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2019 Tour de France, stage 21: Rambouillet > Champs-Élysées

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Re:

hayneplane said:
Can anyone recall what the closest margin going into a road stage finish in Paris has been. Would be cool to know whether there has ever been an occasion where an attack attempt on the last stage has been close enough to be a realistic chance to succeed.
Believe Contador having 23s on Evans in 2007 was the 2nd or 3rd smallest ever margin. Back then there was 20s boni's too
 
If Alaphilippe had been less than 10 seconds behind going into the final stage he would have at least tried to contest the sprint at the end, I'm sure. He might have finished in the top 15 but doubtful he would've even finished in the top 5.

He would have had a better chance taking by taking a dive when cut off by Ineos and claiming foul. It wouldn't have changed the final result but the outrage would have been enormous.
 
Re: Re:

Red Rick said:
hayneplane said:
Can anyone recall what the closest margin going into a road stage finish in Paris has been. Would be cool to know whether there has ever been an occasion where an attack attempt on the last stage has been close enough to be a realistic chance to succeed.
Believe Contador having 23s on Evans in 2007 was the 2nd or 3rd smallest ever margin. Back then there was 20s boni's too

Cheers I remember watching that and wanting Contador to win having been enthralled by his mountain duels with Rasmussen, but even with that I was disappointed that Evans didn’t seem to properly try anything on the final day to pull the time back given the closeness.
 
Well done to Ewan and Bernal. How to stop the Ineos juggernaut in the Tour ? The big question is how does Froome come back, when and in what shape.but does it really matter ? Ineos will have at least four potential Tour winners on the squad next year. The biggest disappointment apart from the shortened stages was not seeing what Pinot could have done in the finale but that's sport. Jumbo are looking stronger as a team but SK isn't a Tour winner neither is Roglic at the moment. If Dumoulin joins they get a little closer you would hope. Movistar are Movistar, the team splitting is probably the best thing that could happen to it even though their Giro win was textbook they could never manage it in the Tour and it probably is partly a management issue. Quintana is good for a mountain stage but rarely looks like winning a grand tour anymore, Bardet isn't even that good. See how Quintana goes with the new team. Good to see Barguil showing some climbing form again. Adam Yates yet to convince me as a grand tour rider, I hope Haig is eventually let off the leash. Ewan has finally arrived as a top tier sprinter. Green jersey will be a future aim.
 
The older man, possibly a stroke victim, who Alaphilippe went to after his award: was that his father?

I find the family scenes with parents much more moving than those with wives/girlfriends and children. They are the ones who have seen the long journey and the sacrifices.
 
Re:

Armchair cyclist said:
The older man, possibly a stroke victim, who Alaphilippe went to after his award: was that his father?

I find the family scenes with parents much more moving than those with wives/girlfriends and children. They are the ones who have seen the long journey and the sacrifices.

Yes, it was his father.
 
Re: Re:

jaylew said:
Zinoviev Letter said:
jaylew said:
Ewan clearly fastest man at the Tour and top dog this year overall with multiple wins in both GTs + the Champs win. He's stepped up his game. Or is it just a better team for a sprinter?

He was clearly the fastest man at the Tour and of course is top dog at the GTs with five stages. But the thing is that the Tour this year had far from the best sprinter line up compared to some other races. He was equal with Ackermann at the Giro and wasn’t clearly the best in the races where a bigger selection of top sprinters was involved. There are a lot of very fast guys at the moment and who is the best changes from race to race and from stage to stage. That said, Ewan certainly has bragging rights and Groenewegen, who was probably the most common pick for fastest man three weeks ago, is looking at the possibility that he might be marginalized on a very GC focused team.

The sprint lineup wasn't weak at all. You're always going to have a few guys missing. Anyway, I agree that this doesn't suddenly make him the fastest guy in the world as there isn't a lot of separation at the top these days, but you'd have to say he's the top sprinter of 2019 so far.

Whether the sprint lineup was weak depends on what it was being measured against. There were three very fast guys there, which has been pretty much the norm for the Tour over the last while. If you go back a little further to when the second fastest guy was Farrar, this was a strong field by comparison. However, the current list of fast men is abnormally large and there have been races this year with more than three of them present, ie with a stronger sprint field than the Tour. And with Viviani in dubious form, this has mostly been a two man duel.

It was a good two man duel though. It definitely should shift the general view of Ewan v Groenewegen. And I’m very glad to see Ewan come good, both because of the shabby way he was treated last year and because of the bizarre level of hostile criticism he used to get here.
 
Re: Re:

Red Rick said:
hayneplane said:
Can anyone recall what the closest margin going into a road stage finish in Paris has been. Would be cool to know whether there has ever been an occasion where an attack attempt on the last stage has been close enough to be a realistic chance to succeed.
Believe Contador having 23s on Evans in 2007 was the 2nd or 3rd smallest ever margin. Back then there was 20s boni's too

IIRC, Leipheimer was 8 or so seconds behind Evans for the second place. However, I remember him announcing that he will not try to get the second place after his TT win.
 
Re: Re:

burning said:
Red Rick said:
hayneplane said:
Can anyone recall what the closest margin going into a road stage finish in Paris has been. Would be cool to know whether there has ever been an occasion where an attack attempt on the last stage has been close enough to be a realistic chance to succeed.
Believe Contador having 23s on Evans in 2007 was the 2nd or 3rd smallest ever margin. Back then there was 20s boni's too

IIRC, Leipheimer was 8 or so seconds behind Evans for the second place. However, I remember him announcing that he will not try to get the second place after his TT win.
Hasn't Zoetemelk once attacked on the Champs-Elysees!?
 
Re: Re:

staubsauger said:
burning said:
Red Rick said:
hayneplane said:
Can anyone recall what the closest margin going into a road stage finish in Paris has been. Would be cool to know whether there has ever been an occasion where an attack attempt on the last stage has been close enough to be a realistic chance to succeed.
Believe Contador having 23s on Evans in 2007 was the 2nd or 3rd smallest ever margin. Back then there was 20s boni's too

IIRC, Leipheimer was 8 or so seconds behind Evans for the second place. However, I remember him announcing that he will not try to get the second place after his TT win.
Hasn't Zoetemelk once attacked on the Champs-Elysees!?

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-de-france/revisit-bernard-hinaults-win-on-the-champs-elysees-in-1979-video-184579

Looks like he indeed did 40 years ago, and failed due to Hinault being Hinault. :p
 
Re: Re:

Carols said:
Pantani Attacks said:
Lequack said:
It's been suggested the last stage should be a Robaix-Paris cobbled stage and raced properly. And I agree.

Yeah, the Champs Elysees stage is the most pointless thing ever.


It's a Celebration. What is wrong with that after 20 grueling stages? I for one like to see the riders enjoying themselves and not getting serious until late.
If they don't want real racing on the Champs they should move it to the Monday and make it an 1.CRT race replacing the final stage with an ITT from the suburbs into Paris like it was in the past.
 

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