Jeremy Whittle reports from Paris:
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C’est la vie, c’est la guerre, c’est le Tour. That is it for another year. Thank you for reading, thanks for emailing and tweeting, and see you soon for more. I will be back tomorrow for stage two of the Tour de France Femmes. We will have a report for stage 21 of the men’s race coming up soon. Au revoir.
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Tadej Pogacar, the beaten champion, has a chat with Eurosport and is asked how it felt to ride into Paris in second, rather than first position on GC: “I was still really happy to be here. I was really proud with my other teammates. We were riding strong. Yeah, it was not bad at all, I was enjoying it a lot today.”
On the brewing Vingegaard rivalry: “I think we [the fans] are going to have a really great next couple of years in front of the television ... me, I will for sure enjoy these years on the bike, because I love the challenge.”
Will he celebrate tonight? asks Bernie Eisel for Eurosport. “I guess so. We will see what we have prepared ... For sure we’re going to have a nice day, a nice night. Tomorrow I’m already on stage two of the Tour de Femmes, to support my fiancee. Tomorrow I cheer on, then I need to go home and set up some telecoms stuff. Busy life.”
And there you have it. Tadej Pogacar, the two-times Tour de France champion, has to get home and sort out his broadband connection. Then he can start thinking about next year, maybe watch some Tour highlights on YouTube ...
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On the podium.
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Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) has a chat, and is asked about his stage 13 win: “It was definitely one of the last options for me in this Tour. I planned to go all in for the first week, but I was a little bit sick before, so to have this stage win is absolutely amazing ...
“Cycling is the new national sport in Denmark. It’s absolutely crazy ... of course with the start in Copenhagen it was really special for all of us. And to see all these people on the road, we didn’t expect that, not that many people. Of course with Jonas in the yellow jersey it makes cycling grow even more, and now we see half the Danish people here [in Paris], so that’s pretty amazing.”
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Vingegaard, the champion, speaks while holding his young daughter: “It’s just incredible. I mean, now I’ve finally won the Tour. Now nothing can go wrong anymore and I’m sitting with my daughter, and it’s just incredible.
“It’s the biggest cycling race of the year, and it’s the biggest one you can win, and now I’ve done it, and no one can take this away from me.
“I always had the feeling that at least I could fight for the win. But I think yeah, in the end, when I really started believing was after Hautacam. I mean, I always believed in it, but then I was really thinking: something has to go almost wrong before I don’t win, that was after Hautacam.”
He is asked about seeing all the Danish fans in Paris: “That was really incredible for me. So many Danes here, so many Danes arrived to see me ride in the yellow jersey. I appreciate it so much and I have to say thank you to every Dane who’s here and that has been cheering for me for three weeks now, it means everything to me.”
How will he celebrate his victory? “Tuesday I have to go to Holland ... Wednesday in Copenhagen, Thursday in the town I live in, and Friday I’ll be on the couch for one week.
“Of course I’m super happy about my victory now. Of course now I want to celebrate, relax, but then I also want more [Tour de France victories], yes.”
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“Where’s my make-up,” asks south London’s Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) when he appears for a chat on Eurosport.
“I’ve loved it. I loved it last year, but to be that percentage or so stronger, and be able do stuff in the races, it’s been so much fun ... You get so wrapped up in it. It’s only when you look at your phone afterwards that you’re like: ‘Oh yeah, actually, this is the Tour de France’.”
Adam Blythe tells him how brilliant his performances have been. “You’re trying to get me a bit emotional again ... it’s great, I’ve loved every minute of it. Even the mountains: it’s suffering, but it’s beautiful suffering. It’s been great – I’m happy.”
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Peter Sagan speaks! He is asked about the final sprint on Eurosport. “Pretty messy ... On the last turn my chain dropped ... I started my sprint but Jakobsen was in the front. His chain dropped out ... I came over, I gained some positions, but in the end it was not enough.”
There you go: Jaksobsen dropped his chain, says Sagan, which explains why he was nowhere in the end.
How was his Tour? “For me it was quite easy. A lot of years I was dealing with media every day, podium, I did it with green jersey ... interview stuff, people around the hotel ... just quite good. The average speed was high, every day full gas.”
And what about his performance? “It could be better, it could be worse, that’s life. No victory but I’m here, I finished. It’s quite special [in Paris].
