Back to 2013 Tour de France | Photos from Stage 21 (posted below results and maps) |

Sunday, July 21: 21st and Final Stage, Versailles - Paris, 133.5 km

Rated Ascents:

• Km 29.5: Côte de Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, 1 km @ 6.9% gradient, Category 4
• Km 33.5: Côte de Châteaufort (Stèle Jacques Anquetil), 0.9 km @ 4.7%, Category 4

Weather: In Paris, 7:45 PM local time it's 33C (92F), sunny, with the wind from the east at 13 kph (8 mph). Humidity is 27%.

The Race: Twilight stage, starting at 5:45 PM local time and projected to finish around 9:30 PM (3:30 PM EDT) under the lights. Instead of turning around in front of the Arc de Triomphe, the route went around the Place Charles de Gaulle (formerly called Place de l'Étoile), the big road junction that contains the arch.

After a leisurely trip from Versailles to Paris, Sky led the peloton through the Louvre courtyard, to the Rue de Rivoli and on to the Champs Elysées. It was time for the 170 remaining riders to race the 10 laps up and down the famous boulevard.

In the third lap Mark Cavendish (who has won the last four of the Tour's final stages) punctured. He got a very quick repair and was soon (after an extended motorpace from the team car that irritated the officials) back in the field.

At the start of the fifth lap David Millar and Juan Antonio Flecha were 19 seconds ahead of a furiously chasing peloton that was led by Argos-Shimano and Omega Pharma. Sky kept Froome very close to the front.

Damn. Lieuwe Westra had to abandon with just 40 km left in the Tour.

With 35 km to go Millar and Flecha were dangling just 13 seconds off the front. Soon thereafter Millar dropped Flecha. The bunch lost a bit of its energy, allowing Millar to extend his lead to 24 seconds with 28 km to go.

17 km to go: Millar was caught and a new break tried its luck: Alejandro Valverde, Manuel Quinziato and Bram Tankink.

11 km to go and twilight: The Valverde group has 15 seconds.

When they rang the bell for the last lap Richie Porte led Chris Froome at the front of the pack and at that moment just catching the Valverde group. The bunch was going to be together for a big sprint. Omega Pharma then moved to the front with Cannondale and Argos-Shimano close by.

Peter Sagan was on Cavandish's wheel with one km to go.

Argos-Shimano took control of the front from Omega-Pharma putting Marcel Kittel in perfect position to win. Neither Cavendish or André Greipel could come around the German speedster. Chris Froome finished safely to win the 100th Tour de France.

Results: 169 classified finishers

1. Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) 3hr 6min 14sec. 43.0 km/hr
2. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) s.t.
3. Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) s.t.
4. Peter Sagan (Cannondale) s.t.
5. Roberto Ferrari (Lampre-Merida) s.t.
6. Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) s.t.
7. Kevin Reza (Europcar) s.t.
8. Yohann Gene (Europcar) s.t.
9. Daniele Bennati (Saxo-Tinkoff) s.t.
10. Maurilo Antoniobli Fischer (FDJ) s.t.
11. Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) s.t.
12. Matthew Harley Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) s.t.
13. Ruben Perez (Euskaltel) s.t.
14. Lars Ytting Bak (Lotto-Belisol) s.t.
15. Juan José Lobato (Euskaltel) s.t.
16. Koen de Kort (Argos-Shimano) s.t.
17. Boy van Poppel (Vacansoleil) s.t.
18. Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r) s.t.
19. José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) s.t.
20. Egoitz Garcia (Cofidis) s.t.
21. Julien El Fares (Sojasun) s.t.
22. Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin) s.t.
23. Christophe Riblon (Ag2r) s.t.
24. Philippe Gilbert (BMC) s.t.
25. Gregory Henderson (Lotto-Belisol) @ 10sec
26. Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Sharp) s.t.
27. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) s.t.
28. Romain Bardet (Ag2r) s.t.
29. Gatis Smukulis (Katusha) s.t.
30. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) s.t.
31. Roman Kreuziger (Saxo-Tinkoff) s.t.
32. Sébastien Minard (Ag2r) s.t.
33. Lars Boom (Belkin) s.t.
34. Maxime Monfort (Radio Shack) s.t.
35. Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) s.t.
36. Enrico Gasparotto (Astana) s.t.
37. Gert Steegmans (Omega pharma-Quick Step) s.t.
38. Eduard Vorganov (Katusha) s.t.
39. Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) s.t.
40. Bauke Mollema (Belkin) s.t.
41. Anthony Delaplace (Sojasun) s.t.
42. Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel) s.t.
43. Brett Lancaster (Orica-GreenEdge) s.t.
44. Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) s.t.
45. Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge) s.t.
46. Stuart O'Grady (Orica-GreenEdge) s.t.
47. John Gadret (Orica-GreenEdge) s.t.
48. Nairo Alexander Quintana (Movistar) s.t.
49. Imanol Erviti (Movistar) s.t.
50. Jon Izaguirre (Euskaltel) s.t.
    

