Professional Cycling For the Fans - 2012 Tour de France - Stage 20 - Rambouillet → Paris Champs-Élysées - Sunday July 22

http://www.grassyknolltv.com/2012/tour-de-france/resources/profiles/profile-20.jpg

Vive la France! Merci!

greipel certainly seems like the man this year...gotta go with him...

Sky will lead out Cav for the win.

Sky will lead out Cav for the win.
+1

I am rooting for Cav, after yesterdays massive win, he sure seems to be in top shape.

Cav skips the intermediate sprint and saves it all for the stage victory. Sagan and Greipel place 2nd and 3rd, maybe not quite that order.

Does anyone else think this stage is needlessly long?

Guess who?

Nice to see the yellow doing a strong pull in the lead out on the final stage. I was thinking Cav launched to early. But he just to fast. Sagan had a nice close, but got into it to late. Next year's race for the green should be pretty good. With no Olympics, we'll have all of the sprinters really into. Can't wait to see Sagan defend it against the likes of Cav, Boonen, and Hushovd.

Interesting interview with Cavendish on Eurosport at the finish, with him describing how difficult a finish the Champs is. Too far to jump right out of the final corner, too short to wait. Just decided to use his acceleration and let them catch him if they could. They couldn't.

I've never seen the like of him, really, he delivers with astonishing consistency. Quite remarkable.

Outstanding finish to an enjoyable Tour de France. Wiggins, Cavendish and Sky are the epitome of a Team effort for my thinking. Sagan has so much potential as does Froome. Next few years will be great to watch and enjoy. .J. Vangarderen sure looked good as the youngest rider, great finish for the American riders.

Bill

Who was the black gentleman on stage with TJ?

And NBC did the same thing they did last year. Interview someone and get the usual cliches rather than show the green jersey presentation.

And talk about a horrible version of God save the queen.

today was a perfect excuse for 9 old farts between 50 and 60 to drink a lot of beer by 8 am this morning... eHarmony was voted "most intrusive ad of the stage" and somebody just left to get more beer.. Congrats, Cav... I need to get out of this bloody kitchen

Who was the black gentleman on stage with TJ?

And NBC did the same thing they did last year. Interview someone and get the usual cliches rather than show the green jersey presentation.

And talk about a horrible version of God save the queen.

That's "Network" coverage for ya... and we were all hoping for a wardrobe malfunction

The highlight for me today was seeing the peloton ask George Hincapie to cross the finish at Champs de Elysee first. Truly a class move by Sky and all his ex-teammates. No matter how the Armstrong nonsense turns out, Hincapie will always be one of my favorite cyclists, and I'm not sure I can think of another professional athlete who was such a responsible and dedicated teammate.

Who was the black gentleman on stage with TJ?

Phil said he was the ambassador to the US, which I interpreted as ambassador *to* France *from* the US.

Phil said he was the ambassador to the US, which I interpreted as ambassador *to* France *from* the US.

I heard that as well, but I thought the US ambassador to France was Charles Rivkin... That wasn't Charles Rivkin.

If he is a DOS employee, you'd think someone at that level would be smart enough to wear some slacks and a button down before presenting a winner's jersey.

I thought Bosen hagen could have given Cav a bit more a lead out, Cav went a bit early and for a second I thought he was going to be caught, but it was good enough.

Now for the bad; the UK anthem......ugh what was Lesley Garrett wearing and what a cheesy version; the guy who presented the White Jersey was dressed for a cook out; Wiggins didn't shake hands with Nibali or more interestingly Froome. I think Froome will be looking to break his 2 year Sky contract.

I heard that as well, but I thought the US ambassador to France was Charles Rivkin... If he is a DOS employee, you'd think someone at that level would be smart enough to wear some slacks and a button down before presenting a winner's jersey.

Phil gets everything wrong.......I'll add another bad thing about the TdF, Phil Liggit's stupid commentary; he gets names wrong, race order, just about everything.

Maybe Lesley Garrett should have sung this (instead of God Save the Queen) as a tribute to Chris Froome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGAcH5KADGs

Anyone know what happened to the two riders who went down near the end? One looked like he was knocked out.

Nice sprint, nice win for Cavendish.
Sagan was the fastest after the last turn though.
Looking forward to the Olympics!

Phil gets everything wrong.......I'll add another bad thing about the TdF, Phil Liggit's stupid commentary; he gets names wrong, race order, just about everything.

Yea, but he's got personality, and that helps pass the time when you have a stinker of a Tour like this.

Yea, but he's got personality, and that helps pass the time when you have a stinker of a Tour like this.

Does that mean you will be going away for good now? *crosses fingers*

Does anyone else think this stage is needlessly long?

Yes, me. I got a little bit sunburned waiting for almost 5 hours at Place de la Concorde for them to show up. ;)

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=262903&d=1342999131

262903

Nice sprint, nice win for Cavendish.
Sagan was the fastest after the last turn though.
Looking forward to the Olympics!

