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Tour de France Tour de France 2020 | Stage 21 (Mantes-la-Jolie - Paris, 122 km)

One more stage separates the riders from finishing in Paris. Usually it's a procession with some lame jokes and the jersey wearers on camera. There will be eight local laps with the classic images of the Champs-Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de la Concorde. Traditionally it ends with a bunch sprint, although there are always attacks and once every so many years a strong finisher who stays away.

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Ernesto Colnago displaying the winning frame.

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Article:

Google Translated:
Ernesto Colnago cries tears of joy, celebrating yet another victory at the Tour de France at 88 . «I have won some with Merckx - he tells us in the throes of emotion after following on TV the feat of Tadej Pogacar in the time trial of the Planche des Belles Filles -. By the way: Eddy was the first to call me, we were both crying on the phone. What a thrill… ».

The master from Cambiago is happy as a child, who last night went to the company he founded and to which he dedicated his life, to personally make sure that a yellow V3Rs chassis was ready to leave for Paris. «Tadej is a family boy, raised by Andrej Hauptman, reported by Fabrizio Bontempi in Saronni, who was very good at putting him under contract when he was still an amateur. Then we did ours, but he took so much longer: this is one of the most beautiful talents I've ever seen. And I met some champions in my life »says one of the greatest artists in the world of cycling with a lump in his throat.

Before enjoying the final coronation of the new king of the Grande Boucle on the Champs-Élysées, he gives us a confidence that makes us understand the character and determination of Slovenian talent. "I gave him a brand new white frame for the time trial, he said to me in the morning: " If I go as I think, I will entertain her and then I will make her work harder, because she will have to change the color " . to answer him: “I am already happy like this”, but I did not know that true joy would come shortly after ».
 
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TJV all wearing yellow
now makes them look like
an unwilling entourage
for the UAE yellow jersey.
That Slovenian national jersey with the yellow that isn't even in their flag will look a bit embarrassing now...
Will JV try something to split the peloton? i hope they do. they worked too hard for the last 20 stages not to try
If they turn it into an echelon stage they can surely take 1'20" on Pogacar? How's the wind today?
 
I don't really think we'll ever see that.

It happened, what, once in the history of the Tour, or twice if you count 1989?

It takes two fierce rivals and a tiny gap. Competitive spirit would prevail. For example Vinokourov gained a GC place in 2005 in Paris and surely would have gone for victory if close enough. It doesn't happen cause the probability of such a small gap is very low but it's bound to happen at some point. There would be no friendship stage if the gap was less than 10 seconds for example. Too high stakes.
 
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The false flat that starts just after the Adidas store on the Champs is a great place to launch a winning attack.

I personally hate the Champs stage. Why softpedal for 100 km? You might as well just hold a 2 km drag race from Concorde to the Arc.

Yes I am also not a fan that it's not raced and that "it belongs" to the sprinters. Technically it makes it a 20 day, not a 21 day race.
 
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The false flat that starts just after the Adidas store on the Champs is a great place to launch a winning attack.

I personally hate the Champs stage. Why softpedal for 100 km? You might as well just hold a 2 km drag race from Concorde to the Arc.
I don't like it either but I'm not sure what to do with it. Official ITT finish and then criterium?

I do kind of like celebratory laps in Paris, and I think it adds to the riders experience of finishing a Grand Tour.
 
It takes two fierce rivals and a tiny gap. Competitive spirit would prevail. For example Vinokourov gained a GC place in 2005 in Paris and surely would have gone for victory if close enough. It doesn't happen cause the probability of such a small gap is very low but it's bound to happen at some point. There would be no friendship stage if the gap was less than 10 seconds for example. Too high stakes.
But given the prestige of the stage among sprinters, it requires two fierce rivals who can challenge the top sprinters, which reduces the likelihood enormously. If there were still time bonuses at the intermediate, and the green jersey were a done deal, and it was a 2 second gap...
 
But given the prestige of the stage among sprinters, it requires two fierce rivals who can challenge the top sprinters, which reduces the likelihood enormously. If there were still time bonuses at the intermediate, and the green jersey were a done deal, and it was a 2 second gap...

There's another option. If one of the rivals had a strong team and there was crosswind they would form a breakaway (in team time trial style).
 
But given the prestige of the stage among sprinters, it requires two fierce rivals who can challenge the top sprinters, which reduces the likelihood enormously. If there were still time bonuses at the intermediate, and the green jersey were a done deal, and it was a 2 second gap...

I would like to think that the sprinters teams would put their egos to one side and not pull to curb dangerous moves if there was a true GC battle raging on the final day.

Sadly in reality I think they are far too selfish for that to happen.
 
I would like to think that the sprinters teams would put their egos to one side and not pull to curb dangerous moves if there was a true GC battle raging on the final day.

Sadly in reality I think they are far too selfish for that to happen.

It's selfish to want to win? Isn't that basically the whole purpose of racing? By that logic you might as well say it would be selfish for the GC riders to curb the sprinters' chance on the Champs.
 

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