And this is it – the last week of the 2024 Tour de France. The last week before the week before the Olympics starts and 75% of these riders go for glory again. With that being said, I’m Laurel Rathbun and let’s dive right into the last week of the TDF.
Stage 16:
A sprint stage today and everyone is asking the question for the last time: Will Mark Cavendish do it?
Again, no. So we ask ourselves, will Biniam Girmay win his 4th stage of this year’s tour?
Also no. Will the likes of Arnaud de Lie, Wout Van Arrt or Alexander Kristoff finally get a stage win. This is also a no. Will Jasper Philipsen get his 3rd stage win? Ding ding ding we have a winner, YES.
But it was not an easy Sunday spin to get to the sprint finish. Strong headwinds created the perfect opportunity for the GC teams to hit it hard and split the peloton. Splits in the peloton occurred, chasing groups formed, but eventually on the top riders came back together in a shriveled down peloton and it was MVDP dropped Jasper off in perfect position for the win (again).
Stage 17:
Today’s 178 km day to Superdévouly was off to a furious start with the peloton averaging over 31 mph for the first hour. Finally a break of 4 went. The four-man break opened up two minutes on a 48 man chase group and an almost 5 minutes to the peloton.
Simon Yates and Richard Carapaz were able to escape the chase group, catch the leaders and keep pedaling right past them. In the end it was the Ecuadorian legend, who wore the yellow jersey earlier this tour who crossed the line first.
In the peloton 8 minutes behind,Tadej went, Jonas cracked and Remco held on for dear life for a few short moments, but they worked together to catch back up to Tadej on the descent.
Evenepoel attacked at the start of the final climb, and was able to get some distance from Pogačar and Vingegaard, Evenepoel crossed the line 12 seconds clear of Pogačar and 14 seconds clear of Vingegaard, bringing his gap down to 1:58 off second place and 5:09 from the yellow jersey.
Stage 18:
Today’s course profile looked a bit like a rollercoaster ride, and a fun one at that.
A front group of 28 riders escaped the front of the peloton, but it was just 7 riders who reached the bottom of the final climb first. Michaeł Kwiatkoski launched a solo attack on the descent of the day’s final climb and it was TT specialist Campanaerts and 23 year old Vercher who were tall enough to climb aboard and ride this ride.
It came down to a sprint and it was Campanarts who launched to claim his first ever TDF victory, Vercher second and Kwiatkoski third. A shoutout to the totalenergies teammates for consoling Vercher after an almost tdf win.
Stage 19:
A brutal 145 stage today included two HC climbs and finished on a category 1 at the peak of Isola 2000 ski area. The breakaways formed with the familiar climbing faces (legs?) - Richard Carapaz, Matteo Jorgensen, Simon Yates etc.
At the bottom of the final climb to isola, it was our American hero Matteo Jorgensen who launched himself on a solo attack for victory. But a few minutes behind it was the one and only Tadej Pogacar who also launched on a solo attack for victory.
As we watched the time gap trickle down it became clear that Tadej was going to get what he came for - stage win number 4.
Matteo crossed the line for second only 20 seconds behind. Bike racers race and we love it, but our hearts go out to Matteo. RIP stage win.
Stage 20:
We might as well call it Tour de Tadej at this point as he claims ANOTHER stage win.
The breakaway riders hoped it may be a day for them but, as has been the case so many times this Tour, the GC riders had other thoughts.
Only this time, it wasn’t team UAE ruining the breakaway fun.
It was Soudal Quick-Step setting a blistering pace, setting up Remco to attack Jonas and hopefully, maybe, wishfully take some time out of the 2 minute time gap to second place.
Remco did go, but Jonas was able to respond and then play the uno reverse card on Remco. Jonas attacked and only Tadej and his tuffles were able to go with. Tadej and Jonas rode to the finish together and it was unsurprisingly Tadej who won the uphill sprint.
Stage 21:
Due to the Paris Olympics, the 111th edition of this year’s Tour de France didn’t end on the Champs Élysées, where the sprinters usually duke it out for one of the most coveted wins of the TDF.
Rather, this year’s tour culminates with a 34K TT from Monaco to Nice which included one category 2 climb. The last time the tour finished with a time trial was in 1989 when Greg LeMond took the win.
Most of this year’s peloton wasn’t even born yet. All eyes were on the final 3 GC kings on the day to see who would take the win.
And it was the one and only Tadej who won the day by over a minute. Making this his 6th stage win of this year’s TDF and his, one, two, THIRD Tour de France overall win. Thank you for counting that out for us Tadej.
The tour is officially over, but there is lots of exciting racing coming up with the Paris Olympics and road World Championships in Switzerland. Stay in the loop of all things Feed related and thank you for being a part of this 3 week journey!
