Sunday, July 23, 2017

Tour Tidbit du Jour - 7/23/2017 - Finale


The Arc de Triomphe was included in the final lap on the Champs-Élysées for the first time at the 100th Tour de France. It's been part of the course every year since.

In a course designed as "the Froome Killer," with hardly any time trial kilometers, it's not surprising we had the closest overall race in history until the final Stage 20 time trial, with the top three separated by only 29 seconds after 19 days of racing. It was all over by the end of the 22 km course, with Froome establishing his dominance again in his 4th Tour de France title.

Of course, what kept everything close for Froome was the strength of his team, but it just wasn't how high they could keep the pace on the climbs to discourage attacks.


The moment of the Tour was on Stage 15 when Froome suffered a damaged rear tire just as the favorites were starting the big climb of that stage. If not for Michał Kwiatkowski's fast tire change, and the work of the other Mike's (Mikel Nieve and Mikel Landa), plus Chris Froome's own climbing ability, he never would have closed the 45 second gap to Bardet and Uran. Team Sky's Three Mike's were the main component of Froome's 4th Tour de France victory.

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