Final General Classification after Stage 21: 3,403.5 km raced at an average speed of 40.545 km/hr (25.193 mph)

1. Christopher Froome (Sky) 83hr 56min 40sec
2. Nairo Alexander Quintana (Movistar) @ 4min 20sec
3. Joaquin Rodriquez (Katusha) @ 5min 4sec
4. Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) @ 6min 27sec
5. Roman Kreuziger (Saxo-Tinkoff) @ 7min 27sec
6. Bauke Mollema (Belkin) @ 11min 42sec
7. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) @ 12min 17sec
8. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) @ 16min 26sec
9. Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) @ 15min 52sec
10. Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) @ 19min 39sec
11. Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) @ 18min 59sec
12. Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel) @ 20min 1sec
13. Laurens Ten Dam (Belkin) @ 21min 39sec
14. Maxime monfort (Radio Shack) @ 23min 38sec
15. Romian Bardet (Ag2r) @ 26min 42sec
16. Michael Rogers (Saxo-Tinkoff) @ 26min 51sec
17. Daniel Moreno (Katusha) @ 32min 34sec
18. Jan Bakelants (Radio Shack) @ 35min 51sec
19. Richie Porte (Sky) @ 39min 41sec
20. Andy Schleck (Radio Shack) @ 41min 46sec
21. José Serpa (Lampre-merida) @ 45min 8sec
22. John Gadret (Ag2r) @ 46min 0sec
23. Igor Anton (Euskaltel) @ 48min 7sec
24. Pierre Rolland (Europcar) @ 52min 17sec
25. Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) @ 54min 0sec
26. Robert Gesink (Belkin) @ 54min 25sec
27. Rui Alberto Costa (Movistar) @ 54min 34sec
28. Wouter Poels (Vacansoleil) @ 56min 33sec
29. Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ) @ 57min 6sec
30. Andreas Klöden (Radio Shack) @ 1hr 2min 43sec
31. Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) @ 1hr 3min 43sec
32. Cyril Gautier (Europcar) @ 1hr 12min 42sec
33. Daniel Martin (Garin-Sharp) @ 1hr 13min 8sec
34. Hubert Dupont (Ag2r) @ 1hr 14min 59sec
35. Steve Morabito (BMC) @ 1hr 20min 39sec
36. Haimar Zubeldia (Radio Shack) @ 1hr 24min 22sec
37. Christophe Riblon (Ag2r) @ 1hr 27min 53sec
38. Bart de Clercq (Lotto-Belisol) @ 1hr 28min 6sec
39. Cadel Evans (BMC) @ 1hr 30min 14sec
40. Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) @ 1hr 34min 17sec
41. Tom Dumoulin (Argos-Shimano) @ 1hr 34min 30sec
42. Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel) @ 1hr 36min 27sec
43. Jesus Hernandez (Saxo-Tinkoff) @ 1hr 36min 40sec
44. Alexandre Geniez (FDJ) @ 1hr 38min 6sec
45. Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) @ 1hr 38min 57sec
46. Alexis Vuillermoz (Sojasun) @ 1hr 40min 5sec
47. Ruben Plaza (Movistar) @ 1hr 40min 35sec
48. Eduard Vorganov (Katusha) @ 1hr 42min 41sec
49. Davide Malacarne (Europcar) @ 1hr 44min 50sec
50. Lars-Peter Nordhaug (Belkin) @ 1hr 49min 42sec

Climber:

1. Nairo Alexander Quintana (Movistar): 147 points
2. Christopher Froome (Sky): 136
3. Pierre Rolland (Europcar): 117
4. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha): 99
5. Christophe Riblon (Ag2r): 98

Points:

1. Peter Sagan (Cannondale): 409 points
2. Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step): 312
3. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol): 267
4. Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano): 222
5. Alexander Kristoff (Katusha): 177

Young Rider:

1. Nairo Alexander Quintana (Movistar) 84hr 1min 0sec
2. Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) @ 13min 19sec
3. Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) @ 14min 39sec
4. Romain Bardet (Ag2r) @ 22min 22sec
5. Tom Dumoulin (Argos-Shimano) @ 1hr 30min 10sec

Team Classification:

1. Saxo-Tinkoff: 251hr 11min 7sec
2. Ag2r @ 8min 28sec
3. Radio Shack @ 9min 2sec
4. Movistar @ 22min 49sec
5. Belkin @ 38min 30sec

Stage 21 map

Stage 21 profile

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Photos from Stage 21:

Some of the Giants of the Tour attended, including Merckx, LeMond and Indurain.

Here are Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Djaomidine Abdoujaparov.

The living members of the 5-time-winners club: Miguel Indurain, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault. Jacques Anquetil is the other 5-time Tour winner.

Richie Porte led Sky and the peloton on to the Champs Elysées

Chris Froome just had to stay safe for a few more kilometers.

Mark Cavendish

Cadel Evans

Omega Pharma fought to keep control of the the race.

Juan Antonio Flecha and David Millar were the day's most durable break.

Twilight falls on the peloton.

Panorama

Marcel Kittel (center) stopped Mark Cavendish's (left) run of straight final Tour stage victories at four. André Greipel is on the right.

The closing ceremonies had a light show projected on to the Arc de Triomphe.

Stage winner Marcel Kittel

Peter Sagan won the Green Jersey for the second year in a row.

Nairo Quintana is the King of the Mountains.

Quintana is also the Best Young Rider.

SAxo-Tinkoff was the winning team.

Chris Froome really had no serious challenger this year.

The final 213 Tour podium, from left: Nairo Quintana, Christopher Froome and Joaquin Rodriguez