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Running from Saturday July 2nd to Sunday July 24th 2016, the 103rd Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,519 kilometres. The tour will visit three neighboring countries: Spain, the Principality of Andorra and Switzerland.
Individual time-trials return in style to the 2016 Tour de France with a total of 54 kilometres divided into two sequences: 37 between Bourg-Saint-Andéol (stage 13) and La Caverne du Pont-d’Arc and 17 between Sallanches and Megève (stage 18).
Time bonuses will once again be given at the finishes of normal stages. The bonuses will be of 10, 6 and 4 seconds for the first three of each stage.
And so the dust has now settled on the 2016 edition of the Tour De France, culminating in a third victory for Chris Froome and surely the finest ever all-round performance by GB riders, which could well put us in a good position for the Olympic road race & TT, not forgetting Cavendish's crack at getting a medal back on the track.
Stage 19 was full of incident yet didn't really alter all that much - The French had something to shout about with Romain Bardet escaping on the descent off Mont Blanc to get a few extra seconds and climb the GC into second overall. Froome ended up on his arse again but luckily for him his teammates were on hand this time to lend him one of their bikes then proceeded to get him back into the front group so not to lose time of any real consequence.
On to Stage 20 where Movistar and Quintana seemed to admit defeat, letting Ion Izagierre off the leash to attack over the top of the Col de Joux Plane to take the spoils on the day. The wet roads seemed to calm down the more aggressive riding meaning that by the end of the day all the jerseys were decided.
So finally the race rolled into Paris for the traditional photo calls and the small matter of the sprint finish, which was duly won by Andre Greipel ahead of Sagan. Sagan took the Green jersey without any real threat from anyone and there doesn't even seem to be anyone on the horizon that could challenge him for picking up the same honour next year. Adam Yates was hugely impressive throughout the race and clinched the White Jersey and Rafal Majka picked up a second Polka Dot jersey of his career. This just left Chris "Froome-Dog" Froome to get his third Yellow Jersey as winner of the Tour after being spotted breaking the rules and using his mobile phone whilst riding. Bad dog.
Chris "Froome-Dog" Froome now joins an elite list of Tour riders that have been given stupid nicknames. His ill-fitting moniker is now etched into the cycling history books alongside some of the all time greats. In these aforementioned history books (which are kept in the UCI's top secret vault in the tunnels beneath an un-named Swiss lake) you will also find Eddy Merckx, known as the Cannibal. How did he get this rather threatening nickname? Well, it's often wrongly cited as being inspired from the way he ate up all challengers, but this is wrong. It comes from when he was misheard on a telephone interview when he was explaining that he used to be a human cannonball. Belgian interest in the circus waned in the early sixties which led Eddy "The Cannonball" Merckx having to find a new career.
Then there's Bernard "The Badger" Hinault, the seemingly permanently angry little, alleged double-crosser of the 70's & 80's. The story behind his nickname is much shorter and simpler. Bernard Hinault is a carrier of Bovine TB. Many farmers want to exterminate Bernard to stop him from infecting their cattle, which is rumoured to be the cause of his legendary bad temper.
And what of Raymond Poulidor?... The man who finished in the top three of the Tour De France on 8 occasions without ever winning or ever wearing the Yellow Jersey. Some call him "the Eternal Second" but the French refer to him as "Pou-Pou." This translates into English as "Poo-Poo". Adding insult to injury, the harsh French cycling fans gave him a nickname to eternally show their disappointment in his inability to win their race. Nevermind Raymond, they could have called you Poo-Dog.
Images © ASO/A.Broadway
Stage 21 - Summary
Best of Tour de France 2016
Stage 21 - Top 10 (24th July - Chantilly / Paris Champs-Élysées - 113 km)
# | Rider | Country | Team | Time |
1 | André Greipel | Germany | Lotto Soudal | 02h 43' 08'' |
2 | Peter Sagan | Slovakia | Tinkoff | + 00' 00'' |
3 | Alexander Kristoff | Norway | Team Katusha | + 00' 00'' |
4 | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Norway | Team Dimension Data | + 00' 00'' |
5 | Michael Matthews | Australia | Orica-BikeExchange | + 00' 00'' |
6 | Jasper Stuyven | Belgium | Trek - Segafredo | + 00' 00'' |
7 | Ramunas Navardauskas | Lithuania | Cannondale Drapac Team | + 00' 00'' |
8 | Christophe Laporte | France | Cofidis, Solutions Credits | + 00' 00'' |
9 | Sam Bennett | Ireland | Bora-Argon 18 | + 00' 00'' |
10 | Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg | South Africa | Team Dimension Data | + 00' 00'' |
Overall - Top 10
# | Rider | Country | Team | Time |
1 | Christopher Froome | Great Britain | Team Sky | 89h 04' 48'' |
2 | Romain Bardet | France | AG2R La Mondiale | + 04' 05'' |
3 | Nairo Quintana | Colombia | Movistar Team | + 04' 21'' |
4 | Adam Yates | Great Britain | Orica - BikeExchange | + 04' 42'' |
5 | Richie Porte | Australia | BMC Racing Team | + 05' 17'' |
6 | Alejandro Valverde | Spain | Movistar Team | + 06' 16'' |
7 | Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver | Spain | Team Katusha | + 06' 58'' |
8 | Louis Meintjes | South Africa | Lampre - Merida | + 06' 58'' |
9 | Daniel Martin | Ireland | Etixx - Quick Step | + 07' 04'' |
10 | Roman Kreuziger | Czech Republic | Tinkoff | + 07' 11'' |
Stage | Type | Date | Start / Finish | Distance |
1 | Flat | 2nd July | Mont-Saint-Michel / Utah Beach | 188 km |
2 | Flat | 3rd July | Saint-Lô / Cherbourg-en-Cotentin | 183 km |
3 | Flat | 4th July | Granville / Angers | 223.5 km |
4 | Flat | 5th July | Saumur / Limoges | 237.5 km |
5 | Mountain | 6th July | Limoges / Le Lioran | 216 km |
6 | Flat | 7th July | Arpajon-sur-Cère / Montauban | 190.5 km |
7 | Mountain | 8th July | L'Isle-Jourdain / Lac de Payolle | 162.5 km |
8 | Mountain | 9th July | Pau / Bagnères-de-Luchon | 184 km |
9 | Mountain | 10th July | Vielha Val d'Aran / Andorre Arcalis | 184.5 km |
- | Rest day | 11th July | Andorre / Andorre | - |
10 | Hilly | 12th July | Escaldes-Engordany / Revel | 197 km |
11 | Flat | 13th July | Carcassonne / Montpellier | 162.5 km |
12 | Mountain | 14th July | Montpellier / Mont Ventoux | 184 km |
13 | Time trial | 15th July | Bourg-Saint-Andéol / La Caverne du Pont-d'Arc | 37.5 km |
14 | Flat | 16th July | Montélimar / Villars-les-Dombes Parc des Oiseaux | 208.5 km |
15 | Mountain | 17th July | Bourg-en-Bresse / Culoz | 160 km |
16 | Flat | 18th July | Moirans-en-Montagne / Berne | 209 km |
- | Rest day | 19th July | Berne / Berne | - |
17 | Mountain | 20th July | Berne / Finhaut-Emosson | 184.5 km |
18 | Time trial | 21st July | Sallanches / Megève | 17 km |
19 | Mountain | 22nd July | Albertville / Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc | 146 km |
20 | Mountain | 23rd July | Megève / Morzine-Avoriaz | 146.5 km |
21 | Flat | 24th July | Chantilly / Paris Champs-Élysées | 113 km |