“Wout van Aert is like some kind of new level. If you see his results in Tour de France, it’s very impressive. Sprint, time trial, climb ... I don’t know why he doesn’t go for yellow jersey ... it looks like easy, he can go [for yellow].”
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The outgoing champion, Tadej Pogacar, speaks about his late attack on the final lap in Paris: “It was kind of funny. Thomas and Ganna on the right side, me on the left. Fuck, it was funny, because I said to Pippo [Ganna] two kilometres before, I said to him: “We go for an attack?” And we were sprinting against each other. And i think I was just dead by the Triomphe, on the roundabout, finished.”
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Philippe Gilbert, after riding his final Tour stage, speaks to Eurosport: “Happy to be in Paris. It was a tough tour, really difficult, and I’m happy to have made it.”
What made it difficult? Wout van Aert? “Yeah. Pretty much him. No, the speed was crazy, out of control. We went with a plan every day, and it ended up with the opposite. Some days we thought it would be controllable, with a nice [breakaway] group like it used to be, but it would end up with a crazy strong group to chase, and finishing with almost 50 [km/h] average. It was dry every day, so it means fast. A lot of tailwind, so it was really fast, fast.
“It’s nice when you can decide yourself, when you stop. That’s my decision and I’m happy to take it. I enjoyed also today. It was nice, yeah.”
Bradley Wiggins remembers rooming with Gilbert 20 years ago when they rode for Française des Jeux. “I never imagined you’d go on to have the career you had. You’ve won everything there is to win in the sport.”
“The same for me about you,” Gilbert replies. “We achieved our goals, I won the one-day races and you won the stage races.
“My career is not over,” the legendary strong man Gilbert concludes. “I want to rest now, and finish on a good note, I hope to win one more race this year.”
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Simon Geschke has a chat with Eurosport: “It was a really fun time in the mountains jersey ... if I’d lost it after two days, I’d have been like: ‘That was fun’. But the longer you keep it, the longer you start believing that you can take it all the way to Paris. I thought I had a realistic chance, actually, but on the last mountain stage I made a few mistakes here and there probably. In the third week the energy levels reached their limits and that was it.”
“Too bad, but that’s part of the sport. The head wanted it more than the legs, but at least I got to wear it to Paris. Kind of a strange feeling, but still nice for the pictures, I guess. It’s a privilege to wear a jersey in the Tour de France. For sure I enjoyed it today also although I was only second in the mountains classification ... it’s sort of a little achievement, as well.”
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Surely you have to question why Groenewegen sprinted so early? It looked like a bit of panic. All he was likely to do was lead out Philipsen, or Ewan, or Sagan, or AN Other. As it happened, Philipsen was in the perfect position to benefit, right on Groenewegen’s wheel. And it was an utterly dominant win by Philipsen in the end. No doubt Mark Cavendish is sitting at home and thinking he could have won that. It was a bad day for both Quick-Step and Jakobsen, who didn’t feature at all.
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Today’s stage winner Philipsen speaks: “I cannot believe [it], it’s a childhood dream coming true, this will take a while to realise. I’m just super-proud of the team, that we finished the Tour like this, it’s the cherry on the cake.
“I think it [the final kilometre] went ideal for me. I was in a great position. I think Dylan was forced to launch early and I could really stay in his wheel and do my final sprint when I wanted ... I’m super happy and proud that I could win in this Champs-Elysees, the dream of any sprinter.
“It couldn’t be better. We had some disappointments earlier this Tour, things that went not the way we wanted. But to finish off in style like this, to win stage 15 and then again on 21, on the most beautiful stage for a sprinter, it’s just unbelievable.”
Top 10 on stage 21:
1) Philipsen 2hr 58min 32sec
2) Groenewegen
3) Kristoff
4) Stuyven
5) Sagan
6) Lecroq
7) Van Poppel
8) Ewan
9) Hofstetter
10) Wright
Kristoff (who finished third) sums up the final sprint: “Unfortunately there was a big movement maybe 300m to go, everybody had to stop pedalling a bit, and we lost a bit of momentum, otherwise I think we could have been closer to Jasper ... anyway I’m happy with third place. Caleb was maybe a bit angry with me, but I felt I was fair, I made a straight line. I got the wheel of Groenwegen and Caleb was a bit boxed in because of that, but that’s not my fault.”
