Tour De France 2013 Stage 21: Versailles - Paris - Champs-Elysées 133.5km

[mcgarnacle]

3. the start time is past the end of most of the stages and it's due to finish at 4.40 - 4.45am here. no point watching the early parts of the stage either because they don't try until about 10kms short of place de la concorde.

will have to watch the highlights.

got an early one here. went to bed at 2130, woke up at 330 and tuned in with still another 95kms to go and on the outskirts of paris. 6.5 hrs of shut eye, was actually more than most other nights over the last 3 weeks too.

it was worth it. if not for the racing in the early kms, just for the usual pomp, scenery, crowds and frivolity that comes with the final stage as they head towards the 1st arrondissement. and the final presentations in the paris night with the light show on the arc was extremely cool.

i don't think the 2 extra circuits of champs elysees helped the actual race though. although the first was essentially a lap of honour for froome at 50km/hr! , it was always difficult for a breakaway to survive the next 63kms or 9 laps. the speed of the peleton was such that a decent one couldn't form anyway.

and re the sprint, well, i've only seen it once and live, but Cavendish has to realise now that there's a bloke with a tonne of strength who can hold his pace when he's in front. Greipel hasnt been as good as that, but Kittel is. Can't give him a start or he'll continue to lose many more races to the younger German. I think Kittel has had his measure for a while now.

 

[Papa Juggs]

Woke up just in time to catch the finish.

Kittel is awesome. Ended Cav's streak for final day sprints.

Nice gesture by sky. Shows the margin didn't matter too much to them as long as they took home the cash. 450 000 euros apparently but it gets split between team mates. Not sure about the guys that didn't finish.

Quintana was the story of the tour. Hopefully we see him for years to come. Didn't realise how short he was lol

That light show at the end was quite something but no coverage of the fireworks.

 

[seanoff]

trying, from the last two posts to work out what was different.

the team of the yellow jersey always lead the field out of the tunnel to Place de La Concorde and then to the start finish line (tradition) from then on it's a very fast crit to the finish.

the yellow jersey and his team GTFO and ride around in the peleton and leave it to the sprinters teams to do their thing.

breakaways, lol, not at that speed. Vino got away by a couple of seconds in 2005. it is very rare now. (before that was 1994)

and yes the 450K is split amongst the 9 in the team from the start.

 

[Freakie]

I didn't like the twilight finish, it was missing something IMO. I also think riding around the Arc was a little wasted (and annoying since Sherwin told us it was the tomb of the unknown soldier EVERY time).

The visuals in the presentation were cool though.

Did lol when Liggett for the 2000th time said Richie Froome.

 

[mcgarnacle]

trying, from the last two posts to work out what was different.

the team of the yellow jersey always lead the field out of the tunnel to Place de La Concorde and then to the start finish line (tradition) from then on it's a very fast crit to the finish.

the yellow jersey and his team GTFO and ride around in the peleton and leave it to the sprinters teams to do their thing.

After coming onto the Rue de Rivoli and through the start/finish for the first time, SKY got to lead another full lap of the circuit. It wasn't until they crossed the finish line again that the attacks began and the race began for the next 9 laps.

SKY weren't going to get the opp to do a celebration lap after the presentations as it would've been after 2230 local and too dark. So it was agreed for SKY to complete one on the very 1st circuit albeit, a fairly quick one.

Furthermore, there were 10 circuits at 7km (taking in the roundabout) this year as opposed to the 8 circuits at 6km every other year.

and qualifying juggalo balla's comment, SKY came through arm in arm nearly a minute after Kittel. normally, you'll see the winning rider come through amongst the peleton but SKY practically cruised the last km. as such, Quintana, Purito, etc gain some time on Froome.

and SKY definitely didn't GTFO last year. Even Wiggo led out Cavendish for the final sprint.

 

[phantom13]

I didn't like the twilight finish, it was missing something IMO. I also think riding around the Arc was a little wasted (and annoying since Sherwin told us it was the tomb of the unknown soldier EVERY time).

The visuals in the presentation were cool though.

Did lol when Liggett for the 2000th time said Richie Froome.

Maybe ole Phil is just speculating on Sky's next venture, genetically engineering the best rider possible from existing riders. Watch out for Alberto Armstrong and Miguel Lemond to compete against Richie Froome in the coming years.

 

[alfy!]

The Cav getting air born (and beaten):