Stage 21:-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to Paris Champs-Elysées, 115km ***Spoilers***

blazing_saddles

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to Paris Champs-Elysées, 115km

Sunday, July 23
Start Time: 15-30 BST.

The last stage of the Tour starts at France’s national velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and finishes, after the customary parade, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The most prestigious stage win for sprinters in any Tour is the one in Paris.



The riders clip into their pedals in Montigny-le-Bretonneux, part of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, southwest of Paris. The first kilometres of the stage will lead through Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, whose velodrome will host the most important track cycling competitions of the forthcoming Olympic Games.



The riders approach the French capital, usually very slowly. A glass of champagne, a photo shoot, a laugh and a joke, those are the ingredients of the parade stage on the final day of action. But once the riders hit the cobbles on the Champs-Élysées the bunch accelerates. The stage ends with eight fast laps of almost 7 kilometres.



Final Kms.

Champs-Élysées is French for Elysium, the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous in Greek mythology. What a place to end the world’s biggest annual sporting event!
Mark Cavendish was the fastest sprinter in Paris in the period 2009-2012. Unfortunately, he is not here, after breaking his collarbone on stage 8.



In subsequent years Marcel Kittel (2013, 2014), André Greipel (2015, 2016), Dylan Groenewegen (2017), Alexander Kristoff (2018), Caleb Ewan (2019), Sam Bennett (2020), and Wout van Aert (2021) and last year, Jasper Philipsen, powered to victory.



What to expect.

A party followed by the inevitable bunch sprint, as the last time someone surprised the fast guys was in 2005, when Vinokourov was able to hold off the peloton.

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines

Stage town for the 2nd time.
Population: 228,000

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines is a new town and an agglomeration community in the French department of Yvelines. It is one of the original five villes nouvelles of Paris and was named after the Saint Quentin Pond, which was chosen to become the town's centre.

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES AND CYCLING

This final stage will have a strong Olympic flavour, as Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines has had a velodrome since 2014, which is the headquarters of the French Cycling Federation and will host the track events and BMX at the 2024 Olympic Games. The track has already hosted the world championships twice, in 2015 and 2022. These two editions have crowned riders such as Stefan Küng, Bryan Coquard and Fernando Gaviria (2015), Ethan Hayter, Ethan Vernon, etc. (2022), who have subsequently expressed or will express their talent on the roads of the Tour de France. The Tour also made a stopover in the Yvelines conurbation in 1986, for a team time trial won by Laurent Fignon's Super-U team, which gave its name to the street where the velodrome is located.



Paris-Brest

The Paris–Brest is a classic French pastry, featuring a crisp, almond-studded baked ring of pâte à choux that's split in half horizontally, liberally filled with praline crème mousseline—a heady mixture of vanilla pastry cream, nutty praline paste, and whipped butter—and finished with a dusting of powdered sugar.
This bakery staple was created in 1910 by pastry chef Louis Durand, as an homage to the long-distance Paris-Brest-Paris bicycle race (the pastry’s circular shape is meant to evoke that of a bicycle wheel).



Paris Champs-Elysées

48th finish on the Champs-Élysées
Population: 2,250,000



PARIS AND CYCLING

This Tour de France marks the centenary of the victory of the first great French road cycling star, Henri Pélissier. Although he only won one Tour de France, the eldest of the three Pélissier brothers (the fourth, Jean, died in the 1914-1918 war) made a lasting impression with his panache, his personality and his fierce opposition to Henri Desgrange, the creator of the Tour de France, who remained his close enemy. Winner of ten Tour stages, 'La Ficelle' (The String) also won two Paris-Roubaix, three Tours of Lombardy, one Milan-San-Remo and one Paris-Tours. "Proud, stubborn, arrogant, provocative, touchy", according to Jacques Augendre, he opposed Desgrange's fussy rules from the very first of his eight Tours de France.



Frequently described as ‘the world’s most beautiful avenue’, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is nearly 2 kilometres in length. This historic thoroughfare runs from Place de la Concorde to the majestic Arc de Triomphe. The Champs-Élysées was once a swamp. It was in the 17th century that André Le Nôtre, gardener to the Sun King, traced its original path.