On the final straight, Luka Mezgec took up the leadout for BikeExchange on the left-hand side, trying to set up Groenewegen. Ewan looked pretty much in perfect position but was ultimately boxed in and didn’t even bother to sprint. Groenewegen was second, Kristoff third, Stuyven fourth and Sagan fifth!
Philipsen got on Groenewegen’s wheel - the BikeExchange–Jayco rider went early - and Philipsen timed it perfectly, completely dominating his rival in the final metres after springing out from behind Groenewegen and heading for the clear road on the right. Ewan looked unhappy to be boxed in by Kristoff. A really bad Tour de France for the Australian and for Lotto Soudal.
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Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin–Deceuninck) wins Tour de France Stage 21!
Wow! Philipsen’s second stage win of the race is sealed in Paris! Back down the road, Jumbo-Visma ride across the finish line in formation. Jonas Vingegaard safely negotiates the final stage and wins his first Tour de France.
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1km to go: Thomas (Cofidis) attacks!
2.5km to go: Ewan is well placed for Lotto Soudal and has teammates around him. Philipsen (Alpecin–Deceuninck) is right up there. Jakobsen is going to have a say, too ...
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3.5km to go: Politt leads for a while then pops and drops back. Simmons is there for Trek-Segafredo and Pedersen ... The peloton speeds towards the famous tunnel for one final time.
5km to go: Around the Arc for the final time. Ineos are on the front with Ganna. Trek-Segafredo are massed near the front. Politt is up there for Bora. BikeExchange working for Groenewegen. It’s all happening.
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6.3km to go: Thomas and Ganna attack on the left for Ineos! Pogacar attacks off the front on the other side of the road! Pogacar isn’t letting his Tour de France crown go without at least reminding us all that he still exists!
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7.5km to go: The riders round the right-hand bend which leads up to the start-finish line for the penultimate time. The Arc de Triomphe is visible in the distance. As the bell sounds for the final lap, Schachmann and Rutsch are overwhelmed by the charging peloton. The crowd roars! We are all back together!
8.5km to go: And then there were two. Schachmann and Rutsch are up front together, the two Groupama-FDJ riders having fallen out of it.
9km to go: HUGE ride by Schachmann of Bora-Hansgrohe, on the front again and stamping on the pedals as hard as he can. He has clearly ridden himself into some very good form at this Tour.
11km to go: Schachmann does another turn, then flicks his elbow to ask Jonas Rutsch to have a go. The turns at the front are becoming shorter and shorter as the fatigue really sets in. Are the sprinters’ teams just holding off a touch? No – the gap is now six seconds.
12km to go: Cracking ride by the four up front, this is. They are holding the peloton at around 10sec as they round the Arc de Triomphe. Mind you, the four is now down to three: Le Gac’s tank is empty and he drops back to the bunch.
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15km to go: The break’s advantage drops to under 10 seconds. They will be getting swallowed up before too long. Looking grim-faced, Schachmann puts in another desperate dig to try and keep away. These guys are basically sprinting now to try and keep their advantage ... and it does creep back up to 11sec to mark the effort they are putting in.
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18km to go: Doull has been dropped by the escape group so they are down to four. The gap is holding at 15sec. Le Gac and Duchesne, the Groupama-FDJ teammates, take it up at the tête de la course.
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19km to go: The likes of Lotto Soudal are working desperately to set up a sprint. Their sports directors will be yelling down the team radios and no mistake. But will they simply be setting up the likes of Wout van Aert to win in Paris again? If as expected it’s a big bunch sprint, surely Jakobsen or Ewan will have the raw speed to win it ...?
How about Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux), a man who has won in Paris before, and who tends to excel when everyone else is knackered?
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20km to go: Here we go. Into the final 20km of a truly epic Tour de France. The advantage for this five-man break is 15sec.
The riders in the break are Schachmann, Duchesne, Rutsch, Le Gac and Doull.
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21km to go: #LargelyCeremonial
You get a different perception of the Largely Ceremonial and Processional Paris stage when you’re actually there. It’s unbelievable how fast the riders go on the circuit, and it’s exhilarating to see. Plus, Paris is the greatest city in the world.
