Stage 20: Chris Froome makes it seem like he was going to win all along

2017 Tour de France, stage 20

The Tour de France is typically won on climbs and in time trials. This year the climbing was pretty much a draw and Chris Froome won the time trials.

Okay, Froome didn’t actually win either of the time trials – Polish specialist Maciej Bodnar was quickest on this one – but he bettered his closest rivals and pretty much everyone else, and that was enough to secure him his fourth Tour de France.

Chris Froome wins the 2017 Tour de France (via YouTube)

Only four men in history have had more success in the race: the Frenchmen, Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault; the monster Spanish time-triallist, Miguel Indurain; and of course Eddy Merckx, who surely would have won more Tours if he hadn’t spent so much time knackering himself out winning six other Grand Tours and 19 Monuments. They all won it five times.

That’s pretty good company to keep – not least when you consider just how many opportunities there are for everything to go completely tits up over the course of a three-week race. A Froome victory was always more likely than a victory for any given rival, but you have to remember that he was up against an awful lot of rivals.

Viewed like that, “someone else” was the more likely winner, so well-ridden, that man.

A few other details

As predicted, Rigoberto Uran nipped past Romain Bardet to secure second place.

Alberto Contador swapped places with Warren Barguil. His ninth placed finish is his worst ever in the Tour de France.

It’s worth pointing out at this point that Contador’s successes in Italy and Spain mean he has seven Grand Tours to his name to Froome’s four. He’s been well off the pace in this Tour, but you wouldn’t discount it proving excellent preparation for the Vuelta a Espana next month…

Stage 21

2017 Tour de France, stage 21

The final stage only really turns into a race at the very end, so there is next to no chance that anyone significant will lose any time. Mostly they just prat along drinking Champagne and waving at people.


Comments

7 responses to “Stage 20: Chris Froome makes it seem like he was going to win all along”

  1. daneel avatar

    I wonder if (even in winning the thing) Froome’s less-impressive tour (and Criterium etc.) this year means he is also aiming to peak at the Vuelta? Or if he’s just not in as good form/older.

    It’s been a bit meh this year. I appreciate that they’ve been trying something to stop Sky dominating but perhaps they’re just better and that’s that. And laser focussed on the Tour, which is too conducive to team tactics and too deferential to the chap in yellow.

    Have they ever done a time trial mountain stage? Off you go up Ventoux on your tod.

    1. I don’t think he’d compromise in any way when it came to Tour de France preparation. He did say he’d started this year’s race fresher though. While that was certainly with a view to performing better at this race, it might also mean improved form at the Vuelta as a kind of happy bonus.

      Or it might not. Form is a funny thing.

  2. daneel avatar

    …and now that I take the time to look I see that they did just that in 1987 and 1958.

  3. Is there any chance Landa could try and get a gap over Bardet to pinch the podium?

    1. He could have tried. The last hour is proper racing, but not really the terrain to create gaps. (See yesterday’s article.)

    2. He did pretend to try at one point, seemingly just for a laugh.

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