TDF 2011: Cadel Evans, Champion - stage 21 - Créteil Paris Champs-Élysées 95 km

[Freakie]

Stage 21 - Créteil - Paris Champs-Élysées 160km
The final stage of the 2011 Tour de France, A traditional flat, ceremonial stage with circuits on the Champs-Elysées in Paris.

Champs-Élysées, Could be the most famous Avenue's in the world. At the western end resides the famous monument the Arc de Triomphe.
The Arc de Triomphe design in 1806 it took two years to lay the foundations and completed around 1833.

The Arc de Triomphe was built to honour those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars.
The names of all French victories and generals are inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces.
Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.

1890

During the victory parade of World War 1 Charles Godefroy flew his fighter plane through the Arc de Triomphe.
The military command had ordered the airmen to participate “on foot” – like the infantry.
This was a provocation to the pilots, who regarded themselves as “heroes of the air”.
A group of airmen got together to 'address this issue' by going against the authorities and elected one of them to flew through the Arc.
The first Airman selected was fighter ace Jean Navarre, he was unfortunately killed in a practice flight 4 day before the ceremony.
Charles Godefroy was then elected to take up the task.

2010 Podium

Andy Schleck (left), Alberto Contador (centre), Dennis Mechov (right)

Current Jersey Leaders

Cadel Evans (BMC)

Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad)

Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)

Pierre Rolland (Team Europcar)

Garmin-Cervelo

Climbs
Nil



Viewer Rating = Hors cat gorie (beyond catagory)
No matter what, DO NOT MISS!!!!!!!!
Cadel Evans is riding in to cycling history and nothing short of godly intervention will interfear with Cade taking the General Classification of the 2011 Tour De France

This is not really the mythical parade stage that media often portray, however it is correct that the the first few hours are very much neutral with the riders just enjoying the day after 3 weeks of the hard slog around France.
It's not really very riviting cycle race viewing and it's not until they are closer to Paris that the stage returns to normal racing.
The same hazards apply to this stage as the ones that exist in the opening stage.

Come the Champs-Élysées the pace can be brutal, attacks come thick and fast, a prize stage that everybody wants to win on the Champs-Élysées.
It's exciting view watching the final laps as rider hug the gutters looking for the smooth faster lines.

Don't miss this stage whilst it may not have the makings of an exciting stage throughout but it is the final stage for what we here in Australia have sat up night after night glued to the TV.


Bernhard Eisel says...
"Obviously by now you're just desperate to finish the thing. If you were a horse, they'd shoot you.
That's all forgotten though, replaced by the sheer joy of riding.
It's a celebration but it's also work. It's made for Cavendish and the eyes of the world are on us."

Matt White says...
"Can Cav be beaten on this hallowed strip of road? It's all in the lead out.
The battle across the Place de la Concorde is a battle for victory."

General Classification
1 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:01:34
3 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:02:30
4 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 0:03:20
5 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:03:57
6 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:04:55
7 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:06:05
8 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:07:23
9 Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:08:15
10 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:10:11



Race starts = 10:30pm (AEST)
Approx finish time = 1:00am (AEST)
GUW Time = 10:00pm (AES time) (Get Up to Watch)
(SBS coverage starts at 10pm AEST).

It's the Final stage with Aussie Cadel placed to win. You can't not watch it all.




Who's your tip?
Cavendish is the hot favorite and it's hard to see him not winning it.
There are still others, Farrar, Greipel, Rojas, Hushovd all of whom will be trying to win amongst others as well.
Have say Cavendish for the win, he's just been to fast for everyone.



Synopsis :-
All the analogy, speculation, theory, hypothetical and hopes have all been said, done and seen.

I'd like to thank everybody who followed this years tour and made it that much more enjoyable.
I'd rate this years tour the best I've ever seen, each stage was raced, very little none event type stages.
There was always something unpredictable that keep things very lively and all riders on their toes.

So thankyou all for participating, whether it was daily posting or just reading and quietly following the progress.


Time to get back on the bike.

 

[blue gunslinger]

serve up the bubbles cadel

 

[Drummond]

Veiwer rating: Mike Tomalaris' excitement levels.

 

[Cruiser23]

Champagne Time...

 

[Forward Press]

This will be one hell of a party

 

[LeverPuller]

Expectations:
- Cadel to cry
- Tomalaris to orgasm live on camera
- Me to be majorly drunk

 

[blue gunslinger]

Champagne Time...

can I take a moment to thank those responsible for the hard yards eg previews, mods etc
Has now become a high point of every year and this board helps those of us that are not as in tune
I salute you

 

[bullish23]

Yellow will look good on him

 

[BobbyMorri]

Hear Hear blue gunslinger. Special Kudos goes to Freakie, for his stage previews.