Paris Pastries.

The end of the race, the end of the meal: hence Parisian patisserie.

Gâteau opera

It is believed that the cake was invented at the Parisian patisserie Dalloyau by a pastry chef named Cyrique Gavillon. In its original form, gâteau opera combines coffee-flavored buttercream, chocolate ganache, and layers of biscuit Joconde—a light almond sponge that is infused with coffee syrup or Grand Marnier liqueur. Each cake is topped with a thin layer of chocolate ganache and is usually decorated with a symbol of a note, musical instruments, or merely the word opera written in chocolate.



Baba au rhum

Also known as rum baba, these small yeast dough sponge cakes are filled with raisins or currants, baked in a ring mold, and soaked in rum. The hole in the center of the cake is filled with either pastry cream, fresh fruit, or whipped cream. This dessert is believed to have been invented by pastry chef Nicolas Stohrer. Stohrer’s pâtisserie in Paris first began to sell baba cakes in 1730, while the addition of rum to the cakes has been noted in recipes since 1835.

ddraver

So after the last few days antics, are we pro Phillipsen taking a crowning victory or does he need some karma?

Personally, I quite like the green jersey being rounded off with the biggest victory and he has been head and dark green-clad shoulders above the rest for the whole race.

mididoctors

I hope a break away wins

RichN95.

I'm going to the cinema to watch Oppenheimer.

Lanterne_Rogue

ddraver said:

So after the last few days antics, are we pro Phillipsen taking a crowning victory or does he need some karma?

Personally, I quite like the green jersey being rounded off with the biggest victory and he has been head and dark green-clad shoulders above the rest for the whole race.

Counter argument - it's a bloody stupid colour for the green jersey and he's been acting like an eejit. The less we see of either the better.

bianchi_dave

As ever, thanks for your efforts with these threads Blazing.
Very informative, and once everyone else contributes, they're a great reference point when we can't watch the whole stage, or need a quick update to pick things up. So thanks all I guess!

No_Ta_Doctor

ddraver said:

So after the last few days antics, are we pro Phillipsen taking a crowning victory or does he need some karma?

Personally, I quite like the green jersey being rounded off with the biggest victory and he has been head and dark green-clad shoulders above the rest for the whole race.

Asgreen leads Mørkøv out for an accidental victory. You read it here first

ddraver

Lanterne_Rogue said:

ddraver said:

So after the last few days antics, are we pro Phillipsen taking a crowning victory or does he need some karma?

Personally, I quite like the green jersey being rounded off with the biggest victory and he has been head and dark green-clad shoulders above the rest for the whole race.

Counter argument - it's a bloody stupid colour for the green jersey and he's been acting like an eejit. The less we see of either the better.

True dat...

Sprinters should be eejits tho

blazing_saddles

ddraver said:

So after the last few days antics, are we pro Phillipsen taking a crowning victory or does he need some karma?

Errrr, no.

More whinging from JP.

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/jasper-philipsen-accuses-motorbikes-of-negatively-influencing-race-tell-them-that-the-motorbikes-have-already-decided-the-race-twice

flite

"Mørkøv out for an accidental victory. You read it here first"

Actually, you read it here a few days ago.....

rick_chasey

blazing_saddles said:

ddraver said:

So after the last few days antics, are we pro Phillipsen taking a crowning victory or does he need some karma?

Errrr, no.

More whinging from JP.

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/jasper-philipsen-accuses-motorbikes-of-negatively-influencing-race-tell-them-that-the-motorbikes-have-already-decided-the-race-twice

He’s right tbf

blazing_saddles

rick_chasey said:

blazing_saddles said:

ddraver said:

So after the last few days antics, are we pro Phillipsen taking a crowning victory or does he need some karma?

Errrr, no.

More whinging from JP.

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/jasper-philipsen-accuses-motorbikes-of-negatively-influencing-race-tell-them-that-the-motorbikes-have-already-decided-the-race-twice

He’s right tbf

Is he?
They can't seem to make their minds up and it's rather dismissive to assume that the chase group should automatically catch three riders of such high calibre.