— Edward Pickering (@EdwardPickering) July 24, 2022
22km to go: Boasson Hagen has a mechanical and grabs a replacement bike. That’ll be another lung-bursting effort to get back into the peloton, let alone do anything to try and lead out his teammate Peter Sagan.
23km to go: Schachmann continues to put in a massive effort at the front, dragging his breakaway companions along, before dropping back behind them and taking a ‘rest’ of sorts by shielding from the wind. The average speed for the stage is up to 36km/h, fast considering the snail’s pace of earlier.
25km to go: The advantage for this five-man break has risen to 20secs. Schachmann, probably the strongest rider among the group, powers away at the front.
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26km to go: It’s not Pinot! Le Gac and Duchesne are there for Groupama-FDJ. Letour.fr had it wrong, before I noticed that Pinot wasn’t there in the break with my own eyes.
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28km to go: Doull, Rutsch, Van Poppel, Duchesne and Pinot have 10 seconds as they hit Place de la Concorde.
And now 13 seconds. There will be dancing in the streets of Groupama-FDJ tonight if Pinot wins this.
(He won’t.)
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32km to go: Here comes the famous Arc once again. Lotto Soudal are doing a mountain of work at the front, desperately trying to close it all down for Caleb Ewan. They are under big pressure to deliver a stage win at the last time of asking at this Tour de France.
Now, that previous break is swallowed up, and immediately more attacks come off the front. The legs will be burning in the peloton, but at least they’ve had three weeks to warm up for one final mammoth effort.
Doull, Rutsch, Van Poppel, Duchesne and Pinot (!?) are now in an escape group and they have a handful of seconds.
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35km to go: “The Tour will need to end outside Paris in 2024,” emails Steve. “The Olympics start that week and I can’t see the IOC permitting something to get in the way of the Olympics PR juggernaut.”
On the road, the break’s lead is shaved to six seconds. Jorgenson of Movistar has joined in the fun in the escape group so it’s six men up front.
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37km to go: Mattia Cattaneo (Quick-Step) has a mechanical. Looks like he can fix it himself, but that’s going to be a BIG push to get back in touch with the peloton.
Meanwhile, over Paris, the French equivalent of the Red Arrows carry off their second fly-past of the day, belching red, white and blue smoke as they go.
38km to go: The gap is seven seconds. The breakaway riders are working phenomenally well to keep the main bunch at bay. But there is no way they will stay away.
40km to go: Bissegger takes maximum points at the intermediate sprint, but that isn’t important right now.
42km to go: Dewulf (AG2R Citroen), Tratnik (Bahrain-Victorious), Bissegger (EF), Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) and Martínez (Ineos) are the five up front.
They have eight seconds.
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43km to go: Bissegger’s monster attack has helped a group of four to get away and they have five seconds on the frantically chasing bunch.
45km to go: Stefan Bissegger (EF Education–Blah Blah) attacks off the front.
It’s EF Education–Easypost of course, sorry. It’s easy(post) to lose track of all these sponsors.
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46km to go: “Don’t know about the truth in the Rog to Ineos rumours, but I’m going to have to ki-bosh the one about next year’s Tour starting in Tuscany and finishing in Nice,” emails Roland. “It’s common knowledge that next year’s Grand Départ will be in the Pays Basque.”
Thanks for the heads up, Roland. I’ve always wanted to go to Bilbao.
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49km to go: The Louvre!
Meanwhile on the road: the three riders at the front have become five, but plenty of teams behind were not happy to let that break go, and it’s essentially been shut down now.
54km to go: The peloton, which is now strung out after the attacks at the front, wheels around the Arc de Triomphe for the first time. The crowd noise is incredible, hundreds of thousands of fans lining the streets to cheer on the riders.
Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën), the aforementioned Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Krists Neilands (Israel–Premier Tech) are up the road and have a few seconds. They are travelling at 60km/h plus on the downhill drag from the Arc.
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55km to go: The peloton winds its way through the Louvre, past the famous pyramid, then on to Place de la Concorde, and on to the Champs-Élysées ... and on to the finishing circuit! And the attacks begin!
56km to go: Champers. (From a little earlier.)
57km to go: Ah, Wout van Vert. I see what they did there.
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) July 24, 2022
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58km to go: Tiesj Benoot takes it up for Jumbo-Visma as the race hits central Paris. Fans are packed along each side of the road and cheering with enthusiasm.
