Tour de France Stage 19: The End Approaches

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Sylvain Chavanel finally won the Tour de France stage
he's been searching for.
Photo: Graham Watson

With just a few days of racing left before the end of the 2008 Tour de France, the peloton is not the same environment it was nearly three weeks ago.

 

The vast majority of the peloton is not in contention for any of the jersey competitions, and with both the Alps and Pyrenees behind them there are a lot of rider who are just putting in the kilometers until they reach Paris. The bulk of their work is done, and while Stages 19, 20 and 21 will not be easy, they won’t be as stressful as the big days in the mountains or the nervous races at the beginning of the Tour.

 

In the first week of the Tour de France, everyone has fresh legs and a lot of enthusiasm. Each team has its set of goals and wants to make their mark on the race. The stress level in the pack is very high because every moment matters to a wide range of competitors. The sprinters are concerned with chasing the breakaway and setting up a final sprint finish, the opportunists are itching to get off the front in a break, the overall contenders all want to be up at the front of the pack (and at that point in the race there are more contenders because no one has faltered yet).

 

In the mountains the racing is hard on everyone, even if you’re not in the lead group. After spending the first hour or more sorting out who is going to be in the long breakaway, then riding behind the blistering pace set by CSC-Saxo Bank for as long as you possible, many riders dropped back into the gruppetto, but it’s a mistake to think that riding back there is easy. It’s easier than being in the lead group, but you still have to get over the same massive climbs.

 

Now that the race is just three days from Paris, two now that Stage 19 is over, riders still need to be attentive, look after their team leaders, and avoid crashes, but for many, the overall mood is much lighter than is was just a few days ago. If you’ve made it this far, then barring disaster you’ll make it to the finish line in Paris, and that alone is enough to lift a rider’s spirits.

 

Of course, there are still some riders who are looking for more than a finish in Paris. For the yellow jersey contenders, there’s one more huge challenge tomorrow. With a 1:34 lead over Cadel Evans, Carlos Sastre has a chance of holding on to the yellow jersey through Saturday’s 53-kilometer time trial, but there’s also a chance Evans can take back enough time to take the yellow jersey off his back the night before the race reaches Paris. And while it’s reasonably certain Evans and Sastre will occupy the top two steps on the final podium, the third step is still up for grabs. Denis Menchov has the best chance of taking third place overall, but with an inspired ride Christian Vande Velde could take third instead.

 

In addition to the yellow jersey contenders, the time trial specialists are also looking forward to tomorrow’s stage. Normally, two-time time trial world champion Fabian Cancellara would be a big favorite to win a 53-kilometer individual test, but he’s been killing himself working for his CSC-Saxo Bank teammates over the past two weeks and I think he’s probably pretty fatigued. Plus, with the yellow jersey on the line, there’s a better chance that one of the podium contenders will win the stage, probably either Evans or Vande Velde.

 

The final group that’s still really engaged in the racing at the Tour de France is the group of the sprinters. While Oscar Freire pretty much has the green jersey points competition sewn up, there’s still the final stage finish on the Champs Elysees. It’s the most coveted sprint victory in cycling, and though the final stage into Paris has been won by a breakaway a handful of times, it almost always comes down to a bunch sprint. Thor Hushovd, Freire, Robbie Hunter, Julian Dean, Robbie McEwen, and Erik Zabel all want that final sprint victory, so they and their teammates still have to stay focused for one more day after tomorrow’s time trial.  

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