Key events
Preamble
In a Tour de France where the events away from the road have often been more prominent than the racing perhaps it was always going to end like this. A race seared in its early stages by a heatwave, now sees its finale shortened to divert vital services to the south of France to help battle the wildfires that have gripped the region and seen nearly 200,000 people evacuated.
The riders have already done their pre-stage presentation in Thoiry, then been bused into Paris where the shortened 89km stage now starts and ends. The Tour is all over, bar the shouting, everything except the winner of stage 21 has been settled.
Yesterday Mads Pedersen, Richard Carapaz and Isaac del Toro all secured their desired jerseys. Pedersen put the point classification out of reach of Jasper Philipsen with an incredible effort over the Galibier to win another intermediate sprint, Carapaz pocketed the polkadots with scintilating performance in the mountains that saw him win his second stage of this year’s Tour, while Del Toro saw off Paul Seixas, with a mighty assist from Tadej Pogacar, in the battle for the young rider’s white jersey. Pogacar, of course, had effectively made the maillot jaune his since his attack on the Tourmalet on stage six. Today will the Slovenian will be officially crowned champion for a fifth time. He could win the stage too.
The route now takes in three trips up Côte de la Butte Montmartre, as well as a few laps of the Champs-Elysées and has the feel of a spring classic. Mathieu van der Poel is an obvious pick as the winner, Pogacar and Pedrsen too but the sprinters can’t be ruled out if they can survive the climbs. On a weary end to the Tour, whoever takes the initative today should well be the winner.
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