dekalbSTEEL

from https://blogs.active.com/dugard/2006/07/fonzie.html

Having said that, I've been debating the idea of a three-way tie. What if all Landis, Sastre and Pereiro finish tomorrow within mere seconds of one another? You'd think that Tour officials would love a madcap sprint on the final stage into Paris, but nothing could be further from the truth. Tradition holds that the riders time-trial hard Saturday afternoon, party hard Saturday night, then cruise into Paris on what amounts to a ceremonial final stage. Typically, it's a day for the sprinters (all of whom were quite nonplussed when Alexandre Vinokourov breached protocol by tearing away for the win last year). The idea of having two or three riders and teams going neck-and-neck into Paris is enough to throw Tour director Christian Prudhomme into an apoplectic fit. The French love order and hierarchy, and such a finish would be absolute chaos.

dspyder

Here's the deal... assuming the 2nd or 3rd place guys tried a breakaway, they would have to bring the majority of their team with them to be able to make up enough time difference. That means the leader and his team would have to be able to sustain that speed.

Now, if the maillot journe's team saw this breakaway forming.... the would just tack themselves onto the back of the pack and ride into town finishing with the same time.

So in the end, with such a short flat stage there's just no _practical_ way to make it happen. Now, we just watched Landis nearly single-handedly do the impossible and destroy the peleton.... but had they had their shtuff together they COULD have reeled him in or at least sent people to chase him. The underestimated him, but had he been in contention or the last day they definitely would have given chase.

Retro Grouch 

I think that the real issue is that it's all-but-impossible to do. It's all about aerodynamics. It's comparatively easy to maintain a high average speed while riding in a pack. On a relatively flat stage with no big mountains to spread out the riders, the pelaton will almost always catch an individual or a small group of riders who attempt to break away. Tactically it's best not to catch them until the last kilometer or two. You want them to be pooped from riding so hard to stay away, and there's little point in other riders breaking away since, if he doesn't get caught by the pelaton, a rider 5 minutes ahead is going to win the stage anyway. So even though a breakaway may seem to be in front for a long time, a determined pelaton will almost surely catch if before the finish.

By this stage of the race the race leader's team has a relatively easy task. Since there are only a hand full of riders who have any chance of besting the leader, those are the only riders they have to watch and chase. Realistically, if the race leader shadows the second place rider, he is pretty well assured of the ultimate win. He's not going to let the second place rider get away from him.

Suppose a rider who is 10 minutes behind decides to try to break away and go for the glory. In that case, all of the sprinter's teams will lead the pelaton in chasing him down because they want the opportunity for a final sprint to bring glory to their team.

patentcad

Alex Vinokourov would attack the Tour leader on the last day, ask his wife out to dinner and then kick his pet cat : ).

EventServices

It's just the way it is.
If you didn't get it done in the previous 22 days, you might as well not try on the 23rd.

cooker

I suspect it's 1% tradition and 99% feasibility. They don't attack on the last day because it wouldn't work. But let's say there was a Boonen-esque sprinter who was in second place by maybe 15 seconds - would he hold back on the Champs? I doubt it.

voltman

If the MJ's team doesn't have to defend the jersey, maybe the final stage doesn't need to be a parade.

discomonkey

well... if we're going to use the language, let's at least try to get it right... let's try, "maillot jaune".

it amazes me how some of you guys get your shorts all up in a bunch when somebody, who's first language isn't English, messes up some punctuation and grammar... and then we have to put up with this kind of bastardization of the French language...

dauphin

It's comforting to know that some folks were born with all the answers...

Braveheart

I think they ought to bring back the team time trial. Be nice to run it on the final day but it probably couldn't happen since a lot of the teams are decimated by then.

pseudobrit

If the 2nd GC man is within time-bonus striking distance, his team would attempt to catapult him across the finish line first.

If Iles Baléares tried to break away to get one minute back for Pereiro, it wouldn't be just Phonak chasing them down, it'd be the whole peloton. There are plenty of teams who want to see their sprinters crossing the line in Paris (it's the most coveted finish for the sponsors), and it'd clearly be recognised as a dick move peloton-wide. They'd swallow them right back up, and they'd be right pissed they had to do it.

cmcenroe

Hey, who knows, maybe as Landis' last hoorah he will headbutt Pereiro for insulting his mother and be sent packing!

cmcenroe

No offense; some very smart people cannot spell in their own language.

ZachS

only very smart english-speaking people, spelling is trivial in most other languages.

jeremyb_nz

Whats the difference between the french and a piece of toast?

You can make soldiers out of a piece of toast

Markedoc

Seems to me the last stage is a celebration of the Tour race and a chance for the riders to congratulate the winner .. drink a little champagne .. the "race" is won or lost in the previous 22 days. Personally, I like it.

patentcad

More like some folks are born wondering why anyone would pose these silly questions in the first place. Whoever said 'The only dumb questions are the ones you don't ask' was wrong.

pseudobrit

I guess bigotry never goes completely out of style.

feethanddooth

what does g.c. stand for?

Retro Grouch 

1954, Diem Bien Phu, Viet Nam. A company of French paratroopers parachuted into this besieged outpost with no hope whatsoever of survival. That act defines courage. The US might have been better off had we learned from the French experience in Viet Nam. Actually, the US might be better off today had we learned from our own experience in Viet Nam.

A fool learns through experience. A wise man learns by other people's experience.

oneradtec

That is a very interesting proposition!!!! A team time-trial into Paris! Yea!!!!!!

cooker

Sounds like a wasteful and stupid command decision to me. What did they accomplish?

pseudobrit

Crazy always wins.

ZachS

Athough it wasn't their goal, they started hammering nails into the colonialism's coffin.

cooker

I do get the point, however, that those particular French soldiers were brave. The myth that the French are ineffective soldiers is fairly recent and based on their collapse in WWII when they were invaded on 2 fronts and the British bailed; and more recently touted by people irritated by their refusal to support all current American initiatives. In fact they dominated Europe during the time of Louis XIV and again in the Napoleonic era, and their soldiers played a key role in re-taking Italy and France at the end of WWII.

Not that this is off topic, and in fact, another invasion of Paris is underway as I type this.