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| *Vultures Knob>>>Cycling |
Whats the deal with the 20th stage of the Tour de France? |
Why is the last stage a Parade if it has time bonus and such. If the race is over after the 19th stage then why not say that? The final stage is only partly ceremonial. Usually all the surviving riders joke around or chat with riders from other teams at the start of the stage during the ride in from the outskirts of Paris and do not ride very fast. That however changes very quickly once they arrive in Paris. The joking stops, the pics, the costumes or funny hats all come off and the real racing begins, but not before one final parade lap around the famous Paris landmarks. As Paris nears, the team with the Yellow Jersey is allowed to ride at the front of the peloton for the first lap around Paris. It is an unwritten rule that you do not attack the yellow jersey on the last stage, although I am sure someone has tried. After that first lap is complete, then the other riders usually commence the actual racing for the stage, and the team of the yellow jersey usually gets out of the way of the sprinters and their teams. Although is customary that the team of the yellow jersey is not attacked on the final stage, other things like White Jersey and Green Jersey can still be contested. The Polka Dot jersey is usually not contested because there are only a couple of climbs during the stage, mostly a slight uphill with very few points involved and the jersey is usually decided in the mountains. The green jersey is for the best sprinter and it is not uncommon for the green jersey to be decided on the final stage since there are still maximum sprint points availabe during the stage and at the finish. The riders ride 7 more laps around the streets of Paris after the ceremonial lead lap where the yellow jersey is paraded. Then the time bonuses and sprint bonuses are given out during the rest of the stage. The final winner of the last stage is brought onto the podium like all other stages, and is shown first. Then the riders of the green, white, polka dot, and yellow jersies are displayed as well as the winners of the Team classification, for the team with the most riders with the highest ranking. So again, only the opening of the stage is a parade, the rest of the stage is raced as usual and normally won by the sprinters. Well, the race is generally over for podiums of final positions 1, 2, and 3, but the points can still determine who gets the other jerseys (polka dots for king of the mountain, though, this is pretty much doe for by the final stage; green for sprinter; and white for best-placed rider less than 25 years old on January 1 of the year the Tour is ridden.) This year, Contador, the winner of he final maillot jaune (and the tour) also took the maillot blanc (white jersey) because he is 24 years of age, and took the top place in the tour for his age. Because of a "gentlemen's agreement" between all the riders of the tour, after stage 19, usually the maillot jaune is not contested in stage 20. Of course, people can still choose to attempt to contest for it if they so choose, but they will not be viewed in a positive light if they did. It is a celebrationb stage, but it does mean a lot for the sprinters. The green jersey can change and a win on the champs - eleysee certainly does mean a lot to the winner, ie Robbie McCewen, Thor Hushovd, etc. And its also a day when they show their respect for the yellow jesrsey holder, king of the mountains, etc Evans could have attempted a breakaway to win the yellow, but its EXTREMELY unlikely that it would have succeeded. Team Discovery would have chased him down, with a lot of help from the sprinters teams. Stage 20 is their day. Leipheimer might have attacked Evans, but that would have put his teammate in jeopardy. The rest of the GC was too far back to have any sort of chance. Dont forget also that the Champs Elysee wasnt added as the finish until 1975. |
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