Obviously etiquette / tradition dictates that none of the GC candidates will attack Froome today, and that the nature of the stage makes any such attack relatively simple for Sky to deal with in any event. So is it just a terminal crash outwith the final km that could bugger it up, or is there anything else they have to be careful of?

They only need to worry about injury. My guess is if he crashes trying to drink champagne and the team take 5 mins to get him a new bike, the field will slow to let him catch up. Short of an injury that stops Froome riding, it’s his.

But if he has a mechanical won’t Nibbles feel duty bound to attack again? Seems to be the rule of thumb.

I did love Nibali’s excuse that there is a precedent for attacking the yellow jersey when they have a mechanical then citing Contador attacking Schleck, something which most watchers though was outside the spirit of sporting behaviour (as established at the tour).

One example to batter tradition with. Bless him.
It would make it more interesting it he went off the front on a loan attack early doors 😈

French vs non French rule book. Nibs can do what he likes h cause he’s a Frenchman in a French race fighting against a non French leader.

Were it the other way around, it would be totally different.

Nibbles is French? The one I’ve been watching is the champ of a different flag 😕

Maybe Vincenzo is short for Jean-Paul or Claude?????

😆

French vs non French rule book. Nibs can do what he likes h cause he’s a Frenchman in a French race fighting against a non French leader.

Check out the French flag!

There is not a tradition of not attacking the yellow jersey on the last day. It’s because it’s a mainly flat stage so realistically no one is going to take a minute off the leader when he has a team to chase.

My only worry is that some nut job spectator tries to push him off or throws something at him.

Nibs can do what he likes h cause he’s a Frenchman in a French race fighting against a non French leader.

The Italian flag on his jersey is a good clue here.

edit: demonstrated better by @thegreatape above

yeah no real attacks as sprinters teams would reel it in. So unless the weathers wild and rips the bunch to pieces it’ll be a bunch finish.

They had a timetrial on final day in Paris …Lemond (USA) took the Yellow Jersey from Fignon (FRA) that day by 6 seconds.

who said something like “Great riders don’t follow tradition…they make traditions” was it Coppi?

I would love to see nibali attack again. A bit of extra excitement would be fun as the last stage of the tdf I always find an anticlimax.

I was aware of Lemond/Fignon in that TT, but can’t think of another final day were anyone has made an effort to take the GC. I’d always thought etiquette dictated that they don’t, but perhaps it’s just down to the near impossibility of it as spangalsaregreat says?

The traditions suck and rob us of great racing. Sean Kelly said during his Eurosport commentary “Nibali was right to attack” ~ I agree with him! Sport is all about exploiting your opponents’ weakness and to not attack is wrong.
And race till the end of the race for god’s sake! We could have awesome last days and stage finishes in Paris if they raced. It might do something for TV viewing figures if there was the prospect of some action today 🙂

Raimondas Rumsas gave it a go in 2002 to try and get a handful of seconds to move from third to second iirc. He was given very short shrift.

Sorry, (hangs head in shame. My excuse is that I’ve only just women up). Really should clear the sleep out of my eyes before firing up stw.

Im not even sure now who I was thinking of!

It is a tradition, it’s kinda set in some annal of French Law that was set around the time of Louis XVI and therefore anyone attempting such revolution would find themselves on a block of wood about to have a 2 stone weight loss programme initiated.

However, the raison d’etre is purely a combination of respect and a flat stage. Out of respect for not only the Leader but the institution that is the TdF and respect for combatively. The flat stage has been in the last stage as a tribute to the “roll” into Paris that formed the French Revolution BITD. It symbolises the commoners march into and against what is seen as Royalty in the Capital by a proven Leader leading commoners… . Simple when you think about it, but thats really the reason.

As for attacking, it has been done but it’s always held back.

In my eyes today is a celebration for all those domestiques, the bottle carriers, the guys that have turned inside out with illness and duties to contend with. Those that have had endless mechanicals and flats that no one reported one, the shoes that didn’t fit, the bugs that smacked into the eyes and wasp stings that still smart. It’s about suffering at the back trying to enjoy, when endure is the feeling. At least some of these guys got chance to actually see the views they were riding in, the locations and fans that made them smile as they rode through in the big ring feeling shite.

To all the Fans and supporters who made the effort to dangle banners, shuv kids into tractor shovels and raise them high, to the granddads and grandmas in tiny villages peering out of their kitchen window craining their necks for a glimpse of the boy in yellow or a Frenchman in the break.
To all those school kids who got the day off and ran around in a field dressed in red/green/yellow in endless circles waiving bunting whilst not realising the image of the bike they could’t visualise looked like a bike with a flat front wheel. But who cares, that they did’t get to see the riders go by, they saw and heard the crowds, spotted the helicopters come down the road and felt the pang of excitement that the “Tour” is came to Town.

It’s more than a race, it’s a physical and emotional rollercoaster of excitement, passion, sorrow and defeat.

And a winner.

Beautiful.

…..

I’ve enjoyed the banter on here, some great comments and viewpoints, some very insightful thoughts and some quite bonkers left of field opinions.

Cheers..

Same time next year ?

Ohh.. prediction?

Greipel

8)

Renshaw is gone, isn’t he? Can’t see past Greipel for the sprint, and not just because he’s huge. I hope Cav manages to hang on the coat-tails and nip past, though.

The bit about ‘the roll’ is interesting bikebuoy, after as many years as watching it as I have I did not know that. I may now see it in a different light, ta.

Sagan win.

Onza – coffee quickly. You’re getting into more trouble with predictive text now! I “womened” up ages ago when I learnt the wife is always right.

Second coffee here and just about functioning.

Greipel here albeit to see Cav streak past him again would be rather special.

