Stage 21: Evry to Paris, Champs-Elysees – 137.5 kilometres
PARIS: The things you do, and the things you see on the last day of a Tour de France.
First up, my dig in the final kilometres of the 21st and last stage from Evry to the Champs-Elysees in Paris was definitely not planned.
It was intended for my good old Welsh teammate, Geraint Thomas, to get into that move. He had been flat out trying to get in such a break, but it wasn’t easy on the Champs-Elysees, especially on the uphill cobbled drag to the Arc de Triomphe.
I am not sure really how I got away. I just rolled off the front with some other riders with about 45 kilometres to go and found myself out there.
It was soon after the crash by Tour runner-up Frenchman Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r) and a few others that I heard but didn't see.
Either way, no sooner were we away and we were all working well together, even though the chances of such a break staying away are always slim on the final day.
No matter; I was feeling good – better than I had been for a long time – and it just seemed natural to have a crack and see what happens. You just never ever know.
Ditto for when the time came and I counter-attacked the break alone with about two laps on the Champs-Elysees to go and just as the peloton was closing in on us.
Sure, it was frustrating to get caught just before the bell lap, but it was a positive note on which to finish the Tour.
As if finishing the Tour in any position – or way – is not enough. It is still the most amazing feeling as a bike rider to ride into Paris after three weeks of racing.
I was midway in the peloton as we came in from the river side and then finally turned on to the finishing circuit, and then around the last corner about 400 metres from the finish line of the Champs-Elysees circuit.
The noise of the crowd cheering became louder as you neared the circuit and was deafening as you rode into it.
It really is a privilege to experience that after watching the Tour as a kid and seeing all the greats charge in to Paris like that.
Perhaps the biggest untold story of the Tour has got to be that of Ji Cheng (Giant-Shimano), the first Chinese rider to finish the Tour.
Ji also secured his place as the Lanterne Rouge – or last place – of the Tour, taking 164th at 6 hours 2 minutes and 24 seconds to the eventual Tour winner, Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).
Ji is also a cool guy and I had a good chat with him at the start of the stage on Sunday, where he finished last on the stage – in fact he was a lap down.
He finished at 9:25 to his teammate, the German sprinter Marcel Kittel, for whom the stage win was his fourth for this Tour.
For Ji, his time loss on Sunday was due to his involvement in that crash just before I went away on the attack.
But, no matter the circumstances, he is a rider whose time loss does not reflect how good he is as a bike racer.
In the Tour, no riders are schmucks – every spot in a team has to be earned.
And I have seen over the past few weeks just how much Ji does for his team – especially Kittel.
He did a hell of a lot of the work controlling the peloton’s pace, keeping the breaks within striking distance.
There is no way Ji is in the peloton to just make up the numbers.
The Tour is just too hard for that – no matter whether you are winning it or not.
