The final day of the Tour de France. Traditionally uncontested, the ride up the Champs-Elysees is intended as nothing more than a victory lap for the deserving winner and a final chance for the sprinters to do their thing and cement, claim or lose the green jersey.
And what a victory lap it was. Cadel Evans was revelling in the glory of his win, making history in more than one way. Samuel Sanchez and Pierre Rolland were also enjoying their day in the sun, both figurative and literal, as the peloton rolled along the roads from Creteil into central Paris. With another sprint stage still to come Mark Cavendish's hold on the green jersey wasn't certain, but 62 points ahead of his nearest challenger, Movistar's JJ Rojas, the much-coveted maillot was likely to remain his.
The day had a rather sombre start to it, with the peloton all pausing for a minute's silence to commemorate the tragic events in Norway two days earlier. Then it was back on the bikes and pedalling again towards the end of the 98th Tour de France. For the first half of the race no-one was taking the 'race' part very seriously, the jersey winners riding along congratulating each other, Cadel leading the peloton with his team BMC and sharing the traditional glass of champagne with his DS, John Lelangue.
All camaraderie was out the window once they hit the Champs-Elysees, though. The pace began to pick up and there was a subtle shift in the demeanour of the riders leading the peloton down France's most famous street. BMC disappeared back into the main peloton, protecting Cadel from any last-minute mishaps, while the other teams began trying to build a breakaway.
It wasn't until aptly-named British Sky sprinter Ben Swift decided to take his chance that anyone got away. Followed by four others, they took advantage of the peloton's distraction at the intermediate sprint point and bolted away to a 45-second lead with 35 kilometres left to ride. While most of the teams were uninterested in the sprint, HTC-Highroad and Movistar in particular were keen to fight it out, Cavendish and Renshaw taking 7th and 8th to push 9th-placed José Joaquin Rojas further back in the race for the green sprinter's jersey.
Despite BMC's efforts, Cadel didn't entirely manage to avoid trouble, though. It wasn't shown on the broadcast, but he revealed later on that as he slowed down to go around a sharp corner, the motorbike in front of him wasn't quite as considered and went over. Cadel, with the help of his teammates, managed to dodge the toppled motorbike and continued on to finish the stage without trouble.
As the peloton rounded the final corner signalling six kilometres to go the break was still 20 seconds ahead, and it fell to the teams of the sprinters not represented in the break to try and bring it back. Swift and HTC-Highroad's Lars Bak were the last two to be reeled in at three kilometres to go, and after that the HTC-Highroad Express blazoned a path down the Champs-Elysees with the rest of the 2011 Tour de France peloton in its wake. With the high pace being set by Tony Martin and Cav's 'pilotfish', Bernie Eisel, it's not surprising that no-one could escape the clutches of the peloton until the Manx Missile was released to take his fifth stage victory of this Tour and his 20th Tour career victory. My cutie Boasson Hagen (Sky) and Omega Pharma-Lotto's Andre Greipel came a close third and second, followed by Garmin sprinter Tyler Farrar and a surprising fifth in Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek).
And thus ended another gripping, thrilling, heart-rending and triumphant Tour de France. The first ever winner from both Australia and the Southern Hemisphere stands on the top step of the podium, with the first ever pair of brothers to podium standing to either side. Cadel has finally combined two second places to make a first, while Andy stands one step down for the third year in a row. Samuel Sanchez carried off the polka-dot jersey, Cav has finally won his green one, and Alberto Contador was nowhere to be seen, finishing 3:57 down on the overall winner. French unknown Pierre Rolland stole away with white, Garmin-Cervelo got to stand on the podium with their World Champion as the fastest team, while FDJ's Jeremy Roy (a.k.a. 'our Jeremy') took the prize of 'Supercombativity' - the most aggressive and spirited rider overall. And while as a devoted Leopard Trek fan girl I would love to see the sky blue and black a step higher up the podium next year, I can't help but have a patriotic feeling that my dear Andy will have a helluva time taking that yellow off Cadel next year.
The day had a rather sombre start to it, with the peloton all pausing for a minute's silence to commemorate the tragic events in Norway two days earlier. Then it was back on the bikes and pedalling again towards the end of the 98th Tour de France. For the first half of the race no-one was taking the 'race' part very seriously, the jersey winners riding along congratulating each other, Cadel leading the peloton with his team BMC and sharing the traditional glass of champagne with his DS, John Lelangue.
All camaraderie was out the window once they hit the Champs-Elysees, though. The pace began to pick up and there was a subtle shift in the demeanour of the riders leading the peloton down France's most famous street. BMC disappeared back into the main peloton, protecting Cadel from any last-minute mishaps, while the other teams began trying to build a breakaway.
It wasn't until aptly-named British Sky sprinter Ben Swift decided to take his chance that anyone got away. Followed by four others, they took advantage of the peloton's distraction at the intermediate sprint point and bolted away to a 45-second lead with 35 kilometres left to ride. While most of the teams were uninterested in the sprint, HTC-Highroad and Movistar in particular were keen to fight it out, Cavendish and Renshaw taking 7th and 8th to push 9th-placed José Joaquin Rojas further back in the race for the green sprinter's jersey.
Despite BMC's efforts, Cadel didn't entirely manage to avoid trouble, though. It wasn't shown on the broadcast, but he revealed later on that as he slowed down to go around a sharp corner, the motorbike in front of him wasn't quite as considered and went over. Cadel, with the help of his teammates, managed to dodge the toppled motorbike and continued on to finish the stage without trouble.
As the peloton rounded the final corner signalling six kilometres to go the break was still 20 seconds ahead, and it fell to the teams of the sprinters not represented in the break to try and bring it back. Swift and HTC-Highroad's Lars Bak were the last two to be reeled in at three kilometres to go, and after that the HTC-Highroad Express blazoned a path down the Champs-Elysees with the rest of the 2011 Tour de France peloton in its wake. With the high pace being set by Tony Martin and Cav's 'pilotfish', Bernie Eisel, it's not surprising that no-one could escape the clutches of the peloton until the Manx Missile was released to take his fifth stage victory of this Tour and his 20th Tour career victory. My cutie Boasson Hagen (Sky) and Omega Pharma-Lotto's Andre Greipel came a close third and second, followed by Garmin sprinter Tyler Farrar and a surprising fifth in Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek).
And thus ended another gripping, thrilling, heart-rending and triumphant Tour de France. The first ever winner from both Australia and the Southern Hemisphere stands on the top step of the podium, with the first ever pair of brothers to podium standing to either side. Cadel has finally combined two second places to make a first, while Andy stands one step down for the third year in a row. Samuel Sanchez carried off the polka-dot jersey, Cav has finally won his green one, and Alberto Contador was nowhere to be seen, finishing 3:57 down on the overall winner. French unknown Pierre Rolland stole away with white, Garmin-Cervelo got to stand on the podium with their World Champion as the fastest team, while FDJ's Jeremy Roy (a.k.a. 'our Jeremy') took the prize of 'Supercombativity' - the most aggressive and spirited rider overall. And while as a devoted Leopard Trek fan girl I would love to see the sky blue and black a step higher up the podium next year, I can't help but have a patriotic feeling that my dear Andy will have a helluva time taking that yellow off Cadel next year.
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