Heres to missing uni/work on Monday, for a massive Hang over. I heard Phil say it was going to be a public holiday if Cadel Wins. Well guess what, he BLOODY DID IT.

Now im off to eat some very tasty Aussie humble pie.

 

[Cruiser23]

can I take a moment to thank those responsible for the hard yards eg previews, mods etc
Has now become a high point of every year and this board helps those of us that are not as in tune
I salute you

Freakie deserves a massive amount of credit for his thread starters and previews, will acknowledge further after tomorrows stage.

 

[Dangas]

Well done to Evans, made Aus proud

 

[LeverPuller]

Hear Hear blue gunslinger. Special Kudos goes to Freakie, for his stage previews.

Heres to missing uni/work on Monday, for a massive Hang over. I heard Phil say it was going to be a public holiday if Cadel Wins. Well guess what, he BLOODY DID IT.

Now im off to eat some very tasty Aussie humble pie.

loving the fact that I have neither on Monday!

 

[blue gunslinger]

some of us work in a few hours ffs

 

[Hornberger]

Winners
BMC Racing
Evans was always thought of as third wheel to the Andy and Contador show. Where never as strong Leopard or Saxobank but they rode the prefect race from the very first stage when Cadel stole 3" followed by a magnificent TTT the next day. Cadel defended brillantly in the Prynees then maganged to steal a big and ulitmately decisive chunk of time on what should have been a boring transitional stage. Evans chases on either side of the Galibier in two consective days have to rank as two of the greatest rides in TdF history, which couldn't have possible without the support of his team.

HTC High Road
Five (Six) stages win and barring some serious misfortune the Green Jersey. I think it’s quite tragic that what has arguably been the best performed team over the last four year could disband at years end.

Garmin - Transitions
Four stage wins and seven days in the yellow jersery in what has been a fantastic tour for the American teams.

Team Europcar
Ten days in yellow, a stage win and the white jersey for small French team that was demoted from the top tier last year. Could be soon riding as ProTeam again.

Omega Pharma Lotto
Had an early success with Gilbert talking out the stage 1 to take the first yellow jersery. Their tour almost turned into a disaster when their team leader crashed out in stage 8 but they bounced back with Greipel performing a minor miracle to out sprint the Cavendish in stage 9 and unhearlded Belgium rider Vanendert sprint away from the GC leaders to win on Plateau de Beille. He also earned five day in the Polka Dot Jersery for that effort.

Team Sky
Like Omega Pharma Lotto, what looked like a disaster after their team leader crashed out early in the race but was saved by two brilliant stage winning performance by the young Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen.

Euskaltel-Euskadi
While they may have hoped for more in the GC; A 6th placed finish, a stage win and the King of the Mountains was a could return for the spanish team.

Movistar
It may have taken until the second week for me to realise that this was the old Caisse d'Epargne but a stage win and second place in the sprint competition meant it wasn't a complete waste of three weeks.

Vacansoleil-DCM
No performances of note but they are now home to cycling newest Cult Hero, Johnny "Barbwire" Hoogerland.

 

[roostersgal4eva]

Its been a long time comming - 7 years in the making and nothing could taste so sweet....this was Cade's Holy Grail

When the presentation start Im going to be a wreck!!!

 

[MacMum]

A brilliant result!....feel so pleased for him, well deserved

 

[Caesar]

Here's hoping Rojas can do something special and edge out Cav for green. Unlikely but would be nice to see.

I really think they have to rejig the KoM classification to make it more attractive to the GC guys/more important for them to combat... maybe giving them a time bonus or something. It's been completely devalued over the last couple of decades.

Nowadays the best way to win the KoM jersey is just to be such a crap allround rider that nobody bothers chasing your breakaway. Can't remember the last time it was actually won by the best climber on the Tour. Bit of a joke.

 

[Cruiser23]

I really think they have to rejig the KoM classification to make it more attractive to the GC guys/more important for them to combat... maybe giving them a time bonus or something. It's been completely devalued over the last couple of decades.

Nowadays the best way to win the KoM jersey is just to be such a crap allround rider that nobody bothers chasing your breakaway. Can't remember the last time it was actually won by the best climber on the Tour. Bit of a joke.

They re-jigged it this year. I'd agree a year in the past but, you don't think Sanchez was the best climber this year? Take a look at the Top 5 of the competition, there is no average climber. They've made sure the small climbs are very much devalued so the riders that get over the HC Clims first get a huge advantage. It may never be heralded as much as the other jerseys but it seemed Sanchez wanted it after he realised he wasn't really a podium shot.