I wonder if it ever crossed their minds that not everybody in their group was happy to give 100% to tow the fastest man in the race to the line?

Anyhow, raining in Paris atm and forecast to get a bit worse this afternoon.
Wet cobbles anyone?

No_Ta_Doctor

blazing_saddles said:

rick_chasey said:

blazing_saddles said:

ddraver said:

So after the last few days antics, are we pro Phillipsen taking a crowning victory or does he need some karma?

Errrr, no.

More whinging from JP.

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/jasper-philipsen-accuses-motorbikes-of-negatively-influencing-race-tell-them-that-the-motorbikes-have-already-decided-the-race-twice

He’s right tbf

Is he?
They can't seem to make their minds up and it's rather dismissive to assume that the chase group should automatically catch three riders of such high calibre.

I wonder if it ever crossed their minds that not everybody in their group was happy to give 100% to tow the fastest man in the race to the line?

Anyhow, raining in Paris atm and forecast to get a bit worse this afternoon.
Wet cobbles anyone?

Pidcock was in te same group, he said MVDP should stop whining
https://www.feltet.dk/nyheder/pidcock_nogle_i_vores_gruppe_klynkede/

alan_a

On off torrential rain. Definitely feels like lightning is nearby.

Cobbles are very slippy. Breakaway for the win.

All of Copenhagen appear to be here.

The kids were bribed with 2 days at Disney. They are not allowrd to complain no matter how wet or tired they get.

rick_chasey

blazing_saddles said:

rick_chasey said:

blazing_saddles said:

ddraver said:

So after the last few days antics, are we pro Phillipsen taking a crowning victory or does he need some karma?

Errrr, no.

More whinging from JP.

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/jasper-philipsen-accuses-motorbikes-of-negatively-influencing-race-tell-them-that-the-motorbikes-have-already-decided-the-race-twice

He’s right tbf

Is he?
They can't seem to make their minds up and it's rather dismissive to assume that the chase group should automatically catch three riders of such high calibre.

I wonder if it ever crossed their minds that not everybody in their group was happy to give 100% to tow the fastest man in the race to the line?

Anyhow, raining in Paris atm and forecast to get a bit worse this afternoon.
Wet cobbles anyone?

Yeah. I spotted it a few times myself, plus whenever the director wasn’t on them

Lanterne_Rogue

Early attack on the lanterne rouge...

blazing_saddles

I wonder how many of us who have watched stages 1-20 tune in for the first couple of hours of the Paris procession?
I never do.

Pross

blazing_saddles said:

I wonder how many of us who have watched stages 1-20 tune in for the first couple of hours of the Paris procession?
I never do.

I chuck it on in the background. Might have a post-run snooze until the action starts as I’m knackered

mididoctors

I have it on .....

No_Ta_Doctor

mididoctors said:

I have it on .....

Same. I like the champagne shots and Danish rider shots and that stuff. I'll be doing something else at the same time, but that's how I usually watch stages anyway

tailwindhome

All Ireland Hurling Final on now. Be finished to come back for the Champs Elysee.

The Hurling is BBC Iplayer for anyone interested

Pross

Jonas is as bad with his hands off the bars as Froome was.

mididoctors

It's part of the shared cultural experience doing the precessional stage

mididoctors

Bit like thanking BS for the threads


Cheers blazing

blazing_saddles

I forgot to mention that two of my nieces are in Paris at the Jayco team hospitality as VIPs.
What it is to have connections….(not that I would know. )

dabber

We're in France at the moment... Just turned the TV on (ITV4) and will eat some pizza and drink some red and see how it develops.... and just relax.

And big, big thanks to Blazing. Excellent as always.

JimD666

blazing_saddles said:

I wonder how many of us who have watched stages 1-20 tune in for the first couple of hours of the Paris procession?
I never do.

I'd of watched if Cav had made it to Paris. Catching up with the women's race instead then Wigan Vs Hull KR after

r0bh

Pog attacks lol

mrb123

Bit poor of NVH not to work with him.

Pross

Jumbo seem to actually want to make themselves unpopular. If they really feel the need to cover Pog having a bit of fun when over 7 minutes behind at least do a few turns.

mididoctors

I think to hey don't know how to play this