STAGE 21 (The Final Day)
The Tour's final day is traditionally three parts parade and one part bike race. Expect plenty of champagne photo-ops for the yellow jersey as the peloton meanders 89 miles from Etampes to Paris. The good mood will likely extend beyond the leader's team: after mroe than 2,100 miles in the saddle, just finishing the Tour is an accomplishment worth celebrating for the peloton.
If the green jersey competition is close, the racing is likely to get less polite around the stage's two intermediary sprint points, but other than that, expect the last hoorah to come on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. The peloton will make 8 laps in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. Attempts to break away early in this circuit are usually more motivated by sponsor exposure than hopes of victory. With thousands of fans on the roadside and millions more watching on television, there is plenty of valuable facetime up for grabs in the Tour's final miles.
Taking the win on the Tour's final stage is considered a career highlight for the sprinting specialists. There have been exceptions--such as Alexander Vinokourov's defiant victory in 2005--but more often than not, the Tour flares out in a high-speed field sprint. Back in the peloton, the yellow jersey finishes in relative obscurity, nonetheless, victor of the toughest race in the world.
MORE TOUR de FRANCE MAPS
Stage 1 |
Stage 2 |
Stage 3 |
Stage 4 |
Stage 5 |
Stage 6 |
Stage 7 |
Stage 8 |
Stage 9 |
Stage 10 |
Stage 11 |
Stage 12 |
Stage 13 |
Stage 14 |
Stage 15 |
Stage 16 |
Stage 17 |
Stage 18 |
Stage 19 |
Stage 20 |
Stage 21
Google Earth Flyover: 2008 Tour de France
See more race coverage at
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