Marcel Kittel has sprinted to an emphatic victory on the final stage of the Tour de France, powering through in the final metres of the race to pull ahead of the fastest men in the race and take his fourth victory, book-ending this year’s Tour de France just as he did back in 2013.
The team once again played a huge roll in the success, keeping Marcel out of trouble and then setting him up perfectly despite a hectic final corner where they really had to fight for their position. This win brings to an end an amazing Tour for the team where they have confirmed their place at the top level of the sport.
The final stage is always a procession before the racing gets underway when the peloton rolls into the streets of Paris. The first part of the day is a chance for the riders to take in the last 20 stages and to relax before the final flourish into the French capital.
As soon as the peloton first turned onto the finishing circuits around the Champs Élysées the attacks started to emerge. Team Giant-Shimano had their sights set on delivering Marcel to the finish for a sprint and got into the pure sprint formation. Cheng Ji took an unfortunate tumble with around 40km to go and dropped back, but the rest of the riders grouped around Marcel and kept him in position while helping keep the front of the race together.
Coming into the final 10km all was just about one and the team were present at the front, waiting for their moment. This time came with three kilometres to go where the lead-out hit the front and ramped up the pace, looking to get through the final corner in first position.
On the approach to the final corner in the last kilometre the team were swamped but a strong push from John Degenkolb saw a gap open out and the team could push through with Tom Veelers coming out of the final bend in the lead with Marcel Kittel on his wheel.
The sprint opened up and three riders lined up next to each other in a drag race for the line. Initially Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) pulled ahead but Marcel kept the power down and as Kristoff started to slow he gave it one last push and moved ahead to take his fourth win of the race and his eighth Tour stage win in his young career so far.
Despite his fall Cheng battled on to finish the stage and in doing so became the first Chinese rider ever to not only start but to finish the Tour de France.
Reaction
After the stage Marcel said: “I would like to say a big big thanks to my team. They were amazing again today and helped to make this win possible. It was an incredible job that we did and an amazing experience to win again here. I think you never see anything at another race that you can compare to this, it is something special.
“[At the finish] I tried to pass Kristoff and came alongside, then at one moment he could not accelerate any more. I am super proud and very happy. Seven German stage wins is fabulous, maybe it will be a wake up call for the people at home. We have also had many great results like with John’s second places.
“I think as a team we did better than last year, we got four stages and a yellow jersey but we also got three second places and that is something that we have extra and I think we did a really good performance overall. It means a lot to be able to win the amount of stages that we have won in the last two years. I think I have proved it in the last few weeks here in the Tour de France that you have to count on me in the sprints.
“Once again thanks to my team. It has been a great Tour and to finish it off again like this here in Paris is so special.”
Team Giant-Shimano coach Aike Visbeek added: “It was a nerve racking final today. We lost Cheng in a crash before the sprint and then it was a hard fight for position. The game plan was to get Marcel into the final corner in the first four riders with the accelerator and lead-out man. The guys did this well and we can be proud of their performance today and of a superb finishing sprint once again.
“As a team we have improved a lot since last year. The 2013 Tour gave us a lot to learn from and we took this on board and have worked hard in training and racing with the riders to get into the best shape possible for this race. We have also worked hard with partners to help produce some of the best equipment possible to gain that extra edge and it has all come together. It hasn’t just been the stage wins this year but all the other highlights too – John’s sprints, Tom D’s time trial, we have battled from start to finish.
“There’s still room for improvement and this gives us confidence in moving forward and for the future.”
