Stage 21 - the Last Stage

 Stage 20 in the mountains was won by Carapaz so he got his revenge on Pogacar.  Kuss led but Carapaz closed on him and when Kuss went into the side and came off his bike on the descent Carapaz went past and Kuss couldn't catch him.  Pogacar didn't try any spectacular move and stayed with Del Toro for the ride in together at 4th and 5th.  Evenepoel came in second, Kuss third.  

Stage 20

1. Carapaz  4h 59'39"

2. Evenepoel  +26"

3. Kuss + 31"

4. Pogacar +1.05"

5. Del Toro +1.05"

The GC tonight before the last stage tomorrow:

1. Pogacar 72h 53' 44"

2. Evenepoel  +6' 26"

3. Del Toro + 9' 42"

4. Seixas + 11' 56"

5. Martinez + 13' 02"

6. Skjelmose + 14' 59"

7. Ayuso + 17' 48"

8. Carapaz + 20' 00"

9. Pidcock + 29' 28"

10. Jegat +33 21"

The gaps are the biggest I have ever seen. 

The Green Jersey is already decided and won by Pedersen and not going to change in Paris tomorrow.   The polka dot jersey goes to Carapaz.

Stage 21 is the finish in Paris.  Thoiry to Paris Champs-Élysées.  This has been changed to a ceremonial start in Thoiry then the riders will bus into Paris and the stage turns into a road race in Paris.  The route has been shortened to 89km because police are redeployed to fire areas elsewhere in France.

The Montmatre section will be explosive and intense.  Pogacar will want to win it because he was beaten on Montmatre last year.  The green jersey is already decided.  The sprinters will be hot on his tail to beat him.   So there you have it.  A short stage, starting on television at 16.50 pm.   If you want to see it live in England watch it on SC4 available there and on Iplayer.   

Edit  The Last Day

The last kilometre did turn out to be quite the most exciting part of the day and Pogacar could not hold on with his battle to win between him and Van der Poel, the Flying Dutchman, who Pogacar readily admitted that he could not hold on to him and the Flying Dutchman was the better of the two on that last kilometre and Pogacar had run out of energy.  Van Der Poel at the end lay on the pavement and it looked also like he was nearly out of energy and it had nearly killed him to hand on!  

Pogacar won the Tour for the fifth time and as ever he was gracious and modest and in his words "super happy" to win.  He said that history and records and things were, at that moment at least, unimportant and he was just happy to have that feeling of being in the Yellow Jersey and winning.   The GC places did not change since I last wrote them out so I won't write them out again.   So that's the Tour over for another year.