The final stage of the Tour de France is all about celebration and glory. But the centennial Tour will take the spectacle and show to a new level with a start in the Versailles palace and a finish along the Champs Elysées at sunset, a parade beyond that any visiting head of state might receive. And to top it all, the most prestigious sprint win is waiting.
The final mountain stage of the Tour de France, this is shortest road stage of the race.
If Chris Froome’s lead looks safe, the others in the top-5 are all within a minute on the overall classification and the mountains jersey is still up for grabs too. The suspense could last all the way to the finish line.
Yesterday’s stage was big but today is bigger. It’s longer, there’s more climbing and there’s very little flat road along the way.
It’s up to the riders but this is the perfect terrain for the contenders and their teams to ambush Chris Froome and Team Sky.
Every sponsor of this site gets a note of thanks and it’s now time to say thanks to Trek who are here for July. The bike company hardly needs an introduction but all the more reason to be grateful for their support.
The first of the trinity of Alpine road stages sees the race climb Alpe d’Huez twice with the feared descent of the Col de Sarenne in between.
Shown live from start to finish this is a crucial day in the race and after weeks of sunshine, storms and fog are forecast for the finish.
Tomorrow’s stage will climb Alpe d’Huez twice but it’s the lone descent of the Col de Sarenne that’s got many talking. Riders are worried and articles are being written about this new descent. The Tour de France could not hope for anything better.
The profile doesn’t do today’s course justice, this is the most technical time trial seen in the Tour de France for years, the kind of route where even a team manager will sweat the car around this course. To make things even harder, there’s a high chance of a thunderstorm and a downpour.
It’s a crucial moment in the race. If Chris Froome seems unshakable in yellow, the other places are still up for grabs.
Rui Costa won the stage today but this wasn’t his only prize. He also collected the Prix de la Combativité.
Each day a rider in the Tour de France wins this prize and gets to stand on the podium, wins some cash and wears a red number on their back the next day. Today it was normal that Costa won, he got in the breakaway and then dropped his rivals à la pédale on the Col de Manse to leave no doubt he was the strongest and most aggressive rider.
But what might be a noble idea often seems to be a consolation prize. Here’s a quick look at this often overlooked award and how it’s awarded every day.
The final week of the Tour de France sees the race head into the Alps. As soon as the route was unveiled last October the talk turned to the tough stages in the Alps, almost to the exclusion of what came before. Now we’ve had two weeks of hard racing with attacks and surprises along the way that have left riders tired and many are anxious about the stages to come.
Today has breakaway branded in bold on it although Peter Sagan and his Cannondale team might have second thoughts.
Team Sky have been fielding doping questions at their press conference. Whistled by some on the way up Ventoux, last night’s TV news in France on TF1 discussed “suspicions” and this morning’s radio bulletins, France Info, relayed a similar topic. The story beat genuine news of positive tests in athletics where some of the biggest names have been caught. It shows how suspicion in cycling appears to trump actual positive samples in athletics.