Man of the Tour has to be Gee IMHO. Anyone found his shades yet. He doesn’t look right in those Radars.

The shades, or at least the same version, were found: https://twitter.com/SaraEls90/status/623233346961850368

timbur – Member

Man of the Tour has to be Gee IMHO. Anyone found his shades yet. He doesn’t look right in those Radars.

POSTED 3 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Yes agreed. How did he get on yesterday? I only watched the last 45 minutes and didn’t see or hear anything of him. In a way it’s a shame he wasn’t still in 4th, but at the same time it sort of shows he turned himself inside out rather than sipped on some undetectable doping chemical and spun around as some were saying

I’m tied for man of the tour between G and Valverde who I also think has been excellent at helping set up Quintana on the mountains as well as maintaining his podium finish.

LOL @ Onza, twice! 🙂

Hoping for a win by Cav, although it’s been great to see Greipel winning after so many turns being the bridesmaid (now there’s an image).

I really couldn’t muster any outrage against Nibali for attacking Froome like he did. I don’t think think the comparison with Chaingate really holds, as he presented comparatively little threat to the yellow jersey. I like him as a rider, but feel ambivalent because of the Astana association. So, good to see him win a stage, but sort of glad he isn’t on the podium if that makes sense. I didn’t think I could dislike Vinokourov any more than I did, but his comments in the press have proved otherwise.

As for Froome, I really don’t think that his overall performance (fantastic though it’s been) justified the level of speculation/ire that we’re seeing. He’s looked nigh-on human in the last couple of stages.

I suppose we won’t be seeing claims that Quintana is doping, based on the way he whopped Froome on 2 successive Alpine days? I’ve been reading the comments on L’Equipe and a more rabid bunch of Anglophobe rubbish you’d be hard put to imagine.

To my mind its the dullest day of the tour. Last 30 seconds are worth watching as you know it will be a sprint otherwise its a procession with various French riders going for a break that even they know will be pointless. 20 k out the big sprinters teams will start to get themselves in order and the yellow jersey team will try to stay up front as well. They can’t all be there so it will be a scrum. Last lap but one, the modern version of David Millar will go for a long one and be caught.
A individual TT would make less to watch in one way but would also make it worth having from the overall point of view. Watching Lemond v Fignon was nail biting. I would love to see a last stage with 1 second between the first 2 riders. That would change things I bet. Bugger etiquette there I reckon.
Never got the respect for the leader thing. To my mind he is the one you should be having a go at, at all costs. If you are going to wait after crashes or mechanicals then waiting should be for everyone. And that’s not racing.
As for chaingate. Good on him. Why sit up for mechanical balls up/stupidity.

According to the BBC, Police were firing shots at a car that tried to break through the barriers earlier 😯

Beaten to it by seconds!

Sod it, I’m going back to bed before I hurt myself.

As for chaingate. Good on him. Why sit up for mechanical balls up/stupidity.

Because it’s not the done thing, if Froome had dropped the chain with a bodged shift reacting to a Nibali attack, then fair play, but to notice the mechanical, and then attack is not right.

Wiggins (in Yellow) slowed his bunch after the summit in 2012 when he had a gap on Cadel Evans after carpet tacks had been thrown on the road causing Evans to puncture, if you’re going to win Le Tour, at least do it because you’re the best.

its not as if Nibali was challenging for GC anyway, not sure what the fuss is about

Dirtyrider you are Nibali and I claim my £5.

Its not a great tradition in that it creates a lot of confusion. It would be a hole lot more interesting if all the teams just agreed to race until the finish, makes for dull watching as it stands.

Some people just don’t get it.

A individual TT would make less to watch in one way but would also make it worth having from the overall point of view. Watching Lemond v Fignon was nail biting. I would love to see a last stage with 1 second between the first 2 riders.

But that only worked because there was only a minute or so in it. If Fignon (or Lemond) had been six minutes up, then it would have been the dullest stage ever as the result would have been even more pre-set than today – no bunch sprint, no sense of drama, just a long procession of tired riders coming in. Now a 100km time trial – that might loosen things up – but it’s not the thing to have on the last day. I prefer the traditional procession and doomed attacks approach.

Its not a great tradition in that it creates a lot of confusion. It would be a hole lot more interesting if all the teams just agreed to race until the finish, makes for dull watching as it stands

There’s not been a whole lot of GC riders suffering mechanicals at crucial points, so not a lot of racing has been lost (if any).

If you’re referring to the procession that is today’s stage, No GC rider has any chance of taking any time out of Froome today anyhow, so even if they decided to race today, The chances of a break succeeding are tiny, the chances of break staying away with a GC rider in it are non existent.

What’s wrong with having today as a GC formality? It’s been 3 weeks ffs – surely the top guy having a day to ride around and show off the jersey is a good thing. As Chipps said an ITT worked in the Fingon/LeMond year because of the circumstances of the the time gap and the attributes of the riders involved – otherwise it would have been dire. A Paris stage is ripe for a good rip around and sprint finish so let’s just have that and be grateful. Nothing will every beat seeing Wiggins in yellow at the front of the train bringing in one of the most perfect sprint lead outs ever – not sure we’ll ever see that again.

As an aside, I’ve missed having a more telling ITT at the latter stages of this year’s (and last year’s) tour. A combination of crucial time trail and mountain top finishes in a grand tour gives a better spectacle of different rider attributes being tested against each other than we saw this year.

How about if the organisers reserved the right to invoke the ‘Time Trial Rule’ with the option of making the final stage a time trial if they thought it would spice things up? So a day before the final day, you get to find out if it’s a regular stage, or a 60km time trial? I can’t see Cav going for that one though 🙂