The Tour de France is ultimately a test of endurance and performance stretched over three weeks of racing. The rider with the lowest cumulative time is declared the winner in Paris. The Tour is also a series of 21 races. All are grueling, all have their own character and all have a winner. Much of that duality is lost when conversation revolves solely around who wears yellow, white, polka dot and green jerseys.
It’s worth noting that it is possible — though not common — for an overall Grand Tour victor not to have won a stage. Canadian Ryder Hesjedal took the 2012 Giro d’Italia riding for Garmin, without a single stage win.
Certain stages are suited for specialists. Mountain stages suit light and fast climbers such as Vincenzo Nibali or Rafal Majka of Tinkoff-Saxo. Experience, along with timing your attacks, plays a big role on mountain stages. Jumping too early can mean rivals aren’t so tired they get dropped, and jumping too late could mean a break that doesn’t build much of an advantage. Team bosses will give orders on when to attack, especially for younger riders like Majka, to help ensure success.
Nibali of Astana has won four stages of the 2014 Tour, including Thursday’s ascent up the Hautacam. His ability to make time on climbs has been the key to Nibali’s achievements at the Tour to date. With a seven-minute advantage, Nibali will go uncontested in yellow all the way to Paris.
Stages that don’t put the peloton through the meat grinder of long and steep elevation changes are more often a sprinter’s race. Marcel Kittel of Giant Shimano blitzed three sprints in the first four stage of this year’s tour.
Lars Boom won on the cobbled stage, with Tony Gallopin, Alexander Kristoff, Blel Kadri, and Matteo Trentin all picking up stage victories.
Time trials have their own specialists who are able to exactly dole out their entire energy reserves over the length of the course, ideally finishing with nothing left in the tank. Canadian Svein Tuft, who rides for Orica-GreenEDGE, holds eight national time trial championship titles, helped lead his team to victory in the team time trial at the 2014 Giro and at the 2013 Tour de France, the latter being his debut at the race.
The magic of the last week of the Tour de France is that battles for stage victories often carry a lot of excitement. When jerseys seem largely a settled matter — Nibali’s lead virtually secures his victory at this point — team orders and jersey strategies don’t play so heavily into the behaviour of the peloton.
Three stages remain in this year’s Tour: Friday’s 208.5 test is mostly flat, with one intermediate sprint and a short category four climb. There’s every reason to expect this to be a sprinter’s stage. However, a group could escape and go uncontested by the peloton if no general classification riders are part of the break. In a sprint, Kittel might try for a fourth win, while Andre Greipel of Lotto-Belisol might try to double up.
Saturday’s effort is the time trial. At 54km total, it’s slightly longer than the usual individual tests. Experience in metering out the effort over the extra distance will be important. Michael Rogers of Tinkoff-Saxo has been on a roll recently, and appears in good form for the TT. Martin of Omega Pharma – QuickStep is another big contender, and has already racked up a victory at the Tour. Nibali obviously has strong form, but has no need to win.
The final stage of the Tour into Paris is always a bit of a parade with riders even savouring a few sips of champagne in the peloton. All of that changes once they hit the interior of Paris with the group accelerating until the final pass over the Champs Elysees to the finish line. The final sprint is a heavily-anticipated event and has been the scene of dramatic battles in the closing moments of the Tour, including this memorable moment in 1991 when Djamolodine Abdoujaparov crashed out in a wild sprint for the finish.
Mark Cavendish, who crashed out on the first stage this year, won the final stage four years in a row from 2009-2012, but lost to Kittel last year. The German is the strong favourite this year, with challenges expected from Greipel and Frenchman Bryan Coquard.
Plenty of excitement and fanfare will greet the peloton over the final stages of the Tour de France. Those who are bolstered by the crowds may find the speed to thrill audiences worldwide at the finale of la Grande Boucle.