Tour de France 2009

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TdF Final Stage: Montereau-Fault-Yonne Paris Champs-Élysées

The short review:

just when it looked like team Columbia had run out of steam chasing down the small breakaway on the Champs Elysee Mark Renshaw gets back to the front closely followed by Mark Cavendish. Garmin try to spoil the party but take the wrong line on the final corner and the two Columbia riders attack hard and pull away.

Cavendish crosses the line a good 30m ahead of the peloton and Mark Renshaw finishes second. This is Cav's 6th stage win on this Tour, taking his total to 10. When Cav broke Barry Hoban's record he sent Cav a bottle of champagne, presented by one of the ITV4 interviewers.

It's all over for another year:

Alberto Contador wins the 2009 Tour de France and was very strong throughout the tour, despite the internal team politics in team Astana.

Andy Schleck finished in second place and also wins the white jersey for the highest place young rider and on this form it won't be long until he wins the Tour.

Lance Armstrong managed a podium place finishing in third. Most observers doubted he had would be able to deliver after 3 years out of the sport and with only 6 months professional riding this year but he got better as the Tour progressed and looked relaxed on Ventoux (or as much as you can cycling up a mountain). Despite this he didn't look too happy during the presentations at the end of the race - he'll be looking for his usual Tour podium spot next year.

Thor Hushovd wins the sprinters green jersey, just ahead of Mark Cavendish.

Franco Pellizotti wins the polka jersey as King of the Mountains nearly 100 points ahead of Egoi Martinez. Pellizotti was also crowned as the most aggressive rider of the Tour.

Astana were the strongest team on the Tour and although team Columbia weren't even in the top 10 based on team times they were very strong throughout the Tour and lead Mark Cavendish to 6 stage wins. Will Astana survive after this given their financial problems and Armstrong is leaving to start team Radioshack?

Bradley Wiggins will be disappointed not to have finished on the podium but prior to the start of the Tour most pundits would only have placed him somewhere in the top 20 so an amazing result to finish 4th. With a stronger team he can only get better (Contador?).

Cadel Evans also had a poor Tour and was expected to do better after finishing second in the 2008 and 2007 tours. Will he stay at Silence-Lotto or will he join Armstrong?

Stage 21 results:

* 1.CAVENDISH M. THR 4h 02' 18"
* 2.RENSHAW M. THR 00' 00"
* 3.FARRAR T. GRM 00' 00"
* 4.CIOLEK G. MRM 00' 00"
* 5.HUTAROVICH Y. FDJ 00' 00"
* 6.HUSHOVD T. CTT 00' 00"
* 7.ROJAS J. GCE 00' 00"
* 8.BANDIERA M. LAM 00' 00"
* 9.BENNATI D. LIQ 00' 00"
* 10.BONNET W. BBO 00' 00"


Final GC standings:

* 1.CONTADOR A. AST 85h 48' 35"
* 2.SCHLECK A. SAX 04' 11"
* 3.ARMSTRONG L. AST 05' 24"
* 4.WIGGINS B. GRM 06' 01"
* 5.SCHLECK F. SAX 06' 04"
* 6.KLÖDEN A. AST 06' 42"
* 7.NIBALI V. LIQ 07' 35"
* 8.VANDE VELDE C. GRM 12' 04"
* 9.KREUZIGER R. LIQ 14' 16"
* 10.LE MEVEL C. FDJ 14' 25"


White Jersey standings:

# 1.SCHLECK A. SAX 85h 52' 46"
# 2.NIBALI V. LIQ 03' 24"
# 3.KREUZIGER R. LIQ 10' 05"
# 4.ROLLAND P. BBO 33' 33"
# 5.ROCHE N. ALM 34' 09"

Polka Dot Jersey:

# 1.PELLIZOTTI F.LIQ 210 Pts
# 2.MARTINEZ E. EUS 135 Pts
# 3.CONTADOR A. AST 126 Pts
# 4.SCHLECK A. SAX 111 Pts
# 5.FEDRIGO P. BBO 99 Pts

Green Jersey:

# 1.HUSHOVD T. CTT 280 Pts
# 2.CAVENDISH M. THR 270 Pts
# 3.CIOLEK G. MRM 172 Pts
# 4.ROJAS J. GCE 145 Pts
# 5.FARRAR T. GRM 136 Pts

Team Standings:

# .ASTANA AST 256h 02' 58"
# 2.GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM GRM 22' 35"
# 3.TEAM SAXO BANK SAX 28' 34"
# 4.AG2R LA MONDIALE ALM 31' 47"
# 5.LIQUIGAS LIQ 43' 31"
# 6.EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI EUS 58' 05"

Full details on letour.fr