Second consecutive Tour de France for Tadej Pogacar. The 22-year-old Slovenian covered the 3,414 kilometers of the route in 82 hours, 56 minutes and 36 seconds, an average speed of 41.165 km/h. It is the second fastest Tour in history after the 2005 edition. For the final sprint on the Champs-Élysées, it was Wout van Aert who spoke about his power and managed to win for the first time ahead of Jasper Philipsen and Mark Cavendish.
Tadej Pogacar was a controversial winner for this year 2021 because he was accused of a lot of doping in the face of his ease in the mountains and his impressive times. However, the president of the International Cycling Union, David Lappartient, wished to deny any suspicion of doping. “I have the images of Pogacar’s bike and everything is clean according to the results of the X-ray machine [to detect a possible motor]”, he indeed assured the Guardian. “As president of the UCI , I have confidence in the international anti-doping agency of Lausanne UCI”, indeed recalled the president of the UCI.
The falls will have marked this Grande Boucle 2021 with 42 abandonments in total. We will remember in particular that due to the reckless and dangerous supporter and her now infamous “Opi-Omi” sign which unbalanced the German runner Tony Martin and caused a total of fifty runners to fall. The 30-year-old was taken into custody following the horrific fall after surrendering days later and an investigation was opened for “involuntary injuries with incapacitation not exceeding three months by manifest violation intentional of an obligation of safety or prudence”.
Julian Alpahilippe will only finish this year in 30th place in the general classification. A very disappointing Tour for the Frenchman who had worn the yellow jersey from the first stage. “The stress was permanent with me for several things. The first: I had just become a dad, it changes a man, it changes a life. Unconsciously, you think about a lot of things” he explained in the columns of The Team. “There was also the world champion’s jersey that I wanted to shine all the time, this desire to always do well. But it’s already difficult to win on the Tour, and even more so with the jersey, against competition high”, admitted the French climber.
Matej Mohoric won this Friday July 2 in the 7th stage of the Tour de France which linked Vierzon to Le Creusot over 249.1 kilometers. This is the Bahrain Victorious rider’s first victory on the Grande Boucle. This was the longest stage of the Tour de France. Arrived in fourth position, the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel (Alcepin-Fenix) consolidates his yellow jersey. Mohoric was very strong on the pedals and easily outdistanced his last breakaway companions (Stuyven, Van Moer) in the Signal d’Uchon, the most severe climb of this stage. The disappointment comes from his compatriot Roglic, who loses three minutes on his candidates for the final victory of the Tour and thus sees his chances heavily mortgaged. behind in this climb located at the entrance of the last 20 kilometers, was not expected by his teammates. He was left behind in the climb 20 kilometers from the finish. On the French side, despite the final favorable to punchers, Julian Alaphilippe, first Frenchman in the general classification, fell to 7th place.
A French yellow jersey from the first stage of the tour. The French world champion achieved the perfect shot this Saturday, June 26 on the first stage of the Tour de France. He managed to grab the first yellow jersey of the Tour, the 18th of his career. “Being one of the favorites is one thing, but succeeding in what has been announced for several days is a satisfaction”, testified the runner at the microphone of France Télévisions. He then wanted to “thank (s) his teammates who worked a lot today”. “I was caught in the first fall, but I didn’t get angry, I stayed calm. I was really focused on this last climb. I had said it this morning at the briefing that I was going to ride like s he didn’t have a stage tomorrow. We wanted to toughen up the race from the foot of the final ascent to eliminate the sprinters. When my teammate Dries Devenyns pulled away, I gave it my all. I was at the maximum but it feels good to win”, concluded Julian Alaphilippe. By wearing the yellow jersey for the third consecutive year, the Frenchman is making French cycling history.
This year the Tour takes place from June 26th to July 18th. The Grande Boucle finally started from Brest, and not from Copenhagen. The tour therefore started on June 26 and 27 with two Breton stages before going straight to the Alps to descend to Provence via Valence and finally heading towards the Pyrenees. This Tour will be more Pyrenean and less Alpine than in previous years.
187 kilometers. The runners will start from Brest and will have to explore the Monts d’Arrée. According to the team, it will be necessary to pass the rough roads of Finistère via Quimper and Locronan. Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France, believes on letour.fr that “this first day will offer no respite”. “The restarts following numerous changes of direction, the windy areas of the Monts d’Arrée and an arrival at the top of a 3 km climb at 5.7% on average (including a passage at 14%) will crown a hell of a puncher “.
182 kilometers. According to Christian Prudomme, after a start that will allow you to appreciate the wild and unique beauty of the Pink Granite Coast, the entry into the land will lead to a breathless finale: the double ascent of the coast of Mûr-de-Bretagne will be a judges all the more ruthless as the riders will approach it almost stopped, without the momentum offered by the layout of previous editions.
182 kilometers. This is the first step that could favor sprinters. Indeed for the director of the Tour de France, if Warren Barguil, the best climber of the Tour 2017, should be the object of all attention at the start in his native region. But it is unlikely that he will be at the party at the finish: at the foot of the Château des Rohan, the sprinters will certainly not want to miss the first opportunity to explain themselves to each other on this edition.
152 kilometers. For the director of the Tour de France, this crossing of Argoat, the beautiful interior of Brittany, traced entirely in Gallo country and from one end to the other of Ille-et-Vilaine, still suggests a massive sprint. Unless the daring ones manage to take advantage of the wooded rolling or a wind that would sweep the few open plateaus to make a decisive difference.
