life Around Tour de France – Stage 21…the final stage!
Sports Travel / Tourism
Cavendish rules Champ-Elysees, Contador bags 2nd TdF !!
As the riders left Montereau-Fault-Yonne for this the last stage of the 96th edition of the Tour de France, for most, it is the fulfillment of their desire to finish once on the Champs-Elysees in front of the world media & over 500,000 cheering fans.
Montereau-Fault-Yonne is a city with a past of over 1000 years. Over the years, every single revolution that touched France has made its impact here. The Statue of Napoleon on his horse signifies the epic battle that he fought here. Over the years, Montereau-Fault-Yonne has evolved to a city of where education, art & industry all thrive hand in hand.
The race started with 156 riders, down from the 180 who started, and with the top honours almost all clearly decided today stage was just about who will be the better sprinter on the last stretch to win the Stage.
Today’s race started with Contador doing a mock breakaway at the start for 1 km. Thereafter, everyone fell in and the peleton cycled in as one nig unit till the race reached the Champs Elysees. Team Astana was right upfront in the peleton to start with which was more symbolic of their power as the Best Team in this Tour. But the attacks started soon after. The first serious breakaway was by the Skil team’s Japanese rider Beppu, who took away with him 5 others. The race on the cobbled streets of the Paris usually does 7 rounds around the city, through the Palace de la Concorde & Rue de Ravoli looping the Champs Elysee. By the second loop the British Columbia team with all 9 members came to the front of the peleton and started powering through the streets.
With all positions on podium being already decided, Contador, Armstrong, the Schleck brothers, Wiggins & Kloden were content to ride at the end of the peleton. The Green Jersey of Thor Hurshod (who had a massive cheer group from Norway, some 300 plus noisy & drunk fans standing 20 ft away from us the whole afternoon!!) was seen glued to the back wheel of the Manx Missile for almost all of the 7 rounds around Paris city. But all that was to no avail as George Hincapie rode a brilliant race to set up the catch of the breakaways. Thereafter it was business as usual as the leadout master of this tour Mark Renshaw, for he has lead & set up Mark Cavendish for 5 stage wins, took over. Cavendish won the stage with time to spare & so good were these two that Renshaw came second!! An incredible 6th Stage win for the Man from Isle, Mark Cavendish, something which all TdF teams will have to prepare for in 2010 race.
For the record – the winner of the Yellow Jersey of the 96th edition of Tour de France 2009 was Alberto Contador. Andy Schleck was in 2nd position & Lance Armstrong stays 3rd overall as they joined Contador on the podium on Champs Elysees. The Green Jersey was won by Thor Hurshod of Norway & the White Jersey was once again won by Andy Schleck, a repeat of last year. The Polka dotted Orange Jersey for the King of the Mountains was won by the Italian Franco Pellzotti of the Liquigas team. Pellizottti also got the Most Aggressive rider of the Tour Award something which he summed up as was for his being there everyday to fight it out right in the front.
Bag packing for the last 25 days has taken us to some of the most scenic places around this part of the world and in this process we have made some fantastic friends too. Actually, in the process of following a dream – to see the Tour de France – we have been able to see France as a country. The sights of the vineyards, the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Mont Blanc, Mont Venoux, the walkways of Nice, old city of Montpellier and I can go on…!! So too was the amazing gastronomy of this country, something which I will miss, as the cheeses that make their food are not even available back home. Thanks to couple of our friends who took cheese tasting sessions for us, now we can differentiate between the cheeses and hopefully we will be able to do a good cheese & wine dinner!!
My journey following the 2009 Tour de France ends here. Hopefully, you too have enjoyed it by reading my daily feeds and if I have been able to convert a few of you to follow this sport with passion, then I would be more than glad to buy you a cup of coffee!!
Au revoir!!…A l’ann`ee prochaine…See you next year!!
Email : mrq@planningfactory.in