC) 271 pts
King of the Mountains:
1. Majka (TCS) 181 pts
2. Nibali (AST) 168 pts
3. Rodriguez (KAT) 112 pts
Yong rider:
1. Pinot (FDJ) in 90h07'21"
2. Bardet (ALM) +3'11"
3. Kwiatkowski (OPQ) +1h13'40"
Teams:
1. AG2R La Mondiale in 270h27'02"
2. Belkin Pro Cycling +34'46"
3. Movistar Team +1h06'10"
Combatitive:
De Marchi (CAN)
