Yes, don't recall previous tours where spectators were running the wrong side of the barriers. I thought all barriered areas were policed to stop that?

Is Jens Voigt the fittest man in the world?
I knew he had been around a while, but didn't realise that he is 41.

This is his 15th Tour, and the 12th one he will complete.

Although - quiz time! - there's one rider currently riding who has done more than Jens. Name that rider!

Hincapie ?

but is he still riding ?..................


Interesting feature on Sky News just then about Chris Froome's village outside Niarobi...........they're cycling mad !.......

Stuart O'Grady?

O'Grady it is! This is his 17th Tour, equalling Hincapie's record.

good call !

he's been riding ever since I started watching in the mid 90s............he was on Boardmans team

Have to admit I did have to look at the list of riders before posting.
Didn't he get some crazy heart rate of about 200 bpm one year and have to stop for a short while?

Just watching the press preview on Sky News and there's a big article in one of tomorrow's papers about some of the women saying there should be a women's Tour de France.............

I thought there already was ?

There used to be..............was it called the Tour Feminan ?

Anyway the suggestion now seems to be that they should ride at the same time but a few hours in front of the men

I don't think that would work as the TV would be covering the men and not them if the races were on at the same time.

I'm sure I also read that there was a beefed up Women's Race programme this year but not heard anything about it

Shame really as women's racing is just as exciting as men's..........I suppose it all comes down to TV coverage

There hasn't been a Tour Feminin since about 2008/9. The woman's road calendar is very skimpy now. The Giro Donna is the only lady's GT left - and that's a smaller than it used to be as well.

Saw this the other day, forgot to post the link, was coming back to it today

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/23361118

50k so far...
Sign here...

https://www.change.org/petitions/aso...tour-de-france

Do people think this win by Froome has been more impressive than Wiggins' last year?

More pressure on Froome and Team Sky from other teams and he has won more stages/proven to be one of the best mountain riders.

Quintana must be a future Tour winner?

Quintana is a little sweetie.
I think it's fab that the KoM jersey has been taken by a traditional climber this year.

No Tour win is unimpressive (except 1996 but that's a personal quirk) but Brad had a route which was as good for his particular style of riding as it could possibly be - and he will always be the first Brit to win ... that will never stop being impressive.

Chris has won on a course designed to fit as much history and tradition as it could with the route it took to get that being incidental. I think the win and manner of winning show how much the team and riders have grown into the role of Tour contenders. Next year is going to be brilliant!

Yes, it's more impressive in my opinion, but not really because he's won more stages. More because last year the amount of km that were time trials played into Wiggins' hands more than anyone else as he was pretty much unbeatable in the time trials (though Froome did give him a run for his money of course!). But that's not taking anything away from Wiggins though, he still had to complete the Tour and protect his advantage, though he did have the benefit of having Chris Froome, Michael Rodgers and Richie Porte in his team, so he had a stronger set of domestiques on paper than Froome had this year.

Froome definitely had a tougher Tour to win, and I think he definitely won it rather than others losing it - he managed to keep with the other contenders when his team had a bad day and he was left isolated, and then hung in there when he was having a bad day himself, as well as impressively winning more mountain stages than the King of the Mountains won. But he also owes an awful lot to his team, and Richie Porte especially. They haven't put a foot wrong on all but two of the days, and didn't panic on the day when Froome missed the split. So a sterling job from Team Sky overall to set Froome up for such a dominating win.

Quintana will be a future Tour winner if he improves his time trial performances, as he's certainly got the same ability to conquer the mountains as Froome has had.

I presume Wiggins will be fit next year - be interesting to see who Sky go as their main man with both him and Froome in the same team!

Interesting times.
I can see Brad not riding the Tour again somehow.
If he wants another go at an Olympic medal his focus will change anyway.

But a lot will depend on the route.
Chris has more cards because he will start as number 1 - and also is better in the high mountains.

Wiggins has hinted he might never ride the Tour again. I don't think the motivation is there for him as much as it is for Froome,. But the team leader will determined in part by the route as well - they have to back someone whose strengths are suited to whatever route the Tour organisers devise for next year.

I'd say it's more likely to be Froome leading than Wiggins though.

He was fit this year!

My thoughts word for word.

Valverde is another drug cheat, was quite happy to see him lose all that time last week.

Who will win today? Hard to call between Cav, Griepel, Sagan,Little (sp somewhere).
Anyone know when it will finish as its later than normal?

I presume you mean Kittel. I think it's between him and Cavendish, and it'll depend on which team gets their lead-out exactly right. Cavendish had the entire Sky train leading him out last year and that worked well, so he should be in with a very good chance now he has a team built around leading him out rather than a GC team-turned-lead-out.

The stage is due to finish between 8.30 and 8.45pm BST.

Is there any chance of a competition for the minor yellow jersey podium places today, or does the tradition of not challenging the winner on the final stage extend to them?

The stage is almost completely flat, and the sprinters want to challenge for the prestige of winning on the Champs-Elysees, so regardless of tradition/etiquette a breakaway wouldn't get away and that would be the only means of anyone gaining time today.

So no, GC will not change.

Mistakenly posted in t'other thread.............

There's no written rules of course but with a five minute gap from the leader today will be a procession into Paris

The jersey winners will start off at the front to take the applause, then teams will take it in turns to move up to the front..............it's a celebration of having completed the tour

You have your clichés like pictures of riders riding along drinking champagne and so on..............people coming up to congratulate Froome and have a little chat


Todays race proper will start when they start the laps of the Champs Elysees............riders will try and get off the front of the pack continuously and continuously be brought back by the sprinter's teams............on the last lap the lead out trains will go full bore.................and Cav will win !...........

I don't think anyone can live with him in a straight line sprint with 50K per hour lead out trains............

BTW............this would be his 5th Champs win in a row..........someone on the radio the other day suggested that the French might want to consider renaming the Champs Elysées as L'Avenue Mark Cavendish............