After three weeks, twenty-one stages and 3,519km, Tinkoff had taken three stage wins, three days in the yellow jersey, the Maillot Vert and Maillot à Pois, the Super Combative rider prize and a top ten in the GC overall. On the 103rd edition of the Tour de France, this was the team’s most successful edition of La Grande Boucle. Today, it would all end on the Champs Élysées, where the UCI World Champion, Peter Sagan, took his fifth Maillot Vert in a row, while Rafal Majka took his second Maillot à Pois.
At 113km, today’s route from Chantilly into Paris was the race’s shortest road stage, but the distance and the stage’s one categorised climb meant little to the peloton, who were taking the opportunity to celebrate the end of the race on what was mainly a ceremonial ride into the French capital – ceremonial that is, until the riders hit the Champs Élysées and began the eight circuits of the centre of Paris around l’Arc de Triomphe before the most famous sprint in cycling.
Matching their equipment to their jerseys, Peter Sagan and Rafal Majka started the day on their custom green and polka dot Specialized bikes. The first 50km of the stage gave all riders a chance to consider the race behind them before the pace ramped up for the finale.
Having suffered an early setback with Alberto Contador’s crashes on stages 1 and 2, the team continued a spirited ride, taking the yellow jersey after Peter’s win on stage 2 and holding it for three days, before racing to take the green jersey and then the polka dot jersey. On the penultimate stage, a hard ride from Roman Kreuziger pushed the Czech national road champion into the GC top ten, while Peter was awarded the prize for the most combative rider of the Tour.
Looking back on the Tour, Sport Director, Steven De Jongh, had every reason to be happy with the team’s strong performance. “Overall it was a good Tour. It was very unfortunate that we lost Alberto after two stages really, as after that he was not the same. All the boys did well though, especially Peter – he was showing himself as a true champion – yesterday he helped Roman to get into the top ten and before that he helped Rafa go in the decisive break for the polka dot jersey. He was an amazing team-mate.”
In characteristically humble style, in spite of taking three stage wins, Peter was also pleased to have been in a position to support the other Tinkoff riders. “The first victory and second victory were amazing, and I also tried to help my teammates, and all the Tour went very well – it was a good Tour de France. I enjoyed helping my teammates.”
For Rafal Majka, his win in the mountains classification was as exciting as the first time he took the prize in the 2014 Tour. “I don’t think this win is any different from the first – it’s like I’ve won it for the first time. I’m so happy with this jersey, and happy for my teammates as this year we’ve done a really great Tour de France as a team, a top ten with Roman and two jerseys with Peter also the most aggressive rider. We were always there fighting every stage and giving our best.”
Arriving on the Champs Élysées as the sun dipped lower in the sky, the race was on. A breakaway came and went but the entire peloton knew how the stage was going to end today. With the pace increasing ever faster with each of the eight final circuits, racing was frenetic with teams jostling for position and pushing to get their rider to the front to take the final sprint of the race. Keeping guard at the front of the race, the Tinkoff riders were keeping the Green Jersey safe and ensuring the Peter had a chance to contest the finish.
As riders came round the final bend, Peter was surrounded by teammates keeping him safe, dropping away as the sprint began. In spite of the Maillot Vert coming from behind and surging forward with an incredible pace, he was just beaten to the line. His second spot added to his tally of points however, and ended the race having taken a total of 470 points and three stage wins.
Peter’s strong ride crowned a great edition of the Tour for the UCI World Champion. “The Tour de France has always been good for me – the last two years I didn’t win but this year I won three stages and I’m happy for that. I always try to give my best and nearly got a fourth today. I started my sprint a little late today, but Andre did a good sprint and I’m happy for him to have won a stage too. Everybody’s happy. Now after the Tour de France I can go and relax a little bit, and I will then go for the mountain bike at the Olympics. It would be something special for me as I started in mountain bikes. That would be nice.”
At the finish, De Jongh, was pleased to see Peter brought to the line safely by the team after 21 hard stages. “Today was a very nice day and at the end the boys did a good job to bring Peter to the finish in a good position. Greipel was really strong and second is still a good result. There were a lot of crashes and flats, but our guys stayed out of trouble.”
For Rafal, triumphing through adversity through teamwork was one of the key features of the Tour for him. “After five years this is our last season as Tinkoff and we did our best, not only me but all the team – also fighting for Roman’s top ten and our jerseys, as well as three stage wins – it has been a great Tour de France. After our bad luck at the start of the Tour it was hard but we had a good talk with the Sport Directors and knew we had to fight for our other goals and we did.”
In what will be the Tinkoff team’s last Tour de France, De Jongh was taking away good memories of a spirited ride in the world’s most famous cycling event. “We leave with two leaders’ jerseys and with a very good memory as the Tinkoff team as we’ve showed that we’re very strong, and we leave with a very good feeling and very good memories.”
Stage Result
1. André Greipel (GER) Lotto Soudal 02:43:08
2. Peter Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff +00:00:00
3. Alexander Kristoff (NOR) Team Katusha +00:00:00
4. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) Dimension Data +00:00:00
5. Michael Matthews (AUS) Orica-BikeExchange +00:00:00
19. Michael Valgren (DEN) Tinkoff +00:00:00
22. Roman Kreuziger (CZE) Tinkoff +00:00:00
24. Oscar Gatto (ITA) Tinkoff +00:00:00
39. Maciej Bodnar (POL) Tinkoff +00:00:00
62. Matteo Tosatto (ITA) Tinkoff +00:00:00
94. Rafal Majka (POL) Tinkoff +00:00:00
126. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO) Tinkoff +00:00:00
GC Overall Standings After Stage 21
1. Chris Froome (GBR) Team Sky 89:04:48
2. Romain Bardet (FRA) AG2R La Mondiale +00:04:05
3. Nairo Quintana (COL) Movistar Team +00:04:21
4. Adam Yates (GBR) Orica-BikeExchange +00:04:42
5. Richie Porte (AUS) BMC Racing Team +00:05:17
10. Roman Kreuziger (CZE) Tinkoff +00:07:11
27. Rafal Majka (POL) Tinkoff +01:04:25
58. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO) Tinkoff +02:28:06
77. Michael Valgren (DEN) Tinkoff +03:01:22
95. Peter Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff +03:27:09
145. Matteo Tosatto (ITA) Tinkoff +04:22:05
156. Oscar Gatto (ITA) Tinkoff +04:29:38
159. Maciej Bodnar (POL) Tinkoff +04:30:30