Hats off to Cav for a brilliant finish. I can't wait to see that Olympic road race too.

Nice sprint, nice win for Cavendish.
Sagan was the fastest after the last turn though.Too bad there's no prize for being fastest when it doesn't matter.

That's "Network" coverage for ya... and we were all hoping for a wardrobe malfunction

There was a point where the camera was following Cavendish, and off to the side of the road were quite a number of riders - all in the middle of a "nature break". Usually French TV quickly cuts away to another camera when this happens, but they missed it this time.

The black guy in the t-shirt during the ceremony was the track sprinter Maurice Green who was there in some official role. Obviously didn't get/read the email about the dress code.
Maurice is not the current US ambassador to France although foreign policy might get a whole lot simpler if ex-Olympians were automatically made ambassadors for their countries.

Nice sprint, nice win for Cavendish.
Sagan was the fastest after the last turn though.
Looking forward to the Olympics!

Maybe I'm still in awe of his win on Friday, but it didn't look like cav was even trying the last 500 meters. He basically did the minimum that was needed to get the job done and succeeded.

Actually, the bit I liked best about the finish was Wiggo"s lead-out. Just inside the final kilometer, Albasini was trying to muscle in at the head of the GreenEdge train. He was out of the saddle and sprinting flat-out, and Wiggins simply accelerated away from him through the corner without shifting from the saddle. There's a lot to be said for being Olympic champion at the pursuit...

Wiggins didn't shake hands with Nibali or more interestingly Froome. I think Froome will be looking to break his 2 year Sky contract.

I noticed that too. But today I read this comment about the Sky team doctor:

Roger Freeman: Team Doctor. Freeman looks after Wiggins' physical health, ensuring he is fit for purpose for training and racing at all time. Has impressed on Wiggins that there can be no shaking of hands on tour, the risk of infection is too great

Maybe I'm still in awe of his win on Friday, but it didn't look like cav was even trying the last 500 meters. He basically did the minimum that was needed to get the job done and succeeded.

Sagan is learning. He was too much back in both cases, Friday and Sunday. If he stays right on Cav's wheel it could have been different story.
... or he'll do the same thing as Cavendish did on Sunday, going for a long 600-1000m attack.

And talk about a horrible version of God save the queen.

Indeed. I have to say hearing Lesley Garrett howl her way through it I reached for the mute button. Given our national anthem was being sung, surrounded by Union Flags, on the most famous street in the French capital that shows just how bad I thought she was.

Maybe Lesley Garrett should have sung this (instead of God Save the Queen) as a tribute to Chris Froome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGAcH5KADGs

Maybe Lesley Garrett could have stayed at home and saved all of us the ordeal. The crowd could have sung our national anthem and not butchered it.

Actually, the bit I liked best about the finish was Wiggo"s lead-out. Just inside the final kilometer, Albasini was trying to muscle in at the head of the GreenEdge train. He was out of the saddle and sprinting flat-out, and Wiggins simply accelerated away from him through the corner without shifting from the saddle. There's a lot to be said for being Olympic champion at the pursuit...

I thought that was great too, seeing Wiggo leading out team mates for a stage win while wearing the yellow jersey was great. As the UK commentators said the yellow jersey leading out the rainbow jersey has never happened before. Lots of history made yesterday.

Maybe Lesley Garrett could have stayed at home and saved all of us the ordeal. The crowd could have sung our national anthem and not butchered it.

I had to switch channels when Lesley Garrett came on. I couldn't stand the singing or that Terrible Union Jack dress. If it was arranged by the French to embarrass the Rosbifs they did a good job; if it was set up in consultation with Sky I have to think Murdoch was behind it; and if anyone from UK cycling or the Ministry for Sports was involved they need to be sacked.

Here's a critic of the performance in the Telegraph. There's a poll at the end in which 96% believe that Ms Garrett's performance was awful.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/9420290/Lesley-Garretts-ghastly-rendition-of-the-National-Anthem-at-Tour-de-France-ceremony.html

Sagan is learning. He was too much back in both cases, Friday and Sunday. If he stays right on Cav's wheel it could have been different story.
... or he'll do the same thing as Cavendish did on Sunday, going for a long 600-1000m attack.You could say the same thing about every sprinter that loses: if only...

Cavendish went from around 300m not 600.

You could say the same thing about every sprinter that loses: if only...

Cavendish went from around 300m not 600.

I thought Goss had Cav for a moment, but then Goss hit the wall and Cav pulled away. Sagan looked good, but left it too late. Sagan is a great talent, but I get the feeling that this year's early success and fame might just derail his progress. We'll see........can't wait for the one day classics.

I thought Goss had Cav for a moment, but then Goss hit the wall and Cav pulled away. Sagan looked good, but left it too late. Sagan is a great talent, but I get the feeling that this year's early success and fame might just derail his progress. We'll see........can't wait for the one day classics.Cav was sprinting on the right side so he had good visibility to anyone coming up on his left. It's quite possible he backed off a little when Goss faded and that's why Sagan gained a little ground at the end.