Stage 21: Monaco - Nice, 33.7k (ITT)
For the first time in its history, the Tour does not finish in Paris. The reasons have been more than sufficiently discussed, I think it’s much more interesting to point out that this is the first Tour to finish with a TT since 1989. It would be poetic if this Tour becomes the modern equivalent of that famed edition, but it doesn’t have the feel of being that year. Either way, with the champagne staying corked for a little bit longer, it’s actually a 21-stage race for once…The route
Here’s something that feels like a first, but isn’t: the final stage of a GT starting outside the national borders. In fact, I was shocked to learn that the Giro has done it no fewer than five times. Interestingly, the last time it happened, Pantani completed the first half of his double – sometimes, it really does feel like this is meant to be the year he is succeeded at last.
What hasn’t changed, is the fact that you need to be a really rich country to get to host the final stage of a GT if you’re not France, Spain or Italy. After five times in Switzerland, it’s Monaco’s time. Usually more or less independent since the Middle Ages, its modern path was shaped by the success of its famous casino. The revenues it generated meant the country could afford to stop collecting income tax, and the world’s elite have never stopped flocking here since, as it is a centre not just for tax evasion but also money laundering (and, in certain cases, vaccination avoidance). The money sloshing around the microstate has funded such endeavours as its tennis tournament (among those ranking directly below the grand slams), eight-time Ligue 1 winners and 2004 Champions League finalist AS Monaco, and above all motor sports, its hallowed Grand Prix overshadowing the aforementioned rally. In the Tour, it was last seen as the 2009 Grand Départ.
This is definitely more a MTT than a normal TT, not at all dissimilar to the 2013 TT. After a brief flat taking in the coast, the climbing starts at the casino with the final KOM of the race, La Turbie. Imagine my annoyance when I found out at half past eleven that the Cyclingcols profile a) didn’t fully match up with the route, and b) was vague enough that I couldn’t see from where it did match up… the product of that is the profile below.
The last actual climb of the Tour is Col d’Èze.
After a descent that isn’t too technical, but definitely enough to make Adam Hansen seethe he can’t get it removed for the offense of being in a TT because his power is checked at the Tour, we arrive at the final intermediate, strategically positioned 5 kilometres from the line to rob the finish of its excitement. Those final 5 kilometres are a flat loop mostly on Promenade des Anglais.
And then, mercifully, I can post this, because Nice already got its writeup on the previous stage. Thanks for reading, inform me if there are any major ****ups in this analysis, and I’ll hopefully be back at it for the Giro next year.
What to expect?
All about the GC riders, also for the stage. And then, into Olympic mode we go.
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