27 kilometers. This is the first of two individual time trials scheduled for this Tour. Christian Prudhomme recalls that the first week of the Tour had not offered such a long individual time since 2008, the year of the last Grand Départ from… Brest! Geography dictated that a possible litany of flat stages be broken up in this way and this offering to riders signals our desire to vary the scenarios and opportunities to question the positions established during the first Breton escapades.
144 kilometers. For the director of the Tour, it is a brief stage in two stages. A zest of sweetness and wonder at first, by providing pretty glimpses of the string of Renaissance castles, jewels of the incomparable heritage of the Loire Valley. Nerve then, when the formations protecting the interests of the sprinters will undoubtedly impose their rhythm to reach the finish.
248 kilometers. Christian Prudhomme specifies that the day after a “sprint course”, the Tour will alternate the pleasures by offering its longest stage for 21 years. But length cannot rhyme with languor: over a new beautiful cultural stroll (Bourges, Nevers, Bibracte, Autun…), the Morvan will put 3,000 m of altitude difference on the menu for a finale spiced up by the original and selective Uchon signal.
151km. This is the first mountainous stage of this tour with first the Mont-Saxonnex coast (5.7 km at 8.3%) 47 km from the finish, then the series of cols de Romme and la Colombière (both 8-9% average) before continuing downhill to Le Grand-Bornand.
145 kilometers. Christian Prudhomme assures that he broke himself to quickly return to Tignes to erase the frustration of the meeting prevented in 2019. The Tour will keep its word by taking the Col du Pré for the second time, then the majestic Cormet de Roselend before climbing, via the long final climb which threads its way under the dam, up to Val Claret.
186 kilometers. For the director of the Grande Boucle, at the foot of the Savoyard resorts, the quality of Albertville’s infrastructure and welcome make it an ideal departure town. But the gateway to the Alpine furrow will not send runners to attack the peaks this time. Heading towards the Isère and Rhône valleys, the route is clearly carved out for an explanation between sprinters.
199 kilometers. Five years after a passage “in a gust of wind”, Christian Prudhomme explains that the Tour returns to linger over the Giant of Provence, which has become a regional natural park, with a double ascent (including the almost unprecedented one by Sault) and a come to his feet. A way of saluting the initiative of the Departmental Council of Vaucluse which has reorganized the summit for the benefit of cyclists.
161 kilometers. After a journey along the magical gorges of the Ardèche, for the first time reassembled in their entirety by the Tour, this stage should lead to a massive sprint in Nîmes for Christian Prudhomme, as in 2019, after an identical final. . Beware, however: the road will be exposed just before Uzès and the wind could cause curbs and breaks.
220 kilometers. From the best preserved Roman arenas in the world to the medieval city listed as a UNESCO heritage site, the stage will follow the course of history. Knowing that it teaches us that, contrary to what geography would seem to suggest, never has a finish at the foot of the towers of Carcassonne ended in a massive sprint. Notice to the daring!
184km. Rather quiet until Lavelanet, the arrival in the Pyrenees will turn to the toboggan from Montségur according to the director of the Tour. He assures that the citadel of vertigo and its steep slopes, then the passes of the Croix des Morts and Saint-Louis, which we will reach by taking the spectacular Snail viaduct, will whet the appetite of attackers stamped climbers.
192 kilometers. An unprecedented departure from Céret, the first stop in the Pyrénées-Orientales since 2009 and the victory of Thomas Voeckler in Perpignan, passages through Prades, Font-Romeu, the Col de Puymorens, the port of Envalira and Beixalis, whose slopes are as hard to climb as difficult to descend: the Principality will crown a true king of the mountains for Christian Prudhomme.
169 kilometers. For Christian Prudhomme, the candidates for the Yellow Jersey could observe a moment of truce and the rugged profile will be favorable to a big blow from the adventurers who will have kept some freshness for this third week. They will have little choice but to blast the race if they are not to let slip their last clear chance to find the opening.
178 kilometers. The Tour will set off again from the foot of the Pyrenees to approach them differently, with this double-faced stage, imposing gear over more than a hundred kilometers before three big obstacles arise in a row: Peyresourde, Val Louron-Azet and, to finish, the 16 km of ascent at nearly 9% average of the pitiless Col du Portet. Big effort required and spectacle guaranteed according to the race director.
130 kilometers. Dense, nervous, selective with the climbing of two giants of the Pyrenees, the Tourmalet and Luz Ardiden, where the verdict of the ultimate battle in the mountains will fall. Leaders who are predominantly “climbers” will have to find the means to take a sufficient margin, in the general classification, over those who are reputed to be the best riders according to Christian Prudhomme.
203 kilometers. On the traditional “Landes stage”, logic leads to predict a more or less massive final packing depending on the number of sprinters who will have been able to cross the mountain. But will they be able to master the events? Revisited and placed at the end of the third week, it could indeed very well be offered to brave adventurers according to the race director.
31km. This is the second time trial of this edition. Located the day before the finish in Paris, it will be the last chance to see a change of final winner and a great opportunity for the riders well ranked in the general classification to play their card.
112km. It is the last and traditional stage in Paris which ends on the Champs-Élysées, and where a sprinter should probably still win.