 

[Caesar]

I'd agree a year in the past but, you don't think Sanchez was the best climber this year?

I don't know. Maybe. It still seems to me like there isn't enough incentive to chase the leader unless he's a GC threat. I remember watching a few of Sammy's attacks and thinking "there is no way he'd be allowed to get away with this if he wasn't completely out of GC contention".

My problem isn't really that it's unheralded, more that it seems to have turned into a bit of a consolation prize.

 

[LofaTatupu]

I can't wait until tomorrow, going to be a massive celebration for me. Hope Webber gets up as well but that's another story.

Many many thanks to Freakie for all of his stage previews, and Vader for his 'Le Tour through my eye" post containing the stage summaries (very helpful after being in Spain and missing the first week of stages).

What a day for Australia and Cadel tomorrow, absolutely incredible win. He's been the best rider this tour. I was never his biggest fan but he has been so good this year. Pulling (and dropping) everyone up the Galibier was an incredible ride, today's TT was epic, his early stages showed how much fight he had. It's just been a brilliant 3 weeks. Time to celebrate and enjoy it!

 

[Catsace]

Not ever being a cycling devotee nor an ardent follower of the Tour De France i've never quite 'got' the concept of the final day's non-competition ride where the leader on the penultinate day is able to essentially have a stage-long lap of honour.

But congratulations to Cadel Evans, who has achieved essentially the equivalent of the America's Cup by winning an event that few Australians would ever have thought was a possibility to win. Outstanding dedication, strength of mind and body and fortitude to race such a gruelling race to begin with let alone take the prize. As i said earlier, i may not really be a devotee of cycling but you have to respect to the greatest extent the effort and character shown in this sport.

Australia salutes you Cadel, an iconic and red letter day victory for you, and for Australian sport probably only the America's Cup can compete with the magnitude and 'against all odd-ness' of your triumph!!

 

[outabounds]

Looking forward to getting some sleep. Just brilliant Cadel. Right up there with some of Australias proudest sporting achievements. Absolutely thrilled.

 

[The Passenger]

Not ever being a cycling devotee nor an ardent follower of the Tour De France i've never quite 'got' the concept of the final day's non-competition ride where the leader on the penultinate day is able to essentially have a stage-long lap of honour.

essentially i guess you just have to think of the tour as being finished a day earlier than official.

it's just tradition.

but i wouldn't say no to them having one more mountain stage between the time trial and the last stage to give the climbers one last chance to attack. sometimes the time trial isn't the last competitive stage but it has been the last two years.

i could be wrong here but the last stage is always a very flat stage. tonight it definately is flat.... so even if the last stage wasn't a lap of honour you would find it very rare for someone to lose the yellow jersey anyway. the finishing peleton is always massive on flat stages, and with the yellow jersey on the line knowing that he and his team only needed one last effort to win the whole thing, you just wouldn't see the leader overtaken...

onto cadel. what an effort. it's arguably the toughest sporting competition in the world, and he has become the first ozzie to take the title. his last few stages where he pulled back andy schleck single handedly then dominated him in the time trial should be an inspiritation to anyone who is facing hard work.

i'm probably considered a bandwagoner in these parts but that's fine. i watch bits and pieces of the tour every year and cycling is one of my favourite olympic sports to watch, but that's about it.

this year is the most i've watch the tour from the start but not cause of cadel. i was actually wanting andy schleck to win from the start (from what i was reading cadel was a very outside chance)... over the last couple of years he had fought hard with no dice and seemed like a pretty decent bloke and our old neighbours were from luxembourg and they were a super nice couple.

but i quickly realised schleck was a bit of a dick when he started whining about seemingly every little thing not going his way. then cadel into contention and the rest is history.

 

[mattys123]

I've been waiting 21 years for this (as long as I've been watching the tour on SBS).

Get the Champers out, it's time for an Aussie to ride around the Champs Elysee in yellow.

Every Australian rider who has gone before him should be congratulated for setting in stone the platform for Cadel to become the champion he is today.

And just maybe this may lead to the proper formation of a pro Australian team that can one day compete in the Grand Tours of the world.

Can't wait for the Tour Down Under either, Cadel will be deservedly heaped in praise for the whole duration of the event.

Congratulations to Cadel, his family, his support staff and his team, they all deserve every bit of praise we can give them.

 

[Papa Juggs]

Well done Cadel. Awesome effort to drag them all up the mountain the other day and reduce Andy's 4 minute gap to only 2.

Fantastic all around ride.

Andy Schleck will have to wait

Contador was good. Who knows how much the Giro took out of him. Hope he can do the double at some point.

I loved how he took a swing at the dude in the green coat.