61km to go: I just searched for the oldest available Tour de France photos of Philippe Gilbert and came up with this beauty: Contador, Wiggins, Froome, Evans and Gilbert at the 2013 route presentation, in Paris, in 2012.
And here is Gilbert chasing Contador up the Mur de Bretagne in 2011 ...
64km to go: I’d be happy to see Caleb Ewan win today. It would be much needed for Lotto Soudal, for Ewan personally, and it would also be a sweet way for his teammate Gilbert to sign off from his stellar career. The champagne would flow. (It will anyway.)
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65km to go: Daniel Lloyd, co-commentating on Eurosport, drops a couple of rumours into the mix:
1) Team Ineos want to sign Primoz Roglic. (Apparently this was reported on a cycling website today.)
2) Next year’s Tour de France will begin in Tuscany and end in Nice.
Both interesting!
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66km to go: A Paris factoid from letour.fr: “The Champs-Élysées has hosted the finale of the Tour de France since 1975 but it’s actually the 50th stage finish today as in 1976 and 1977, two half-stages came to an end on the world’s most beautiful avenue.”
68km to go: The peloton rolls off the solitary climb of the day and closer and closer to central Paris. The pace is edging towards something resembling an actual bike race. It’s been a fun day for the riders, with Philippe Gilbert in particular visibly relishing the final Tour de France stage of his career. But the game faces will be on soon for the flat-out circuit race in the French capital.
72km to go: Pogacar has a quick chat with Eurosport, recorded pre-stage: “I can be really happy with this Tour de France ... we wanted to win ... but we can be proud. I’m really happy and I’m looking forward for the new challenges.
“Stage wins are always incredible in the Tour. First one, two years ago, was something incredible ... I come this year and I won a stage again, it’s something I cannot describe, for me it’s why it’s so beautiful, this racing.”
72.2km to go: This is a nice moment: Simon Geschke of Cofidis is allowed to climb away (fairly slowly) to claim the final KOM point of the 2022 Tour de France.
He will miss out on the jersey to the race winner Vingegaard, but on the final stage, his fellow riders are recognising his gallant efforts in battling for it.
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72.7km to go: “Who first said: Viva Le Tour?” asks Kurt on email.
You did, I think.
(It’s Vive le Tour.)
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73km to go: The race hits the final climb of the 2022 race, the Côte du Pavé des Gardes. Geschke trails Vingegaard by eight points in this classification.
74km to go: Always nice to see a Breton flag at roadside. This was on stage 17.
75km to go: Let’s get it trending: #LargelyCeremonial
The #LargelyCeremonial final stage at #Tdf2022 has begun. Join me!https://t.co/qCBgYbc1SG
— Luke McLaughlin (@LukeMcLaughlin) July 24, 2022
76km to go: Here’s a photo of a horse running alongside the breakaway on stage 19. Why not?
79km to go: Sorry, Geraint Thomas of Team Ineos is of course third in GC, and was fourth in the time trial yesterday. I absent-mindedly made the schoolboy error of checking the stage ranking for Saturday rather than the overall ranking.
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80km to go: And there it is! Jumbo-Visma crack open the champagne. Van Aert, showing off as usual, rides no-handed and takes a swig. Vingegaard taps plastic glasses with his teammates and thanks them for their efforts. No doubt they will be toasting the riders they’ve lost along the way, too: Primoz Roglic, Steven Kruijswijk and Nathan van Hooydonck.
82km to go: The teams have been taking turns to head up to the front and ride in formation, celebrating the fact that no matter how the race has gone for them, they have made it to Paris and (nearly) completed the world’s greatest cycling race. Now the peloton is a little more strung out and it looks like the pace has increased quite a bit as the bunch bears down on Paris. The fans will be ready, there is no question about that.
84km to go: Nils Pollit, Bora-Hansgrohe’s German national champion, is pictured rolling along in the bunch. He’s put in some monstrous rides during this race, and I think he’d have won a stage on a Tour that was raced a bit less aggressively, with a little more breathing space given to breakaways.
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85km to go: “I’ll stick up for the traditional Stage 21 format,” emails Robin Lynch, amid rumours that the Tour will not visit Paris next year.
