2018 Tour de France Stage 21 Results & Recap
Stage 21 of the 2018 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
Kristoff wins on the Champs-Elysées\nBy Clara Beard
Alexander Kristoff sprinted to stage honors on the final stage of the Tour de France. The European champion out kicked John Degenkolb and Arnaud Demare to give UAE Emirates its second win of the tour.
Geraint Thomas (SKY) took home the yellow jersey ahead of Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) and teammate Chris Froome.
“It is insane,” Thomas said. “I just had never gone so deep for three weeks, I didn’t know what was around the corner. The first stages gave me some confidence, and from then on I went day by day, trying to relax and not to panic, and the momentum grew up until this point. This is the highlight of my life, along with my marriage. For years I just kept working hard, waiting for things to happen, and all that work has paid off now. Wales is such a small, proud nation. We put ourselves behind any Welshman who does well for him to succeed. I signed off from Twitter some days ago, just to not get distracted, and only turned it on yesterday. The amount of support I was sent over these last days of the Tour alone was overwhelming. I want to have a good night tonight and celebrate the victory with my teammates after going through so much with them. From tomorrow on, it will start to sink in.”
With 145 riders left in the race, the final stage took off in Houilles. After the celebratory amble to the Champs-Elysées, racing started after Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) took a lap ahread of the peloton, celebrating his 18th and final Tour de France.
With about 50 kilometres to go, Silvan Dillier (AG2R-La Mondiale), Taylor Phinney (EF Education First), Michael Schär (BMC), Damien Gaudin (Direct Energie), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) and Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) made up the break of the day, getting a max of 45 seconds. By the time the bell rang indicating the last lap, the break was caught. Yves Lampaert (Quick Step) was the last rider to attack with 1 kilometre to go, but was reeled back just metres from the line by the sprint trains.
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