2016 Tour de France Stage 21 Results & Recap
Stage 21 of the 2016 Tour de France is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Chris Froome cruised to the overall victory in the Tour de France for the third time in his career, enjoying a sunny and uneventful final stage to Paris with his Sky teammates. After dominating from the first mountain stage to Luchon through the final showdown to Morzine, the Briton finished the race with more than four minutes ahead of second placed Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar).
"To my teammates and support team this is your yellow jersey," Froome said from the podium. "I wouldn’t be standing here if it wasn’t for your commitment. A massive thank you to Dave Brailsford and my coach Tim Kerrison. This is one special team and I’m so proud to be part of it. To Michelle my wife and my son Kellen, your love and support make everything possible. Kellan I dedicate this victory to you."
"This Tour has taken place against the backdrop of the terrible events in Nice and we pay our respects once again to those who lost their lives. Of course these events put sport into perspective but they also show why the values of sport are so important to free society. We all love the Tour de France because it’s unpredictable but we love the Tour more for what stays the same – the passion of the fans for every nation, the beauty of the French countryside and the bonds of friendship created through sport. These things will never change."
Greipel finally comes good on stage 21
Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) finally opened his account at the Tour de France, winning the final stage on the Champs Elysees ahead of Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and Alexender Kristoff (Katusha).
The German sprinter came around his main rivals inside the final 100 meters to win his first stage of this year’s race and repeat his win from Paris twelve months earlier.
Greipel and his sprint train struggled throughout this year’s Tour with timing and a number of other factors hampering them during the race, but on the biggest stage of all for the elite sprinters the Belgian team and their sprinter hit the jackpot.
They hit the front on the final 1500 meters, taking the perfect line through the last corners. Kristoff was in the leading position when he leadout man swung off but with Greipel on his wheel the writing was on the wall. The Norwegian was forced to open up his sprint first with Greipel using the Katusha rider to catapult him to victory.
Sagan, like Marianne Vos in the women’s race earlier in the day, started the sprint from too far back and despite a late surge was unable to catch Greipel.
"I can't describe it. I'm just super proud of what we've achieved today," Greipel said. "I've raced for three weeks for that. The team kept believing in me. We've tried many times and never could succeed, now we won two stages with Thomas De Gendt [on Ventoux] and now me on the Champs Elysees.
"We had a good plan this morning, with the headwind I just tried to stay calm to save energy. Once we hit the front, we were one guy too short, so I chose the wheel of Kristoff which was the best today. I'm happy I could finish it off and get another Tour de France stage win."
Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) completed the race as best young rider, Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) claimed his fifth consecutive points classification victory, while Rafal Majka sealed the mountains classification.
Chantilly to Paris
The stage began from Chantilly with Team Sky in a changed kit with livery of yellow to celebrate their win and the entire peloton were in high spirits with the end of race in sight.
The early stages of the day were marked with the customary photo calls and congratulations before the race proper began when the race hit the center of Paris.
Joaquim Rodriguez was given the freedom to clear of the bunch and lead the race in a mark of respect from his competitors in the peloton with the Spaniard set to retire at the end of the season. When the Katusha rider, who clearly enjoyed his moment, sat up the attacks began with an eight-man move scampering clear.
Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Lawson Craddock (Cannondale-Drapac), Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing Team), Daniel Teklehaimanot (Dimension Data), Jérémy Roy (FDJ), Jan Barta (Bora-Argon 18), Rui Costa (Lampre - Merida), and Brice Feillu (Fortuneo - Vital Concept) rolled the dice with Team Sky forfeiting the front to Direct Energie hunting the stage win for Bryan Coquard.
The break were only afforded a slender gap of 20 seconds before Team Sky sent Luke Rowe and Wout Poels up the road to join them.
Kittel crisis
Before Team Sky’s bravado came Marcel Kittel’s tantrum. The German sprinter, who came into the final stage looking for his second win of the race, was forced to change bikes three times in quick succession due to mechanical issues and although he made it back to the bunch his frustrations were clear to see when he threw a wheel into the road and then banged his handlebars.
Up ahead Lutsensko and and Greg Van Avermaet attemped a final break but they too were caught as the sprinters teams surged forward for one final dash into Paris.
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