“1) The Champs Elysees sprint is, let’s face it, always a belter and provides a comparison point for amazing sprinters throughout the years - McEwen, Cavendish, Kittel, Van Aert and, er, Greg Lemond. It is the prize that denotes a true champion.
2) It’s the most beautiful crit of the year and we shallow cycling fans are nothing if not obsessed with the aesthetic of racing.
3) An almost-guaranteed bunch sprint in stage 21 gives us a great story every year as the most chunky-thighed of sprinters barely wheeze their way across the mountains. Otherwise they’d do a Cipo and head for the beach. (Nibali for the Vuelta).”
Very good points all, thanks Robin. Nibali, eh? We live in hope.
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Geraint Thomas, who will finish third in GC, has a chat with Eurosport: “It was a tough end to last year, so to come back from that anyway and prove a few doubters wrong, as I’ve said before ... It’s been really enjoyable, the team’s been great. The Tour’s been a real good bunch of guys ... I’ve done some of my best numbers, but at the same time, some of my best previous were in 2018 and I felt on those climbs I still had more, so it’s hard to go off that, but I’m certainly in top shape.”
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87km to go: I went to Bordeaux in 2010 and saw Mark Cavendish pull off a typically dominant stage win with HTC-Columbia. I think that was the year I bought a Quick-Step water bottle to bring home as a souvenir. The bottle was subsequently nicked off my bike, from the bike park at my then office. I was livid about that, if I am honest.
88km to go: We are not far from the category-four climb, the Côte du Pavé des Gardes. But if there any attacks, it’ll probably be strictly banter.
90km to go: The first time I visited the Tour as a punter was in 2009, the ITT in Annecy, which was won by Alberto Contador. Fabian Cancellara was furious after the stage, I heard, because he felt Contador had gained a massive advantage by having a police motorbike accompanying him around the lake on the 40km course. (Contador was in yellow and as a result had preferential treatment.)
Bradley Wiggins was expected to produce a big ride that day, he was high up on GC with Team Garmin-Slipstream, but he said the many British fans screaming for him by the start ramp made him go out too hard, and he faded in the final part of the course. I was one of those screaming fans, so sorry about that, Bradley.
92km to go: Over on Eurosport, Sean Kelly has named this his favourite ever Tour de France.
Daniel Lloyd is reminiscing about the time that Carlos Sastre told him, at the end of the 2010 Tour, that he hadn’t done a very good job for Cervelo Test Team’s Spanish GC contender.
93km to go: The Tour always generates some jaw-dropping images. Here are some good ones:
94km to go: “Who do you think will win Vuelta?” Marcus writes on email. “With Jumbo-Visma’s dominance do you think this can last for a few years and deter Pogacar’s progress?”
What do you think, readers? You can email me.
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95km to go: Bradley Wiggins is on his motorbike. He sees Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-Easypost) having a pee at roadside, and says that’s the highlight of the stage so far.
Surely it was Pogacar’s jokey attack from the gun?!
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96km to go: Now it’s Jumbo-Visma’s moment to mass at the front of the peloton and celebrate their success.
🇫🇷 #TDF2022
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) July 24, 2022
We’ve 𝐚𝐥𝐥 worked 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 for 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐲. 😎
Enjoy this day, fans. We will do that too! 💛💚 pic.twitter.com/oAOW3yRmsY
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98km to go: The Jumbo-Visma riders, Vingegaard and Van Aert, were asked about doping at the post-stage press conferences yesterday. There was a bit of a rumble on social media as a result. Van Aert bristled and called it a ‘shit question’, while Vingegaard was more diplomatic.
Given the speed this Tour has been raced at, doping questions are inevitable, it must be said.
100km to go: Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Luke Rowe (Ineos) ride along together, chewing the cud.
Mollema, incidentally, is a voracious reader.
According to sources he’s already read five books at this Tour alone.
Bauke Mollema brought six books to the #TDF2022 and has already read five of them 📚 sometimes he’s sat in his team bus and reading 20 minutes before the start (via @lequipe)
— Andy McGrath (@Andymcgra) July 23, 2022
Mads Pedersen looks back on the start of the race in his home country: “The grand depart in Denmark was really special for us. We knew cycling was big in Denmark but to see all these people cheering us on, to see all these people on the road, it was really crazy. Even if you ask the guys [riders] who are not from Denmark they will tell you, Denmark was something special. Thanks to all the Danish fans. Luckily we see a lot of them here in Paris, and that’s pretty nice ... I’ve already seen some of the videos, and it’s going to be a Danish party today.”
