Le Tour review: Alternative standings - the boy band, the French and the Lanterne Rouge

Back on each rest day I had looked at three alternative, unofficial standings to see how they were playing out. Here then at the end of the Tour is those three categories and who came out on top. Sadly no jerseys awarded!

'The boy band':

1. Chris Froome in 84h 46' 14"

2. Nairo Quintana @ 1' 12"

4. Vincenzo Nibali @ 8' 36"

5. Alberto Contador @ 9' 48"

Well the man who felt they should be known as the five-piece boy-band and not the 'big four' or 'fab-four' as they had been known coming into the Tour, Tejay Van Garderen, was the only one who failed to make it to Paris, falling ill on the first day in the Alps when placed strongly. Vincenzo Nibali muscled his way back in over the same mountain range and ended up ahead of Contador in the pecking order. But as close as they came to fulfilling their prophecy as the 'big four', Alejandro Valverde finished in third overall and replaced the departed Van Garderen in the band of five.

The Frenchmen:

Not just a list of the top Frenchmen, but the Frenchmen many believed might have a crack at a top 10 placing overall before the Tour, in particular those young bucks from last year and Warren Barguil riding his first Tour. At the last time of writing, Barguil was the best of them with Tony Gallopin as the surprise package. On the other hand Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot were struggling to live up to the expectations put on them from last years strong rides. So how did they finish?

1. Romain Bardet (9th overall @ 16' 00")

2. Pierre Rolland @ 1' 30" (10th @ 17' 30")

3. Warren Barguil @ 15' 15" (14th @ 31' 15")

4. Thibaut Pinot @ 22' 52" (16th @ 38' 52")

5. Alexis Vuillermoz @ 1h 19' 6" (25th @ 1h 35' 6")

6. Tony Gallopin @ 1h 24' 44" (31st @ 1h 40' 44")

7. Jean-Christophe Peraud @ 2h 19' 10" (58th @ 2h 35' 10")

Well the final week of the Tour was a good one for the young Frenchmen with Bardet riding superbly to win himself a stage and only lose a collective 2min 50sec on Froome over the Alps. He leapt to the top of my 'selective French standings' ahead of Pierre Rolland who himself got in several breaks. Indeed, Rolland was the best of the lot across all the mountains. Beyond the first rest day when the race entered the first high mountains of the Tour, only Nairo Quintana (-47sec) and Alejandro Valverde (3min 35sec) lost (or gained) less time to Chris Froome than Pierre Rolland who over 7 mountain stages and 12 in total conceded just 5min 47sec to the eventual champion. Thibaut Pinot also won himself a stage on Alpe d'Huez though he couldn't quite overhaul Barguil who finished third on this list. Tony Gallopin fell away in the end while Alexis Vuillermoz had a solid Tour to go with his stage win on the first week. As for Jean-Christophe Peraud, after coming second last year, it was a race to forget. He had a bad crash and it left him limping around at the back of the field into Paris.

Lanterne Rouge:

The Lanterne Rouge; the last man in the race. That went to another Frenchman, Sebastian Chavenel, who came home 4hrs 56min 59sec behind Froome. It may seem to an outsider as an (unofficial) award that no man would want, but in cycling there's a honour to it. Sure you were last, but you made it. You suffered on the edge of time elimination through the mountains and survived. 38 others climbed off their bikes between Utrecht and Paris, but you finished it. Indeed, there can even be financial rewards via invites to the post-Tour criterium circuit.

160. Sébastien Chavanel (FDJ) @ 4h 56' 59" to Froome

159. Svein Tuft (OGE) @ 8' 51"

158. Kenneth Van Bilsen (COF) @ 15' 32"

157. Bryan Nauleau (EUC) @ 16' 47"

156. Matthias Brandle (IAM) @ 19' 23"

155. Davide Cimolai (LAM) @ 23' 38"

Sam Bennett who looked on to win this contest, abandoned the Tour on stage 17 passing the Lanterne Rouge to the bike of Sébastien Chavanel. Svein Tuft, previous winner of this contest finished in 2nd, while Bryan Nauleau leapt up into the top 3 come Paris.