today 19:27
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Belgian cyclist Wout van Aert won Sunday’s final 21st stage of the Tour de France. In a mass spurt in the Champs Elysees in Paris, he overtook compatriots Jasper Philipsen and Briton Mark Cavendish, who did not achieve his 35th success at the famous event and did not break the record of the legendary Belgian Eddy Merckx.
The title was defended by the Slovenian Tadej Pogačar, who in addition to the yellow also won a dotted and white jersey in the 108th year. Cavendish won a green jersey for winning the scoring competition, Slovak Peter Sagan resigned before the 12th stage due to a knee injury.
The final section from Chatou to the French capital was flat and measured 108.4 km. The Danish Jakob Fuglsang did not enter it, for the silver Olympic medalist from Rio de Janeiro 2016, the race ended prematurely.
In the beginning, there was a neutralized zone, where there was room for riders for debates, traditional celebratory champagne or posing for photographers. The main field came together for the only mountain premium of the Côte des Grs (1.9 km, 5%) for a symbolic point.
The race began in full only after arriving in Paris, where eight circuits of 6.8 km between the Arc de Triomphe and the Tuileries Gardens awaited the peloton. The trio Patrick Konrad, Harry Sweeny and Stefan Bissegger became independent in the front, Casper Pedersen returned to the package.
Bissegger scored the most points at the special speed 40 km before the finish line, Cavendish cut the premium in the fourth place and increased his lead at the head of the scoring competition by only three chase Michael Matthews by another three points. The peloton engulfed the leading trio 30 km in front of the tape, soon another trio of Ide Schelling, Brent Van Moer and Michael Valgren set out to escape.
The leaders led 15 km before the finish line by 25 seconds, the fighter pace was mainly taken care of by Cavendish’s Deceunick-QuickStep and DSM team. When entering the final two laps, the lead was 20 seconds, but shortly after ringing the last lap, the escape was a thing of the past. Ineos or Bory riders tried to break the mass spurt, but Deceunick-QuickStep worked mechanically. However, the situation got out of his control for the last two kilometers.
Cavendish did not have his usual “tractor” Michael Morkov at hand, he let himself be closed and did not have to attack where. The victory was won by two Belgians and Van Aert achieved his third victory on this year’s Tour after triumphing in the mountain stage and Saturday’s individual time trial. Brit has the green jersey for the second time in his career, he rejoices in it after ten years.
Twenty-six-year-old Van Aert has once again demonstrated his admirable versatility. He has a total of six individual victories at TdF. “This Tour was amazing, like on a roller coaster. I never expected to end it like this weekend. I have to catch a flight to the Tokyo Olympics tonight and I’ve got a lot of conversations ahead of me, but I don’t regret joining the mass spurt, “Such a triumph is priceless. I thank my great, albeit small, team, especially Mike Teunissen, who provided me with an ideal starting position.” said the Belgian for the cyclingnews.com portal.
Pogačar from the UAE-Team Emirates team became a two-time winner of the “Old Lady” at the age of 22. He pushed Dan Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) to second place by more than 5 minutes, the podium was completed by Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz from Ineos Grenadiers (+7: 03 min). Just like last year, on his debut he celebrated three stage successes and also won the mountaineering competition (dotted jersey) and the order of riders under 26 (white jersey).
“I’m incredibly happy. After a year, we came back here magnificently with our great team. I’m a proud member of this family.” quoted Slovenian by the APA agency.
Among the teams, Bahrain-Victorious had the best time, and the Frenchman Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels p / b KTM) was declared the most combative racer this year.
Results of the 21st stage (Chatou – Paris, 108.5 km):
1. Wout Van Aert (Belgian/Jumbo-Visma) 2:39:37 h
Jasper Philipsen (Belg./Alpecin-Fenix)
3. Mark Cavendish (V. Brit./Deceuninck-QuickStep)
4. Luka Mezgec (Slovenian / BikeExchange)
5. André Greipel (Nem./Israel Start-up Nation)
6. Danny van Poppel (Hol./Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux)
7. Michael Matthews (Aus./BikeExchange)
8. Alex Aranburu Deba (Sp. / Astana-Premier Tech)
9. Cyril Barthe (Fr./B&B Hotels p/b KTM)
10. Maximilian Walscheid (Nem./Qhubeka-NextHash)
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Final standings (yellow jersey):
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slov./UAE-Team Emirates) 82:56:36 h
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Dán. / Jumbo-Visma) +05: 20 min
3. Richard Carapaz (Ekv./Ineos Grenadiers) +7: 03
4. Ben O’Connor (Aus./AG2R Citroën) +10:02
5. Wilco Kelderman (Hol./Bora-Hansgrohe) +10:13
6. Enric Mas (Šp. / Movistar) +11: 43
7. Alexei Lucenko (Kaz./Astana-Premier Tech) +12: 23
8. Guillaume Martin (Fr./Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) +15: 33
9. Pello Bilbao (Šp./Bahrain-Victorious) +16:04
10. Rigoberto Uran (Kol./EF Education-Nippo) +18:34
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Scoring competition (green jersey):
1. Cavendish 337 points
2. Matthews 291
3. Sonny Colbrelli (Tal./Bahrain-Victorious) 227
4. Philipsen 216
5. Van Aert 171
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Mountaineering competition (dotted jersey):
1. Pogačar 107 points
2. Wouter Poels (Hol./Bahrain-Victorious) 88
3. Vingegaard 82
4. Van Aert 68
5. Nairo Quintana (Kol./Arkéa Samsic) 66
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Competitors under 26 (white jersey):
1. Pogačar 82:56:36 h
2. Vingegaard +5: 20 min
3. David Gaudu (Fr./Groupama-FDJ) +21: 50
4. Aurélien Paret Painter (Fr./AG2R Citroën) +39: 09
5. Sergio Higuita (Kol./EF Education-Nippo) +1: 09: 16 h
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Team order:
1. Bahrain-Victorious (Bah.) 249:16:47 h
2. EF Education-Nippo (USA) +19: 12 min
3. Jumbo-Visma (Hol.) +1:11:35 h
4. Ineos Grenadiers (V. Brit.) +1:27:10
5. AG2R Citroën (Fr.) +1: 34: 54
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