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103km to go: Check out our report of Tour de France Femmes stage one:
105km to go: Average speed update: It’s fallen to 22km/h.
105km to go: Luke Rowe of Team Ineos stops to (I think) slap on a bit of sun cream. I think he’s going to stop at the shops for a bag of crisps and a can of drink, too.
The moment that Tadej Pogacar launched a surprise attack and won the 2022 Tour de France messed about with Vingegaard and Van Aert for a bit.
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) July 24, 2022
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108km to go: Champagne glasses (plastic flutes?) are visible in the race director’s car. Philippe Gilbert (Lotto Soudal) rides alongside Van Aert and they share a joke.
He’s 40 now and this will be Gilbert’s last Tour de France, and what a class act he’s been over the years.
That year, in 2011, he won La Flèche Wallone, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Amstel Gold Race, Strade Bianche, the Belgian national championships ... and more!
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110km to go: There is one climb today, a category-four, at Côte du Pavé des Gardes, then an intermediate sprint on the Champs. Neither competition is up for grabs, though, so we are unlikely to see much action at either of those. Meanwhile Vingegaard, Van Aert, Pogacar and Geschke ride on at the front of the bunch. The champagne will be on ice in the Jumbo-Visma team car. Individually and collectively they have been the strongest team, and as one of the sports directors said the other day, Van Aert is worth three men.
At the front, Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) has a chat with his compatriot Vingegaard, and they are having a laugh about something.
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111km to go: The suburban streets of Paris are packed with cheering fans. The average speed so far is 24km/h. Even I could keep up with them at this pace.
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112km to go: Geschke, to be fair to him, is now back and riding up at the front with his fellow jersey-wearers. The bunch has caught up with the four at the front after Vingegaard and co. almost ground to a complete halt in waiting for the peloton.
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Stage 21, Sunday 24 July: Paris La Défense-Champs Elysées, 116km
Rumour has it the men’s Tour finish may – unprecedentedly – move away from Paris in 2024, and given that the formula now looks tired that would be no bad thing. Before the sprinters get to do their worst – Wout Van Aert will be widely tipped to repeat his win of last year – the fans will see stage one of the relaunched Tour de France Femmes, which uses the legendary circuit to kick off a keenly anticipated week’s racing.
115km to go: The flag drops and Pogacar and Van Aert attack with smiles on their faces. Vingegaard joins them at the front, while Geschke takes his ball and goes home (back to the peloton).
I’m going to guess that Pogacar, Vingegaard and Van Aert don’t actually fancy a flat-out day in a three-man breakaway trying to hold the peloton at bay. For now they have a lead of 51sec.
Vingegaard has a pre-stage chat, sporting the yellow jersey, with Eurosport. He is standing alongside Wout van Aert in green: “Wout has been the strongest rider in this race,” say this year’s champion. “To have him by my side has been incredible in the last three weeks.”
Van Aert chips in: “The way we destroyed everyone on the two hardest stages, I will remember forever.”
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Preamble
Judging by the relentless nature of this Tour de France, it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see Tadej Pogacar massing UAE Team Emirates on the front of the peloton in Paris, rejecting tradition and attacking with all they’ve got to try and overhaul Jonas Vingegaard and Jumbo-Visma for the overall win.
But it’s unlikely, of course: barring catastrophe the GC battle is done and dusted following Saturday’s stage 20 time trial when Vingegaard again showed himself to be the strongest of the overall contenders. He leads Pogacar in the GC by 3min 34sec. The Danish rider’s win on the Col du Granon on stage 11, when Jumbo-Visma threw everything (kitchen sink included) at Pogacar, turned out to be the decisive moment of the race, and the day that the Slovenian’s previous dominance evaporated. After Vingegaard’s man-marking job on Pogacar in the following stages, champagne flutes will be out for Jumbo-Visma on today’s largely ceremonial trip from Paris La Défense to the iconic Champs-Élysées.
Plenty to fight for, however: mainly a prestigious Paris sprint victory for the fast men who bravely battled through the mountains. Who will be on the top step of the podium for stage 21? We’re about to find out.
Stage start: 3.30pm UK time
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